2025 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

May 30, 2025

Lexie Brady

Persy Llamas

Jamie Trachsel

Ole Miss Rebels

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon 6, Ole Miss 5

THE MODERATOR: If you have an opening statement, feel free.

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Yeah, I just want to say congrats to Oregon. Incredible, hard-fought game. Obviously you don't want to be on this side of it, especially in the World Series.

But to our team, just super proud of them. Proud of the season. It was special. The run that we had, the growth that we made throughout the entire year. I think, if I remember right, people picked us to finish second to last in pre-season conference.

I think we embodied every part of what it means to be a team and continued to get better throughout the entire season and played our best when it mattered most and had different people step up in different moments.

And so incredible group of seniors. Eleven of them that we say goodbye to. But them, along with our whole team, left a legacy at Ole Miss that will be remembered and celebrated for years to come.

So proud that I got to coach this group, proud to be part of the journey, and proud of the legacy that they left behind, not just on the field but who they are and the culture that we had.

Q. Lexie, I know you guys have said on social media why you stayed and stuff. How has that ride been this year and with all the newcomers and the culture you built in this whole season?

LEXIE BRADY: Yeah, it just shows that commitment and hard work pays off. I think me and the other returners are proof of that. Last year we didn't have the year we wanted, but there's not another path I would have wanted to take other than to finish my career here and with these group of people.

So, I don't know, I'm just proud of my commitment. But the commitment for the coaches to us, they continue to prove over and over again why we should have stayed. And obviously it pays off. I think the story speaks for itself.

Q. Lexie, what made Grein effective tonight against you guys? As a whole, I believe it was 2 of 14 runners in scoring position against her. Obviously there's a game-tieing hit, no doubt, but what made her effective even as she re-entered and got up to the 140 pitch mark?

LEXIE BRADY: Yeah, as all great pitchers do, she continued to hit her spots really well. She made us make adjustments that I don't -- we made them here and there, but I don't -- that's definitely where we could have improved. But she just attacked the zones and stayed there until we made an adjustment.

Q. For both the players, can you take me through what you guys were saying going into that seventh to get that comeback and for Jamie to come through the way she did in that situation.

LEXIE BRADY: I just think it makes sense, you know? It's how we've been all year. Why take the easy way? There was a lot of confidence in our dugout. Even through the whole game we felt we could win at any point.

I know there's a little bit of emotions going on in the dugout, but there's still complete confidence. And we knew it takes one batter. And Jamie has done a great job all year in any pinch role she's had. So we had a lot confidence she would put her best swing off, and she was doing it for the team behind her.

PERSY LLAMAS: Yeah, I agree with Lexie. Jam has been a great pinch-hitter and teammate, and we all knew she would come through for us.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, players, you're dismissed.

Questions for Coach?

Q. Yeah, similar conversations leading up to the seventh inning and the decision to put Jamie in that spot and see her deliver in the moment when you desperately needed it.

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Yeah, we kind of just kept feeding them a little bit like, hey, let's stack a couple of things on top of each other. You're one swing away, one swing away. Had some competitive plate appearances, some hard-hit balls, and just tried to keep feeding them to stay in this.

And it's not easy to close, especially in this environment. And obviously they came there through, stacked a couple things together.

Jamie's had some huge performances probably the last six weeks in different moments, and I'm almost positive she's gotten hits in almost 75% of her opportunities in big moments. And so great timing for her. What a big moment. First at-bat of the World Series and in any capacity to come up with a hit.

So proud of the fight that we had and sent it into extra innings, and just came down to... it always comes down to one or two plays. And they forced us into a couple of mistakes. But Lyndsey did a great job competing too. I think they called a really good game because they flipped that a little bit, started to lead with change-ups in the latter half of the game, too, and throwing mostly down.

It was a tough puzzle to crack, but I'm proud of the fight that we had. We had our chances, it just -- the ball didn't bounce our way this time.

Q. Just adding Aliyah in December, how much did that change the trajectory of the season having her?

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Huge. It took everybody on our team to get here. And obviously people were in different roles. And what a big role for her, too, especially as a pitcher and a hitter and a defender, too, as a three-way player.

