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OKLAHOMA CITY — Courtney Deifel and her family have a legacy with the Women's College World Series. Most of the Arkansas softball coach's family will be in town to watch the Razorbacks make their first WCWS appearance in program history.
Deifel always knew her Razorback players would get to feel the elation of Devon Park. The climb to get there was anything but smooth, making Arkansas' appearance in this year's eight-team field all the sweeter for the former Cal great.
But Deifel's joy is met with a conflict of sorts. As is customary in the small circle of college softball coaches, she and Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle have a long history together, Revelle having invited Deifel to practices and discussing ways to run a successful program.
Revelle warned she might get emotional talking about her relationship with Deifel and looks forward to the "hug at home plate" before their teams square off.
"It's so beyond softball," Deifel said, "and it's so beyond the competition. She has one of the biggest hearts in this world, in this life. So to get to see her just do what she loves with the team and seeing how she coaches them, see how they look at her and respond to her, I feel that in my heart, too, every time I look at her."
The mutual respect between the coaches extends to their players, who know they're in for a test against one another. Nebraska features national player of the year Jordy Frahm, who won back-to-back national championships at Oklahoma before returning to her native land to lead the Huskers to prominence.
"They're just a well-rounded lineup," Robyn Herron said of Nebraska. "They have pretty much all, I guess, tools you could have, but we do too in ours. They're just good competitions, and we're ready to get out there."
While Frahm has plenty of legacy in OKC of her own already, the Huskers are making their first appearance in the WCWS since 2013. That pales in comparison to an Arkansas team getting its first taste of the bright lights. Deifel, though, always knew the Razorbacks would be in this position eventually.
"At the end of the day, we both saw a lot in each other, and it's worked out really well," Deifel said of getting hired as Arkansas' head coach in 2015. "The belief and the ability to do this, when we were going to do this, that hasn't wavered. We knew it was there for the taking. We knew it was there for the building.
"It was getting the right people around me and getting the right players in that continued to work towards this. And we just — our belief never wavered."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Friends to opponents to Arkansas softball, Nebraska to open WCWS
Continue reading...
Deifel always knew her Razorback players would get to feel the elation of Devon Park. The climb to get there was anything but smooth, making Arkansas' appearance in this year's eight-team field all the sweeter for the former Cal great.
But Deifel's joy is met with a conflict of sorts. As is customary in the small circle of college softball coaches, she and Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle have a long history together, Revelle having invited Deifel to practices and discussing ways to run a successful program.
Revelle warned she might get emotional talking about her relationship with Deifel and looks forward to the "hug at home plate" before their teams square off.
"It's so beyond softball," Deifel said, "and it's so beyond the competition. She has one of the biggest hearts in this world, in this life. So to get to see her just do what she loves with the team and seeing how she coaches them, see how they look at her and respond to her, I feel that in my heart, too, every time I look at her."
The mutual respect between the coaches extends to their players, who know they're in for a test against one another. Nebraska features national player of the year Jordy Frahm, who won back-to-back national championships at Oklahoma before returning to her native land to lead the Huskers to prominence.
"They're just a well-rounded lineup," Robyn Herron said of Nebraska. "They have pretty much all, I guess, tools you could have, but we do too in ours. They're just good competitions, and we're ready to get out there."
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While Frahm has plenty of legacy in OKC of her own already, the Huskers are making their first appearance in the WCWS since 2013. That pales in comparison to an Arkansas team getting its first taste of the bright lights. Deifel, though, always knew the Razorbacks would be in this position eventually.
"At the end of the day, we both saw a lot in each other, and it's worked out really well," Deifel said of getting hired as Arkansas' head coach in 2015. "The belief and the ability to do this, when we were going to do this, that hasn't wavered. We knew it was there for the taking. We knew it was there for the building.
"It was getting the right people around me and getting the right players in that continued to work towards this. And we just — our belief never wavered."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Friends to opponents to Arkansas softball, Nebraska to open WCWS
Continue reading...
