Latest / Coaches At Crown Brew Getting Coffee / Roaring Champions - A Conversation with Caidence Phillips and Will Capie

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Roaring Champions - A Conversation with Caidence Phillips and Will Capie · Coaches At Crown Brew Getting Coffee

• 0:13
  welcome back to coaches at crown brew getting coffee let me start by thanking crown brew for letting us be here again after after hours i want to thank ross and abby for being here and putting this all together don't forget about what they do for weddings
• 0:26
  oh swinford wedding videography and photography if you have those needs they can take care of you i want to thank my buddies jeff and matt at adrenaline fundraising for sponsoring this and being so great at helping people coaches organizational leaders club members raise money for their organizations and if you need to raise money for your group see my buddies at adrenaline i want to thank my buddy tony gooch and marion plumbing his kids were great students
• 0:53
  son played for me trustworthy guy if you have plumbing needs residential or commercial tony gooch is a class guy who'll take really good care of you my guest today is uh 2026 state champion carterville softball coach mr will cappy and his star player cadence phillips welcome both of you thank you for having us you're both here fresh off state title win which was last
• 1:21
  saturday i thought so and congratulations to you both man i am so glad you said yes to being and you said so quickly because it was a short window to get you here actually i think we were right next to it i was right next to her when you sent the text i go hey you want to do this podcast and she's like yep that was awesome man i'm so glad you said so and i'm gonna i want to start with uh with you uh cadence i want to talk about some of your achievements and i i don't mean to embarrass you but this is worth mentioning um
• 1:48
  You just found out, I think, today, Max Preps Player of the Year. I don't know if it was yesterday or the day before. You are Gatorade Player of the Year. Congratulations. Thank you. Three-time Southern Illinois Player of the Year, which we think may be a record. We don't know for sure, but we'll soon find out. Three-time Player of the Year in Southern Illinois. 37-1 record, state championship, 22-0 record.
• 2:17
  For you, I believe, is that correct? Yeah. I think that's right. A 0.11 ERA in 38 games, 300 strikeouts, averages about eight strikeouts a game. You had a 343 batting average with five home runs. You led the team with 16 doubles, and you had 37 RBIs. This is what I love to complete the whole thing, a 3.85 GPA. So student, athlete, you get it.
• 2:44
  a member of the student leadership council a youth softball coach volunteer and multiple community service initiatives through your church man congratulations on doing it all and doing it all well that's awesome man so you're not only a role model for a lot of young athletes but you are doing things on the field that are amazing but you're also doing things right off the field which are life things that will take you probably further than softball will so
• 3:12
  Congratulations. I love to hear it. Coach Caffey, I want to start with you and I'm going to come back to her and we'll do a little bouncing back and forth. So what are you feeling a few days after winning another state title? You know, it just hasn't set in yet. You know, you win that super sectional game on a Monday night. We get home about 10 o'clock that night. The next morning you are in meetings, Zoom meetings with the IHSA. You're trying to prep. You're trying to plan your trip. You practice Wednesday morning and you get on a bus.
• 3:40
  and then you're gone until saturday night yeah uh you get homes um you know then the next morning
• 3:47
  You have your ceremony, your welcoming back ceremony. You have Monday, the off day, finally, right? And then the last two days, these young ladies have hosted 80 future Lions that are coming into the program. So really haven't got a lot of time to sit and reflect it. But, you know, I wouldn't want it any other way. It's just been an incredible experience. I can't wait to actually sit down and, you know, get to enjoy that. How about for you? What do you feel? What's the feeling today on a Wednesday when this is filmed? You just won the state title.
• 4:16
  again on on saturday what are you feeling i mean honestly just so many emotions i feel like it still hasn't clicked in to me yet i mean after hosting those campers like he said i came back and it was like reality again and i went to go get pitching lessons and i'm like i just won state and it was like what and everyone's like congratulations i'm like thank you but it's like still crazy a crazy reality so those are cool moments when when you have those moments where you go just want to stay tight right
• 4:46
  and and you don't think about it all the time but then it hits you in certain moments and i think that's cool you shared that um well you and i have we talked some during the year at what point in the off season or did you know from the beginning because of last year's finish
• 5:01
  and you had enough back to know you had heard other many others back uh you were you were planning and thinking we can make a run again correct absolutely yeah you know and we had a senior dinner like we always do every year and one of the things you know we talked about is what do we need to do differently if anything um and had that conversation um we actually
• 5:23
  in the off season decided, you know what, because we have such veteran leadership and honestly, they kind of gave me a little bit of pushback with it, but I thought it was best for them. But we started our off season a week later. You know, we didn't, we knew what we had coming back.
