Player’s Journal: Inside Look at the WCWS
PostseasonIt’s every softball player’s dream to make it to Oklahoma City. That moment has arrived for the eight teams in this year’s Women’s College World Series.
Throughout the event, various players from some of the teams will be providing an inside look at what is taking place. Check back regularly for updates as they are sent to D1Softball.
June 4, 2 p.m.
Kathryn Ogg, Oklahoma State
On Friday, we started the morning with a little chance to sleep in. Breakfast wasn’t over until 11 so I hung out a little in the morning and relaxed as much as I could. I went down to breakfast around 10:30ish and relaxed until around noon before lunch. In the morning before we all had lunch, Mizuno arrived and gave us some swag bags. We got the coolest and comfiest running shoes that I cannot wait to break out this summer as I run around my neighborhood back home. Once we ate lunch, we had a chance to hang out with family for a little bit so I was with my parents and my brothers. We went to the mall to get Starbucks and to walk around. We came back just in time to receive our World Series gifts. My favorite part was the luggage tag. I cannot wait to use that! After that, we started our pregame routine. Everybody got dressed, we had a pregame meal of Flower Child. Which was yummy! Then we headed to GameTime, which is an indoor facility to pregame hit. It was so cool because we had the police escort again. After we hit, we headed to the field. We finished our warm up and then we started the game. It was a great game, we ended up winning! After the game, my parents came to the hotel for a little and I got to see them and everybody else’s parents, which was another fun time. Then it was time for bed! This might have been one of our best days yet.
What a bounce-back 🔥@cowgirlsb came with a different energy in their elimination game win.#WCWS pic.twitter.com/RHKUEtHThF
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 3, 2023
June 3, 10 a.m.
Emily Schultz, Stanford
Friday was another great day to be a part of the Stanford Cardinal. History repeats itself with another Starbucks run during the morning in downtown OKC with Tatum Boyd. We ran into a few travel softball players, which has been one of the best parts of being here – meeting all the young players aspiring to be in our shoes! We spent the morning with our families in the hotel, which was nice, as so many Stanford supporters have made the trip out to OKC. We had our pregame meal and headed over to the stadium. The game was electric tonight, with so many incredible fans, family, and alumni cheering us on in the stands. Alana and Nija combined for a truly phenomenal performance tonight and Syd Steele had just an awesome day at the plate. There is truly nothing better than being a part of this team! We celebrated back at the hotel with our parents and had dinner. We have an off day Saturday, which will be used for resting and lots of hydrating to get ready for Sunday. Couldn’t be prouder of this group and happier to be on this team. Go Card forever!
(Editor’s note: It was quite the day all around for the Schultz family. Emily’s younger brother, Noah, made his professional debut for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Noah was a 2022 first-round pick by the Chicago White Sox out of Oswego East High in Illinois. The southpaw threw 2.0 shutout innings, allowing only one hit and striking out five with no walks.)
Noah Schultz had a baller debut last night at Atrium Health Ballpark 🔥💪 pic.twitter.com/Jp83RG3iLj
— Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (@Kcannonballers) June 3, 2023
June 2, 11:30 p.m.
Brooke Nelson, Washington
Game day….. FINALLY!!!!
We started the day off getting some much needed Starbucks and got ready to rock and roll! Took our pregame BP and made our way to the field. Washington’s first time being on the field for a game this tournament! We tried to really soak it all in and then once it was go time we were focused on us. Playing Husky softball. Staying inside the blue padded walls, breathing and keeping it simple!
Look familiar? 😏 pic.twitter.com/vnyB6NCJsR
— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) June 2, 2023
The game speaks for itself but we were able to beat our conference opponents Utah 4-1! Following the game, we were able to get some good food, spend some time with our family at the hotel! We then got some dinner later and wrapped up our night with some journaling, meditation and a yogurt parfait bar! Go dawgs today, go dawgs tomorrow!
June 2, 2:30 p.m.
