2026 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

May 27, 2026

Mike White

Reese Atwood

Teagan Kavan

Katie Stewart

Texas Longhorns

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Texas head coach Mike White and players Reese Atwood, Teagan Kavan, and Katie Stewart. We'll open with an opening statement from Coach White, if you have one.

MIKE WHITE: Thank you. Obviously we're excited to be here. This is getting harder and harder, it seems like, to get into this position, but we were able to come back and defend as national champions. We're looking forward to the task in front of us.

We know there's some great competition. The standard of softball has been tremendous throughout the regionals and playoffs and even throughout the year. You've seen some outstanding plays and a lot of highlights on ESPN. It's been fantastic to watch.

Again, we're just excited to be here with a veteran group. Hopefully we can perform to the best of our capability throughout this week.

Q. Coming back here as national champions, does it change at all the mentality that brings you here in comparison to years that you were just trying to get it for the first time?

MIKE WHITE: The only thing we've really kind of looked at is the experience from being here and being in that position and having won a National Championship. Other than that, it's not about defending. It's about attacking. It's about playing better softball overall and improving our standard of play. That's really what we're focusing on.

Q. Mike, toward the tail end, SEC title game, the last Super Regional game, Teagan brought her best stuff. Why is she built for those moments, even dating back to this last event?

MIKE WHITE: It's the way she's programmed. She relishes the chance of getting back out there and taking her teammates with her. I think she plays for her teammates more than anything else. That's what she focuses on.

We saw it last year for her grandmother, and this year for Reese. She didn't want Reese to finish her year, especially in the Super Regionals, and that was the game that mattered as well, the second one against ASU, the third game.

Q. For the players, describe Coach White, playing for him? We've seen a couple weeks ago with the wig and everything there. Just describe Coach White. What's it like playing for him?

KATIE STEWART: He lets us be authentically ourselves. We can tell by the way, like, Caigan and all them, just let our personalities shine in our own ways. He kind of fosters that with how he's very encouraging and welcoming. It's really great to play under him, and he's such a good influence and being able to help us in any way we need to.

TEAGAN KAVAN: Coach White, yes, he lets us be authentically ourselves, but he's also a great coach, how much knowledge he has of the game, especially on the pitching side and mindset side, from my point of view. He sets the standard high and holds you to that standard because he knows you can meet it.

That's where a lot of us get our confidence from, is because our coaches, particularly Coach White, hold us to that high standard, and he knows that if we can meet it, it gives us confidence in ourselves.

REESE ATWOOD: I agree with both of them. Coach White was an incredible pitcher. The knowledge of the game he has is unmatched. I've never met a coach that has so much knowledge on both sides, hitting and pitching. It's just been incredible to play under him and have him, from my freshman year to now, how much I've grown, I owe it all to him and the coaching staff.

Q. Mike, you guys played Nebraska a couple of games way early in the year. Did you have a sense back then that they have what it takes to reach to Oklahoma City? What about maybe their roster makeup is similar to other SEC programs you've faced throughout the year?

MIKE WHITE: Our very first game of the year was against Nebraska, and if you'd have told me it would be 15-11 or 14-11, whatever it was, I'd have lost a lot of money if I was a betting man.

That shows the character of the two teams. They came back, and Jordy Frahm pitched a lot better her second time out, just like Teagan Kavan is able to do, take that knowledge of the game and improve. They improved from that point on. They showed us they could hit and play defense and pitch throughout the tournament, and I had a good feeling they'd be there at the end.

Q. Coach White, what do you remember about this Tennessee team from last year, and how is it going to be different this year with more of a staff of pitchers?

MIKE WHITE: They definitely have three pitchers that have shown they can beat anybody at any time, especially going through the SEC Tournament. They're dangerous. They're well coached. They've got some new players on their roster. They can get you with the small ball. They can get you with the long ball. They're confident, obviously, anytime their pitchers are out there. They know they've got to score some runs and squeak them out, and they'll find ways to win.

Q. Mike, not to go back to February again, but we're going back to February again. With Jordy Frahm winning USA Softball's National Player of the Year Award yesterday, as somebody who's coached against her, what is the challenge of going up against a two-way player like that?

MIKE WHITE: You look at two different things. She can't do both things at once obviously. You've got to separate them. It's a great luxury to have, is hitting pitchers. We have one on our staff, Hannah Wells. Hopefully she can learn from that and grow into that role.

Jordy is not only a great pitcher and a great player, but she's a great base runner and very smart player of the game and well-spoken. She won that award last night and was well spoken and addressed a lot of things. Hat's off to her. Hopefully she can continue to have a great career in the sport because she's someone we look up to.

