After dropping Game 1 of the Austin Super Regional to rival and No. 16 seed Texas A&M, No. 1 seed Texas entered Saturday needing two wins in the next two games to advance to the Women’s College World Series. Head coach Mike White just wanted his Longhorns squad to take a deep breath and be themselves.
After all, they got the No. 1 overall seed for a reason. Speaking with the ESPNU broadcast, White explained some of his message and if the team was quite living up to it.
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“Just be yourselves,” White said. “We got here for a reason, that we’re pretty good and we’ve just gotta play that way and believe in themselves. Right now we’re just pressing a little bit, which is understandable, but hopefully we can settle down and get a run and put some pressure back on.”
As White spoke in the top of the 4th inning, Texas managed to plate its first run of the game on a solo home run from Joley Mitchell, cutting Texas A&M’s lead to 3-1.
Aggies head coach Trisha Ford was pleased with starting pitcher Emiley Kennedy
No. 16 Texas A&M ace pitcher Emiley Kennedy tossed a complete game in a win over No. 1 seed Texas in Game 1 of the Austin Super Regional and Aggies head coach Trisha Ford ran her right back for Game 2. Talking with the ESPNU broadcast, Ford explained it wasn’t a really difficult call.
Kennedy had been sharp in the first game and, through five innings on Saturday, had let up just one run and pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the 5th inning. And when Kennedy comes into the dugout between innings, Ford can keep things simple.
“I just keep talking to her after each inning of just like, ‘Hey, what are you feeling? How are you liking [this pitch]?’ Kind of talk through some hitters and tell her to just go out there and compete. She competes,” Ford said.
To give Kennedy a little more cushion late in the game, the Aggies tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to go up, 5-1.
And those big swings will have Ford pleased.
“We have a certain pitch that we’re hunting right, so just making sure that we’re executing in that plan,” Ford said.
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