Kathryn Ogg, Oklahoma State
Thursday was an exciting day. We spent the entire day waiting to play. It is always fun when you know you’re going to play later in the day. It gives you that giddy little kid waiting to go to the park kind of excitement. We started the day with breakfast once again. It was good, as per usual! No complaints there. After breakfast, we all had a chance to relax. Around 12:30, we headed to lunch at a place called Cool Greens. It was fun, you got to assemble your own salad, bowl, or açaí bowl. I liked it! There were a lot of options and it was fast too. Once we were done with that, we went back to the hotel, everybody got ready. The team watched some film and around 3 we headed to the field. It was so awesome, we even got a police escort.
Following our arrival, we headed to the practice fields and had a chance to hit, play catch, and then relax. We went into a little delay before the game because of some weather so we played games on our phone or just general team-bonding type games. We then got a chance to get on the field and warm up. It was so cool to finally be on the field after the delay and get ourselves ready to play. We played the beginning of the game and then went into a delay again. Following the second delay, we continued with our rain delay shenanigans and games. One group even played hangman on the whiteboard in the locker room. We got back to playing around 9:30ish I believe. After the game ended, we all had food. My lovely family came to visit me in the lobby after we returned back from the field and I got a chance to hang out with them. By that point it was late and time for me to head to bed! Getting ready for another game tonight!!!
June 2, 10 a.m.
Emily Schultz, Stanford
(Thursday) was our first game day at the WCWS! We started off with breakfast at the hotel, and then a few of us made our walk over to Starbucks for the pre-game coffee essentials. We got ready for our game back at the hotel. Lots of hair gel, slicked back ponytails, and ribbon. We met as a team before we departed, and were surprised by our fans, who are truly the best, who came to send us off before we got on the bus. Tons of parents, siblings, and alumni were there, pink rally hats scattered everywhere. None of us have been to the World Series before, so the police escort was a fun sight to see on the bus! After warmups, we watched the game before ours and waited to take the field. Playing on this stage is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The energy, fans, and atmosphere was electric, and we are so ready to be back Friday. We finished the night with dinner and some time with our families. The crew is ready to take the field today and continue to show the world what Stanford softball is all about! Go Card, as always.
June 2, 8 a.m.
Brooke Nelson, Washington
GAMEDAYYYYYYY… or what we thought was. Spent Thursday morning eating breakfast and getting coffee as a team! Watched the morning session games on TV. A lot of our families are here in OKC with us so we were able to spend some good quality time with them in the hotel lobby before we had to get ready for the game! Some therapy dogs met us at our hotel for a little mental break in our day! We’re a quarter school so we’re in finals mode so lots of the gals have a bunch of school work to take care of so the dogs were a nice mental break!
Had some furry visitors stop by before our game 🐶 pic.twitter.com/s9KiGgQCUA
— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) June 1, 2023
Once we got all ready for the game, it was a lot of waiting around for circumstances outside our control. We finally left for the field, partially took BP, waited in the team room and were eventually sent back to the hotel due to weather. We had the last game of the day, but due to lightning we got postponed till the next day. Can’t wait to throw on the all purp for tomorrow’s game day! Go dawgs!!
June 1, 1 p.m.
Jordyn Gasper, Utah
Wednesday was a pretty packed day for the Utes! We started off with breakfast and then a “Coach Paige Talk.” We have been participating in these “talks” all year long. Coach Paige (Parker) is a two-time national champion, so she has the best insight on how to get to where we want to be: the Women’s College World Series. She has encouraged us and pointed us in the right direction during these talks so that we may have the opportunity to win a National Championship. The team loves these discussions, and we like to take advantage of the knowledge she has and learn the most from her. After our talk today, some of us walked around downtown and explored a bit. Our media and practice times were later in the day so we had some free time!