She definitely saved her best for last. She's had a great season for us. But the last couple of weeks offensively and pitching-wise have been her best performances. No doubt she's a big reason why we're here.

Q. Despite the clock striking midnight, I was over in your fan base section there, and the excitement and emotion was palpable. How was it like playing in Devon Park, and what would you say to the fans who traveled all the way from Oxford?

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Thank you. We had 30 to 50 alumni here that traveled here to be part of this. And they are part of this. So we get to be in Oklahoma City, but we come from the work and the path that the players and the other people and the coaches laid before us, the ground they laid before us.

So to our family and friends, the support we had here in the stadium, but across the country, I can't tell you how much it means to all of us to have the support.

And we heard them. They were loud. They told us they were going to. We had our alumni come and speak to our team earlier, and they did an incredible job. And we felt like that saying, we come as one but stand as 10,000. I think that sums up how we feel.

Q. Just talk about you mentioned, picked to finish second to last in the SEC, and now you're the fourth best team standing here. Just how exciting is that, I guess, for the future within the conference nationally, what you guys did this season?

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Yeah, just proud of the group. It's fun to prove people right, it's fun to prove them wrong. But at the end of the day, the journey, the conversations in the locker room, the development we had, the experiences we shared, the growth, the adversity we went through, the lessons learned made us really battle-tested and a relentless and resilient team.

A gritty, fun team to watch that was competitive, that embodied the word "team," supported each other, empowered each other. Found ways to win, just came up a little bit short. But I'm proud of where we started and where we finished.

With so many new pieces to do it in one year, it was pretty special.

Q. Jamie, you touched on it a little bit with Grein and what made her effective, but as the game was going on and the pitch count going up, what was making her so effective?

JAMIE TRACHSEL: Yeah, she was still in the zone. Lexie said it. She was hitting her spots pretty good. I think they did a good job pitch calling because they went back down and mixed in some different off speeds in some of those counts, whether they led with it or finished with it, just to keep us off balance.

And it's a tough pitcher to square up, but we did. They made plays. And, you know, so one swing away, I think we had a couple people on in whatever inning that was, and she had back-to-back change-ups on Lair and got her a little bit out front a little early on that to get out of that inning.

So good pitcher, had good command today, up and down and mixed speeds and could throw it on different counts. Could throw it for a strike or expand the zone.

Q. Obviously Jamie's pinch-hit tonight is one of the stories of tonight, but that's something you guys have done really well all year, people stepping up. I think of Taylor Roman last week against Arkansas.

Can you give me a little insight into the decision-making process there? Because it has worked so well for you guys through the course of the entire year.

JAMIE TRACHSEL: At this stage you know your players really well and who hits up or down and what are good match-ups and sometimes saving kids for different moments.

So I think Jamie has always been, has been lately, she's used in different roles, but that person if there's something on the line, then she's probably a person that we want to insert late in the game. That's been her role a little bit.

And Taylor Roman with her swing path is just a good match-up for people who throw up in the zone. So we have a lot of conversations on the front end. And Ehren Earleywine, who is coaching third, makes a lot of offensive decisions in the moment for what he feels. And we know what's going on between innings and talk about that.

But Ehren does a great job of managing the offense. He's the lead offensive coordinator and the holistic strategy. But we have had a lot of hitters come up in big moments, too, and Jamie's done that the last probably six weeks or so.

Q. Coach, when you look back at this season and what you've built there, what are you going to think about and remember for future years?

JAMIE TRACHSEL: I don't know if it's one thing. Just how hard it was. I love things that are hard. I'm not a glutton for punishment by any means. But just how hard it was. People doubted us. They didn't give -- we had to prove ourselves along the way.

And it's hard to do that, especially at this level in this conference going over and over again. Winning on the road in some hostile environments, getting here, having some huge moments for our program, 11 players and super senior seniors in our class and 16 newcomers, plus new coaching staff, so many pieces. To accomplish what we did and do it together, it was a blast.

We have a lot of personality on our team. So besides the journey that we were on and the wins that we had, it was a blast every single day the entire year to show up to practice. They made it fun to show up. They were bought in, they were invested. And it was a hell of a journey, I can tell you that.

THE MODERATOR: All right, that will wrap things up, thank you.