• 5:38
  We knew that the season was actually being lengthened this year due to some changes in the IFSA and the state format. And we felt that we needed to start a week later or a month later in terms of our off-season stuff. But we knew that the people we had coming back, the players, the pitching we had coming back, if we played to our potential, we were going to make another run. Your ability to manage not only
• 6:05
  the time together with your team but manage the time off as i i've still said one of your strong suits and is that for you will based on experience something you learned from a coach or is that gut instinct uh i a little bit of everything um you know in my earlier years and you know this when you first start coaching if you could go back and maybe change some of those things oh my gosh i can't believe i did that i can't believe i said that um yeah but just the
• 6:34
  being around it long enough and you kind of have you have a pulse on your team you do and our schedule is a gauntlet and when we get those opportunities i try to give our kids two days off a week one of them being a sunday obviously and then we're going to find that day during the week that we can take that day off so if we get some rain coming
• 6:56
  We're going to take the day off or we're going to be very quick in the gym. We'll be 45 minutes in the gym. And those are sometimes you can consider off days, too, when you just come in, you hit and you get real quick. So, yeah, that's something I think is important, especially when you're around each other, you know, for four months. You know, it truly is like a family. You even get tired of your family sometimes. Oh, for sure. You know, you're in a long car ride, you know, on vacation. And by the time you're.
• 7:25
  By the time you're pulling into your destination, you're ready to get out of the car. We are going to have a great time. Or else. You have to be aware of that type of stuff. If I don't want to practice, guess what? The girls don't want to practice. I think you're 100% right. I think some of it I learned from some coaches that I followed, even some from afar, like Alan Martin at DuCoin.
• 7:49
  I found out his practices were a lot shorter than mine, because as a young coach, I thought practicing longer was better. And then I find out, well, his practices as the year went on got shorter and shorter. That's why his teams were fresh, you know, in the playoffs. But I think some of it was just a finger on the pulse. I could tell when my players, I just, I can't explain it sometimes, but they needed a break, maybe from me, or maybe I'm the one that needed a break. So as a player, when he offers to start later, or he offers days off,
• 8:19
  How did you feel about it? Honestly, as a group, I think we always need it. But as a player, I'm always like, why aren't we practicing? Because we're always like, we need practice. We want to practice. We want to get better. A day off to me is like, OK, now I'm behind. But I'm thinking now that I see that point of view, it's like.
• 8:39
  it's good for us because in reality we're girls and we do get sick of each other sometimes and we do need that break from each other so i know it's a good thing for us there was a i knew i knew we had something special you know coming into the season but after the red bug game the super sectional we're in our team huddle and i i you know i was fired up and i said how about a day off and half of the team was like no
• 9:08
  Like, you're supposed to be excited about that. And I'm like, well, we're going to take the day off. That was the one day I was like, why am I not pregnant? No, I got off the bus one time after we played Olthoff, and I believe we were undefeated at the time. And I was fired up. They were fired up. Our bus stopped to eat. And I'm excited, and I'm thinking, man, I just feel like we could just, I said, we're going to take a day off. And they mutinied on me.
• 9:35
  And I look back now, I still think we should have taken it. But they absolutely refused and said, no way, coach. We're rolling. Let's don't break our rhythm. Maybe they were. I don't know. But I feel like sometimes you need to listen to the players, and sometimes you need to trust your own gut. So there's a fine line there. So this senior class is the winningest class in school history. Congratulations on that, too. 134-12-1. Tell me about the one. Well.
• 10:04
  Your freshman year, remember this? We go to Chatham-Glenwood. Oh, my gosh. We give up nine runs in the first inning. I think it was the worst game I've ever played in my life. Sorry to bring this up. I brought up this game. She got slugged. After one inning, it's nine to nothing.