Around 2 pm, we all got ready to leave for the photo shoots and practice at Hall of Fame Stadium. There were a few delays because of weather, but we managed to make the best of it by playing ping pong in our hotel conference room before we finally left. The photo shoots and interviews were so fun and we enjoyed being able to share this experience with one another. We were able to hit some BP and stretch on the practice fields during our time. However, the minute we stepped on the main field, it started raining and lightning struck forcing us inside. We waited for a bit, but it was clear that this storm was not leaving anytime soon. We ended up having to cancel our time on the main field and got back on the bus. Although it was a difficult situation not being able to get a feel for the field we will play on, we weren’t worried one bit. The weather in Utah has been bad to us all year. This year, we went from our last practice on the field in November to our first practice on the field at the end of March. We have even had to shovel snow off our field for hours before we played later that day. Weather doesn’t phase us anymore!
BTS at the WCWS.#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/aFmhAgsrPL
— Utah Softball (@Utah_Softball) June 1, 2023
We came back to the hotel and ate dinner together after the bus ride. We spent some time with one another just hanging out and enjoying some ping pong. We are all so excited to be able to compete on the biggest stage and see our hard work pay off. We have been through a lot this season, but it has all been worth it. The Utes aren’t done yet!
June 1, 11:15 a.m.
Kathryn Ogg, Oklahoma State
Wednesday was another memorable day. Hard not to be when we start with what we call “Nike Christmas.” Following breakfast, we loaded up and made our way to the special event for student athletes participating in the WCWS that have Nike associated with their schools. Nike did a wonderful job of making us student-athletes feel like valued members of their brand. The event included hair braiding stations, recovery work, fresh sunglasses and new shoes, juice bars, snacks, and more. It was awesome to get a chance to celebrate wearing Nike every day on the field and being surprised with a swag filled day that even ended with a goody bag! Nike made us feel loved!
Checks over stripes.#AllOne | @nikediamond pic.twitter.com/jrmsqYziiL
— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 31, 2023
After Nike, we all got ready for media. Everybody got on the bus and we headed over. Different people went to different places but everybody got a chance to do some social stuff and take a headshot. This was one of my favorite things we’ve done so far. It was cool to be all dressed up and get to show off our team and take pics! Once media was over, we all got ready for practice. We split the time between the back practice field and the main field. It was nice to get out there in the good summer weather, enjoy the moment, and see how the field plays for tomorrow. Once practice was done, we headed back to the hotel. Everybody cleaned their sweat off and dressed up for a nice dinner. We went to a place called Michael’s Grill. It was so good!! It was also nice to be out of our softball stuff and dressed up. Never hurts to feel fancy sometimes. Once we were stuffed and happy from our wonderful meal, we headed back to the hotel. I saw my brothers for a quick moment and said hi to them and then headed to bed! Ready to play tomorrow 🙂
We clean up nice.#AllOne | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/41we2Vnuzt
— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) June 1, 2023
June 1, 7:30 a.m.
Emily Schultz, Stanford
Wednesday was a jam-packed day full of all of the WCWS activities for Stanford softball! We started the day off a bit early and headed to the Nike Suite around 8 am. A group of us made sure to get our Starbucks run in before, though, thankfully. We are always on the hunt for coffee shops within walking distance from our hotel. The Nike Experience was so incredible. We got fitted for some of Nike’s newest shoes, which were so comfortable. There were yoga mats and massage guns to help us get ready for a big week of softball. We got to pick out our own pairs of sunglasses, got new batting gloves, and received some pretty packed swag bags full of new Nike gear. Not to mention we had some pretty fun braid updos done by their team! Nike took care of us, so stay tuned for the Tik Tok hauls, probably from our very own Alana Vawter.