Q. Teagan and Reese, talk about Katie and her maturation and the year she's had now where everybody knows how great of a player. I know you both knew that all the way. Now everybody knows that. Katie, how has Teagan and Reese helped you be a better player?

KATIE STEWART: Just being able to hit with Reese every day for the last three years, it's kind of a mentorship thing, like she has helped me along the way just to be able to build my own confidence and who I am as a player.

So to learn from her and obviously, like, both of them supporting me. Teagan is my roommate, just to have her in, like, our own house being able to support me. As teammates, I love them. We've just been building that relationship for the last three years.

TEAGAN KAVAN: I think Stewy is a great teammate too. She always has your back, and it's easy to have her back as well. She just works really hard. She's definitely one of the hardest workers on our team, and she's always trying to learn more and talk to all of our coaches and learn and be the best that she can be.

I think, yeah, just in her -- how she's matured over the years, I think she's just like remembered who she is this whole year and has really been like confident in herself through the ups and downs. We all know as players we're going to have ups and downs.

She's just stayed the course and has trusted the process and kept putting her head down to go to work no matter what the outcome is. I think that's how you see that success. Overall a great person, and it's fun to see these things come to her just because of how great of a person she is.

REESE ATWOOD: I've said it from her freshman year, she came in first practices hitting balls off of buildings over a scoreboard. Everybody knew on this team her potential. And just being able to see her blossom last year and this year, and coming out and doing her thing with so much confidence and so much energy, she truly is the driving force of our offense.

You know when Stewy's on that everybody else is going to be on. It's just incredible to have her leadership. I know she might not talk as much, but she's still like doing things right. Honestly, that's what any player or coach could ask for out of a teammate.

Q. Teagan, what is it like for you just being in the field with so many top arms? You, Jordy, Karlyn, and Tennessee just all over the field.

TEAGAN KAVAN: Yeah, it's fun. It's fun to watch, and it's been fun to follow my college career and my whole life. I think just as hitters and as fielders and everything, I think pitchers just keep getting better too.

It's cool to be listed in talks with all the pitchers and even the pitchers that aren't here. Yeah, it's an honor to be a part of them. Yeah, it's fun, and it's a lot of great ones.

Q. Reese, I know your energy is focused on your teammates now, but how cool is it to think that you are facing a future teammate at a professional level in softball and how this game has grown tomorrow with Karlyn?

REESE ATWOOD: Karlyn is incredible. I played along with her in summers with USA. She's a great pitcher and a great person. I'm really excited to see her do her thing and be able to compete out there. It's all love on both sides, and I'm looking forward to being able to play with her.

Q. Reese, you obviously already left your mark on this program, but going into your last run into the women's College World Series, what are you looking forward to this week besides hopefully winning the National Championship? Teagan and Katie, if you could talk a little bit about what you've seen Reese do to grow this program since she joined?

REESE ATWOOD: I think going into this week I'm honestly just looking to make more memories. We talked before practice about like just some of the things, like the memories I've had with this program.

Honestly, those are the things you remember. Just leaving this program in a better place, like I obviously want to do that, but I also want to be able to, just on the person side of things, just have good energy, like be able to make those memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life.

TEAGAN KAVAN: Reese has kind of set the standard of what it means to work hard and be a great person and a great teammate in our program. She always shows up with a good attitude no matter what and puts her head down and does the work. It's been inspiring to be her teammate. She inspires a lot of our teams, but little girls have dreamed to be Reese Atwood one day.

It's been really fun to be a part of, and, yeah, she's a special person.

KATIE STEWART: Reese said it. She's a great teammate and a role model for the rest of us. She's set the standard, like we said. And so to be able to go in every day and put your head down and go to work with the same intent and mentality as we would every day, as Reese would, it's what it means to be a Longhorn.

For her to set that standard for little girls to look up to that, it's everything.

Q. Coach, with obviously the teams you bring here, do you have a certain routine you like to stick to when you bring a team here, or do you seek input from your leaders here on the player side?

MIKE WHITE: I keep everything different. I don't try to be too superstitious. This was a little bit different this year because it was pretty tight between when we finished up and when we got here.

Obviously Monday was our day off, week off of the week, and then Tuesday was quick practice, and then coming up on the flight and then practice today. Then of course all the media. Things get condensed quite a bit.

But we try to keep a lot of things the same, but nothing really per se. We'll have a team meeting tonight along with one of our mental specialists and get ready for tomorrow.