• 10:25
  We're getting smacked. And they're a great program. Very good. They just lost, you know, the state championship game. They were ranked number one in 3A all year long. They're a fantastic program. I really enjoy their coach. That's for another time, though. So we're there, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. And so we just kind of start chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. And all of a sudden, it's 9-9.
• 10:49
  Then all of a sudden, we take the lead. And I'm like, oh. Is she still pitching? Nope. No. No. Okay, that's all right. I think we got her out in like the second inning. Okay, all right. No, no, no, no. No, the first inning. The first inning. We got her out in the first inning. Forget that story. We'll edit that out. So, you know, then they come up to bat and hit a three-run home run, tie the game. And if you've ever been on their field, I mean, it's the size of this parking lot. Really? Yeah, I mean, we'd have a lot of home run records, you know. Yeah. But then all of a sudden, lightning strikes. Like, oh.
• 11:18
  My gosh, we have a whole nother game to play after this. And then you can just see the rain coming. He's like, it's going to clear out of here in about an hour and a half. He said, we can wait it out.
• 11:27
  And this is what I like about their coach. He goes, we can just call it a tie. It's a good thing for both teams. Different classes. Okay, that makes sense. And we both spoke to each other's team afterwards. Now I really like him a lot. And that was the one tie. Tough to walk away, though, with a tie. It was. But it ended in a good way because it showed that we had some dog in us. I was just curious. You don't see that very often. But the phenomenal, the 134 and 12.
• 11:54
  And to come back like that, that says a lot. Four conference titles in four years, four regional titles, three sectional titles, three super sectional titles, a second place finish in 2025. And then you've got state titles in 2024 and 2026. That's a heck of a group. What do you say about your teammates, your senior teammates? They're pretty special. I mean, we've played together since.
• 12:22
  eight you that's what we always talk about is like the chemistry i feel like a lot of people don't have that and it's really special to have such a good bond and i mean that's what really makes us so close we all sit at the same lunch table we did for four years too yeah and it's like we're friends on and off the field too we talk about softball at lunch everywhere i mean maybe you shouldn't do that you should take a little break from it but yeah it's just the fact that how close we are yeah and that and that bond begin when you were eight
• 12:52
  Oh, yeah. I mean, we'd play Carterville Crush together forever, and then we'd go off and play junior high and then high school. Yeah, that's cool. I hear that a lot among coaches that have these special teams, and I know the ones that I coached, even the team in Carterville that won the title, they've been playing youth football together. There was a bond already formed before I got there. And some teams have that because of their past. Some teams...
• 13:17
  Just never had that opportunity. But when you get it, it can make a big difference. Amen to that. Let's talk about the work ethic real quick. I mean, obviously, you've got girls that are arguing about it a day off. And, I mean, you know, that's pretty special in itself. This team, and what I've noticed, is they're just real netless with their work ethic. You know, had multiple players in the last couple days. And this is, you know, typical. Okay, can you unlock the field?
• 13:47
  Can you open up the closet? We're going to hit tonight. We're going to throw tonight. Absolutely. Like I said, we had that whirlwind of a week last week. We come in and our entire team is there hosting 80 campers today and yesterday, and no one complained. They're workers, and that's something we talk about a lot.
• 14:10
  If you want to do something special, you have to be relentless in your pursuit of it. And that's what these girls have done. That's what they've done their entire careers. And, you know, it culminated, you know, perfectly for them with this nether state championship. It's good to see that kind of effort get rewarded because it doesn't always. And we talked a little bit, too, before. You know, Cadence is leaving tomorrow for Kansas City. We've got, you know, five or six other players that are already in Kansas City playing. I mean, the grind just doesn't stop for them.