Started our day in OKC off right thanks to @nikediamond 🔥😎#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Xx4XgB0uaw
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) June 1, 2023
We headed over to the stadium afterwards and had all of the glamour – NCAA and ESPN both had photo and video shoots and we made lots of fun social media videos. We changed after the photoshoot and headed out to the field for practice. We had a tiny rain/lightning delay in the middle of practice, but nevertheless, we were back out there soon after. Got our last swings and throws in before the WCWS and had the chance to soak it all in on the field before the stands are full tomorrow. We headed back to our hotel after practice, only to surprise Alana and Aly for Alana’s All-American award and Aly’s Golden Glove award. We ate dinner in the hotel, had some ice cream and Sonic, and went to bed dreaming of winning a National Championship. Go Card!!!
THIS. Moments like this make all of the hard work, commitment, and sacrifice worth it.
Watch @alanavawter find out she’s been named an All-American, and try to keep back the waterworks 😭🥹#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/T1emvXT7h0
— Stanford Softball (@StanfordSball) June 1, 2023
May 31, 3 p.m.
Kathryn Ogg, Oklahoma State
(Monday) was a good day for us Cowgirls. We started with a team lift at 8:30. It was leg day! Super fun to get in there as a team and get a chance to get moving early in the day before we hopped on the bus. After lift, we had breakfast from a local breakfast joint, Granny’s! It is always a hit for our team. Practice started at 10:30, we got our work in for about 2 hours. It was a lighter day but it was nice to have one final day at Cowgirl Stadium. Following practice, everybody went home, showered, got themselves ready and fully packed and loaded onto the bus around 3ish! By 4 we were in OKC! Such a luxury being so close, hard not to appreciate the 60-mile trip and all the local fans that get a chance to show up. We had dinner after we checked in at a restaurant called Saucee Sicilian. 10/10 recommend. It was a favorite amongst us girls! After dinner, we had the rest of the night off and we look forward to another day of work tomorrow with practice in the morning. Excited to be here and thankful we got a chance to stay in a hotel with our team as early as Monday. Prepared for a fun time and an unforgettable journey!
6️⃣0️⃣ miles south.#AllOne | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/PaZSxc9SYb
— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 29, 2023
(Tuesday) was another eventful and fun day. We had breakfast at the hotel to start the day. My favorite part was the yogurt and I always have to get my daily cup of coffee in to start the day off even more right. Following breakfast, we went to Oklahoma City for practice. Their field was beautiful and practice was a blast. The weather was perfect! Practice lasted about 3 hours. After practice, we went to get lunch. Everybody either went to CAVA or Flower Child. I didn’t hear one single complaint so both places seemed very yummy!! Following practice and lunch, we got a ride back to the hotel and had about 3 hours of free time. I had the chance to go get my nails done with Kelly and Kyra. I went for sparkles – gotta have them nice for the big stage on Thursday. At 5:30, we headed to the Jones Assembly for our Championship event. That was so fun! It was cool to get a chance to see other teams and to celebrate some stars of our sport with awards!! Once the event was over, we headed back to the hotel and winded down for the night. I ended the day watching Yellowstone, perfect ending if you ask me! Excited to get another good day in tomorrow, starting with Nike Christmas!!!!!
Brooke Nelson, Washington
(Tuesday) was an emotion-filled day. All the emotions of dreaming as a little girl of making it to OKC are becoming a reality today. Today was our travel day. Prior to boarding the bus at Huskey stadium we had an OKC send off. We were greeted with our band and our cheer squad, fans, staff, admin and coaches of dubs and our live husky mascot. They were all there in their purple and gold cheering us on as we loaded the bus. We took a private charter flight from Boeing Field to OKC. From there, we arrived at the WCWS Banquet where we got to hangout with the 7 other teams and eat some good food! It was a thrill to see your old travel ball teammates and reconnect with them! It was definitely a day to celebrate our sport and our team for making it here! From there, we checked into our hotel, had a few meetings and ended our night journaling in our own notebooks about our day!
OKC Bound‼️
Thank you to everyone that came out to the send off! 💜#MightyAreTheWomen pic.twitter.com/ibRCaGdhQg
— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) May 30, 2023