As soon as Tori Vidales' glove closed around the ball in Knoxville last week to record the final out and send Texas A&M to its first World Series in nine years, the group texts started flying.
As soon as Tori Vidales' glove closed around the ball in Knoxville last week to record the final out and send Texas A&M to its first World Series in nine years, the group texts started flying.
"I can get a hotel!"
"Do you want to come with me? I'm gonna make the drive!"
"I've got my plane ticket!"
If you're an Aggie softball fan, you know the names of the texters.
Jami Lobpries, Jamie Hinshaw (now Carter) and Megan Gibson (now Loftin), all members of Jo Evans' first maroon-clad WCWS teams in 2007 and 2008, were in the stands Thursday morning after a long night of driving and a late night of chatting.
"(The drive) was so fun," Carter recalls. "It was six hours of reminiscing about literally everything. We got in at 12:15, woke (Jami) up and started reminiscing for another hour."
Evans has had a ton of former players in 31 years of coaching. And for the hall of famer, seeing her kids again--no matter how long they've been away--never gets old.
"I'm so excited," Evans said. "Every time I see one of our former players here, and they're fired up, and they're all in…it's really fun for me."
The trio was so fired up, actually, that when Carter, Lobpries and Loftin went for a run through downtown Oklahoma City on the morning of A&M's opener against Florida, they just happened to come across the team bus as it was about to leave the hotel.
Carter hopped right on, just like she'd done countless times as a player.
"Have a great time!" she told the team. "You'll remember this the rest of your life."
"I was so surprised when I got on the bus and saw them," said A&M's newest All-American, Riley Sartain. "I was really excited to see those girls. It was a huge coming full circle moment for me."
During the 2008 run to the national championship finals, a 10-year-old girl and her dad were in the Hall of Fame Stadium parking lot, both wearing Aggie maroon. They'd decided that if A&M ever made the World Series, they would drive up and watch. Tossing a softball around they'd bought at the game, the pair happened to be near a large A&M tailgate outside the field.
"Aggies being Aggies, they invited us over," Chris Sartain recalls. "We didn't know anybody. Riley was talking to a lady and said to her, 'You know…when I grow up I want to be just like Jamie Hinshaw and play third base in the World Series for A&M'."
This time, instead of Sartain in the stands and Carter and her friends on the field, the roles are reversed.
But the feeling, the excitement, was just the same.
"I feel like I was just as excited as a fan sitting there watching as I was as a player," Lobpries said. "(The World Series) meant a lot as players, but I think when we left the program it was all about, as coach says, 'leaving your legacy'. For us, we wanted to see our program grow and get back here."
Amanda Scarborough was in the dugout the last time the Aggies played a game in the World Series. On this Thursday afternoon, she was helping bring the game to millions around the country and world on national television as the lead analyst in the broadcast booth on ESPN.
That didn't stop her from getting to catch up with some of her best friends, however.
"The best thing about supporting the program still is that it is and forever will be a connection to friends that are like family," Scarborough said. "No matter how we grow up or change or where we live, we always will feel a part of the program and will always be invested how the team, coaches and support staff are doing on and off the field. Getting to experience the WCWS as a current player and former player is a big part of that connection, and the incredible 'feels' of the WCWS never go away."
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"It's not just that they support the program and love the program, but they played hard for the program," Evans said. "They got out there and won games for the program and they played for a national championship. For our kids to see that and go, 'Wow, we know them, they're not that much older than we are, and they wore this uniform and the played for a championship? I can do that'…it's nice to be able to connect that era into this one and these kids to get that expectation and excitement about things."
Now a mom living in the Houston area, Carter gives lessons. In fact, she taught hitting to one of the newest Aggies, freshman Kelbi Fortenberry.
Loftin is in her first season as pitching coach at the University of Houston and helped guide the Cougars to within one victory of the NCAA Tournament.
Lobpries lives in Orlando and serves as vice president of USSSA Fastpitch.
Nearly 10 years ago to the day, five starters from Evans' very first WCWS game as an Aggie are in Oklahoma City this week. Besides Lobpries, Carter, Loftin and Scarborough, the leadoff hitter in that game—Sharonda McDonald—was on the field as an assistant coach for the top-ranked Florida Gators.
"Proud," Lobpries said when asked what it means to see all her friends still so involved in the sport. "That's why it was so important for us to be here. Obviously we're coming back as alums, but to be able to watch two of our best friends (Scarborough and McDonald) reach the highest stage they can…It's just special for us.
"But I think that's the culture Coach Evans created and that's something we continue to live out through our lives. We're all group texting, we're all watching the games, we're totally invested. This is part of our extended family."
For Evans, seeing her players succeed in life and make such an impact on the game she loves so much is an incredibly rewarding thing.
"I'm like the proud momma that doesn't have to go through the trauma of being a mother," Evans said, laughing. "It's exciting, and it's also heartwarming. It makes me feel good that we recruit the kind of people who can give back to this sport, more so than just playing in their own program but giving to a new program and a different generation."
One thing Evans stresses is remembering those who came before you and recognizing what they've done to make Texas A&M Softball what it is today. In fact, players today have a list in their lockers back in College Station of those who wore their jersey number.
They know how much former players meant—and still mean—to the success of the 2017 team.
"It's awesome," Vidales said of the '08 team making the effort to come to Oklahoma. "They were one of the teams that changed this program with the way they left their legacy. Them coming back and supporting us, it shows that you're always family. When you're in this program, you're always going to be important to them. It feels great, because we wouldn't be here without them."
That connection runs both ways, there's no question about that.
During A&M's remarkable Super Regional comeback that propelled the Aggies to Oklahoma City, clips of Evans' postgame speeches to the team went viral—totaling nearly 350,000 views.
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) May 28, 2017
Those clips brought back some great memories for her former players—they'd been there before.
"I remember that same exact feeling, how excited they were," Carter said. "I was getting excited watching that on my phone. It's just so neat to have a coach that's still passionate and can still communicate that message to the players and get them just as fired up."
"I feel like I legit knew what they were going through and what Coach was saying, because we've been through every one of those moments," Lobpries said.
This week the Aggies are making more memories in Oklahoma City—not just on the field, but in the stands and around town as friendships are rekindled.
Many other former players have or will be flying in or driving in from not only College Station, but from places like California. And Florida. And West Texas. And Utah.
And once they get here, memories come flowing back and the smiles carry throughout the ballpark.
"It's so fun to come back together," Carter added. "We've all gone so many different directions and to so many places, but when we come back it's like we've never left. I love that relationship I have with all these girls."
"They do keep in touch," Evans said. "They love their program. They love their teammates. They just show a lot of gratitude to A&M for their experience, and they've all brought back so much to us. It's great to have them here."