• 14:40
  what stands out as far as when you think about the price you've paid to do all this and and the the commitment to it um what do you tell me about your family sacrifices because this has to be something that you just didn't do this i mean mom and dad and siblings if you have siblings everybody has to be involved in what it took to get you here i assume um all the weekends in the summer like the money is
• 15:10
  it's kind of ridiculous if you think about it like the weekends the commitment i mean my dad taking off work using his vacation days you call them my mom like literally sitting on a bucket just catching me 24 7 like getting hit in the shins by like all of the little things that people don't realize i think and like the traveling all the stuff just adds up it really does and sometimes i do take it for granted like
• 15:39
  and i get mad like sometimes and i need to just realize like they just genuinely want the best for me and so yeah just all the commitment my family has sacrificed a ton i mean and honestly my brother like he has sacrificed a lot for me too for me to be where i am he hasn't got yes he hasn't got the same opportunities i mean he did have an injury but at the same time
• 16:04
  i feel like he kind of gets put on the back burner a little bit because it's like cadence is here cadence is here she's doing this so it's like he's put behind a little bit because of me i love your honesty about that and i and i appreciate you sharing their sacrifices but i think i think be easy on yourself because i think sometimes you'll think back about i took it for granted but when you're young and that's all you know as a kid you might expect this is what everyone gets and then later on you and as you get older you go no
• 16:33
  This was special. My parents made a lot of sacrifices, so I appreciate you sharing that. I'm pretty proud of the fact that you are intentional about the culture of your program. And I'm wondering, you know, one of the things you do really well is you're proactive about heading things off. And you shared a little bit about what you thought about the coming season, but was there anything else that stood out that you said?
• 17:00
  I'm going to have to be really focused on this ahead of time. And how do I fix that or how do I head that off? Yeah, you know, I think one of the things that I really had to be intentional with or we as a staff had to be intentional with was how do we keep our, you know, our first-team All-State catcher healthy. And she's elite.
• 17:20
  And one of our concerns was, in the offseason, how are we going to get her off her feet? How are we going to save her innings? Because if something were to happen to her, we'd be in a world of hurt. And one of the things that we made sure we did, she's our best baserunner, but...
• 17:35
  You know what? You're the catcher. Guess what? And games that we don't feel that have a lot of meaning, we're taking you off the bases when you're on base. And, you know, she's on base a lot. Yeah. You know, we were blessed with, you know, the great pitching we had between her and Taryn. If it's a 2-0, 3-0 game in the third inning, guess what? We're going to take our catcher out just to save, you know, those knees, save those innings.
• 17:58
  And, you know, I was about kicking myself. We're down in McCracken County, and it's the first time, this is in early May, that I pretty much let Colby run the bases. Like I said, she is fantastic on the bases. She's running them in the state championship, and I think she had three stolen bases that game. But, you know, she got aggressive on the bases and dived back headfirst, and I just see her do this to her fingers. I'm like, that's it.
• 18:21
  that's it and i said but you know fortunately she just ripped her entire fingernail off but she it's just a finger she gets the fake nails like oh yeah you know she toughed it out i was so proud of her for that you know the other things we got to look at too and that we were able to do because of the pitching that we had you know we we had you know a competition at short we had a competition at first um we basically just rotate them game by game by game and switching them and switching them
• 18:50
  We thought of that ahead of time. Correct. And like we'd have a game, you know, we were at Carmine and one of those first basemen hit a home run. Well, guess what? Next game, she wasn't in the lineup. The other first baseman got their opportunity at Marion and she hit a home run. It was, but it was, we were able to do those things because of the pitching that we had with her and Taryn. Yeah, because she's not going to let people score. Right.
• 19:17
  And what a luxury to have. To coach from that vantage point is pretty awesome. Well, I appreciate you sharing this. I often tell people when I've done this is 70 plus episodes, interviewed a lot of very amazing people who had great careers. And one of the things I share about you is the fact your ability to anticipate what is coming.
• 19:39
  Thomas Carlyle, this is the history guy in me, back in the 1800s, Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish essayist, and he, I'm going to paraphrase this, he had a quote, but I'll paraphrase what he said. He said, we handle as people adversity better than people think they do. I mean, we overcome natural disasters, we overcome financial ruin, we often bounce back better than we think. We don't like adversity, but we're actually pretty good at it.
• 20:03
  But he said, what we don't handle well is success. He said, I only think one out of every hundred people handle success well. And the reason I say this is because you have found a way to handle success well. Because winning the state championship is a big deal. The only thing harder is winning another one. So my question, I'll start with you, Cadence. There's a lot of traps in success.
