By Ian Soares
Recently, Maroon Weekly had the opportunity to meet with the Texas A&M softball team’s head coach Jo Evans. Now entering her 16th season with the Aggies, she is one of the winningest active coaches in Division I softball. Amid all of the construction and renovations taking place on west campus, we had the chance to sit down with her and discuss the upcoming season, recruiting, and her plans for moving into the SEC.
Looking at the roster, there are only three seniors listed. What should we expect from such a young team this season?
We are young, but we are really talented. We have a great number of impact players that are sophomores and juniors. It doesn’t worry me that we only have three seniors. The seniors that we do have are the mainstays for us. Natalie Villareal is probably one of our best players. Kelsea Orsak is one of our team captains. And then there’s Lindsey Sisk, who has been working to be healthy for an entire season. I’m not concerned about our age. I think the experience is there and the talent is there.
So you do expect [starting pitcher]Lindsey Sisk to be healthy this season?
Yes. In fact, she had her best off season yet. She’s stronger, faster, and quicker in all of her testing than she’s been since she got here. I’m really excited about that and her recovery. She’s back 100%.
You have a lot of Texas players, but you have also managed to recruit some great talent from other states too. How much emphasis do you place on getting that kind of team dynamic?
My main goal is to get Texas kids. My philosophy has always been if we can get the best players in Texas and then surround them with a few kids from other states, then we would have success–and that has been true.
We are always looking across the country, but I do prefer to stay close to home. Those are the kids I get to see the most often. I get to know their families. I know that they understand the A&M culture and the Texas culture.
As far as the kids that we get from out of state, we try to make sure that they have the same values and that they have the same desire to be in a family atmosphere. Values are really important. I attribute a lot of our success and team chemistry to that. It’s easier to manage twenty people when they are pretty much on the same page.
On the subject of transitioning to the SEC, do you expect to see a significant change in the style of play as you prepare to move to the new conference?
The Big XII is known for having really great pitching across the board. In fact, we have All-American pitchers in half the schools in our conference, which is really significant.
In the SEC, they are all about hitting. They are putting up really huge numbers right now offensively. You’ll see the difference right now is that in the Big XII, pitching is really dominant, while in the SEC, hitting is what’s dominant.
With that being said, do you foresee yourself changing to compete in the SEC or will they have to adapt to you?
I think we have to continue to improve offensively. Of course, great pitching typically beats great hitting, but it’s hard to find. [For instance] we have Mel Dumezich who’s an All-American and has been really successful, but there’s not a player like her on every corner. It’s just really tough to find a pitcher like that. So, offensively, we have to continue to get better and better.
Is it true that you coached in the longest recorded NCAA softball game?
That is true. When I was coaching at Utah, we were playing in the WAC championship game. We were the undefeated team in the tournament. The game started at six o’clock in the evening and lasted 31 innings.
Then, because we lost (1-0), we had to [immediately] turn around and play a second game and that one went another 25 innings. We finished up at six in the morning, over twelve hours after we started.
The only change to our lineup was that our ace pitched the first game and our No. 2 pitcher pitched the second.
We were the visitors, playing at Creighton University, so we ended up eventually holding them off for the 4-3 win.
Once you’ve held your own like that, you gain the confidence to do anything. That experience catapulted us to the WCWS. We actually came here to A&M for Regionals, as the underdog, and ended up winning and going on to the College World Series.
I guess after going through the emotional and physical highs and lows of 56 innings, everything else seemed fairly easy.
Last Season you were 25-0 for your homes games, to what do you attribute that kind of overwhelming success?
I feel supported by our community and our student body. It’s tough to beat us at home. We feel really comfortable here and I give our fans a lot of credit for that. The thing that’s great about our fans is that they come here to have a good time. They come here to actually participate in the festivities, the attitude, and the atmosphere. They are not bystanders by any means.
We also have the “Softball Sugar Daddies.” They were formed a while back by a group of guys who wanted to support our players. From that time forward, they established themselves as a formal organization on campus to support the team. There’s one for every player and they are a big part of creating the atmosphere that we have. They like to rag on the opponents, they use discretion, but they are really good. They definitely create an energy in the stands that we don’t encounter anywhere else.
I’m really excited about this upcoming season. I’m excited about our pitching, our depth, and our incredible atmosphere. I think we are going to build on what he had last season when we made it to the Women’s Collegiate World Series.