• 20:32
  when you're as good as you are and this team is as good as they are it's easy to let things slide get complacent get arrogant get cocky uh start thinking of self how did you guys avoid that i think the two things are is like you stay one you got to stay super competitive and you work really hard and then the other is you just got to play for each other like that's really all you can do and you can't let the success like take over like okay we beat
• 21:04
  them, but it's the next game. You can't keep thinking about, yeah, we beat them or yeah, we won state in 2024. Like that's great and all, but we want to win it again. Like that's, you got to think about one game at a time mentality, but also like you can't dwell on that win, you know? So you feel like your team had the ability to win and then put it aside and go and think about the next one. Because I think that's a struggle for a lot of teams.
• 21:31
  And it's a struggle for our players. And the fact that you guys could do that, a lot of that's on you, your ability to teach that, train that in them. Go ahead. Well, I mean, for me, it's you have to stay disciplined. You have to stay grounded in your process. And our process is...
• 21:49
  in our practices, I believe. And, you know, like you said, we have a big win against somebody. Well, unfortunately, our next game might be against the 4A state champions or the 3A state runner-up for two games. So we couldn't get too excited about a win because we had somebody better who was coming to town next or we were going somewhere else. So we had to make sure that, you know, our practices, you know, simulated game speed. And I think that's where we have our successes.
• 22:15
  We have light days. I mean, you have to have light days physically and mentally. But our foot was always on the gas. When I say our foot, their foot was always on the gas. Our practices are open, and we invite anybody to come. But just the competitiveness and the energy. We always talk about if there was somebody who would have come in our parking lot and had never seen Carterville softball, what do we want them to say when they leave that parking lot without us?
• 22:44
  I just think these girls took that to heart and ran with it. So that practice time had a certain level of expectation to it that you maintained and you guys expected from yourselves that there was no chance to let this thing slide. And I think that's the fact you've had so much success in the four years you've been there and the years you've been coaching, it fascinates me that ability to stay at that level is so hard to do.
• 23:12
  And I love the fact that you guys have been able to do that. How often are players involved in decisions for you? They probably don't realize it, but quite a bit. I mean, how often do you and I communicate about your bullpens and what you need? We talked about, you know, we had a dinner with the seniors early on in the preseason. I was like, what do we need to do more of? What do you want to see in our practices? In fact, I think in the last month, we let them play in practice.
• 23:42
  And, you know, I'm thinking, okay, let's see what this looks like. And we get, I don't know where we were coming from, but we get to the parking. That's a late night. We get in the parking lot. I drop them off. And then I had a message that had our practice plan for the next day on there. So, I mean, so our players are very integral in what we're doing and try to get a pulse and get their feedback. And so they're very involved. Is that will based very much on your trust in this group? Maybe.
• 24:11
  maybe less input in a group that doesn't have their experience or their work ethic. But for this group, let me have it. The practice they planned was fantastic. Actually, I think afterwards I said, do you guys just want to finish it out and play the rest of it? That's cool. So you grew up, are you from Carterville? Born and raised? What did you grow up playing? Softball, obviously. But did you play other sports?
• 24:39
  I did cheer when I was little, and then I was just like, this is not for me. I'd play my brother in basketball, and I'm like, okay, I want to beat him. And I was like, I'm done with cheer. I'm joining that side of the sports atmosphere, whatever. Played volleyball, and then those were the only other two sports. I did soccer, but that was not my cup of tea. Too much running. Yeah.
• 25:01
  And then I played basketball for two years in high school. I played basketball and volleyball all three years of junior high. I really enjoyed it, actually. And then basketball I kind of just let go of to focus more on softball solely. And, yeah, I enjoyed it. I played softball, though, since I was probably four years old. When did you start pitching? Eight years old. I was, like, a month before my eighth birthday. So tell me about...
• 25:30
  Where did you learn this craft at a young age? Well, I saw it, obviously. Like I said, I would literally sit and watch the older girls from Latchkey, which is the aftercare program at Carterville. And so the fence is, like, set up perfectly for you to just watch the Carterville girls play softball. And, you know, when you're watching them, it's like me watching the World Series now. Like, you think these girls are the greatest thing in the whole world.
• 25:58
  So I'd watch them, and it's like, okay, I want to be them. Like, I really do. That is so good. And when I'm saying this, like, I'm not making this up. And so I went home, and then I'd look up Jenny Finch. She was, like, my idol. And I thought she was amazing. So then after that, I kind of got into it a little bit. And then Brittany Ashton, which is Coach Ashton, who is our coach, we ran into Nick Bonner at Dick's Sporting Goods, which is Mrs. Forby. That's right. Principal at.
• 26:27
  Carterville her son. Yep. We ran into him at Dick's and he kind of got us connected to Brittany So that's how we met her and then all that and he's like, okay I'll give you lessons and then she can give you pitching lessons So he gave me like fielding lessons and that's that she gave me pitching lessons and then that's how it all Unfolded and then it's like you kind of build all these connections on the way and like
• 26:54
  It was in Brittany's wedding, and then we went to the Bonner's wedding, and it's just like, it's kind of crazy how it all is. We still stay in contact with them all the time. Was there an aha moment where you said, I'm pretty good at this? Looking back at videos, I'm like, wow, you were really bad. But now I'm like, no, maybe you were good. Honestly, I always just could kind of throw hard, and my arm would just whip it in there somehow. I don't know. I was always a little bit of a bigger girl, so I could.
• 27:21
  when i would just strike batters out it was fun and then i was like hey you're kind of good and then my speed kind of caught everyone could catch up to your speed so then you got to start working on spin and all the change-ups and all that stuff but probably when i was like 10 you yeah i would say around that age you have a best pitch change-up it's nasty you got three really good ones well as good as she is i assume she's probably got they're all good pitches but
• 27:50
  But, yeah, everybody maybe has this one pitch, their signature pitch. You know, I asked you a question ahead of time, and I hope you understood it. But as good as you are and everyone you're going to play against, I mean, they know you. Did you feel like they tried to do something different against you because it was you? And I mean like, and you can answer too, a lineup change, a hitting approach. Were teams forced?
• 28:21
  to change the way they approached hitting because of you to try to either throw you off or Get out of what they normally do which didn't work against you and they tried something different Well, I've been kind of answers and you know, I'd love to know we always talk about a little bit about film Okay, and he's always like did you watch this film? No, I don't watch film
• 28:46
  Because I'm like the person who just goes in there and just pitches. Like I just would rather not watch it and just do what I want to do. Not do what I want to do, but just do my thing, kind of. And so I guess not really necessarily. I mean, if they did, I wouldn't know. So that's my problem. The reason I ask that is because I know in some sports, in baseball and different things, teams will do things against an elite player.
• 29:12
  because they don't think that what they normally do can win. And I've seen teams in football who think they can't beat a team. They'll try to run the ball and control the clock and not let that great offense they have get on the field. You know what I mean? It's not what they normally do, but they throw out their normal plan and say, the only chance we got is this. And I just wondered if you ever saw that, but you don't think you did. Teams came out and just, well, I'll tell you, I've told you.
• 29:41
  how I would attack our pitchers if I was coaching against them. And you can say it now. Honestly, I would bunt 21 times. Okay, that's why I'm asking. Because that's what I'm thinking. I'm sitting here thinking, if I can't hit her, I'm going to make her field 20 bunts. And that's the thing. And it may not work. Right. And there's a fine line with that. You also want your kids to feel like they have a shot at winning.
• 30:10
  And to say you're going to come out and bunt 21 times, you know, that's probably a little exaggerated. But the players didn't think you don't believe in this. Correct. You know, but in terms of what she is going to do in the circle, and people have asked us about this, is we are going to pitch to her strengths. We aren't going to change anything we do defensively or with her in the circle, with T in the circle. We're going to pitch to their strengths, and regardless of what they're good at, and not.
• 30:37
  pitch to necessarily our weaknesses. We're going to do what they're good at. Okay. That makes sense. I mean, Cadence, how did you deal with success? I mean, you start getting accolades at a young age about how good you are. How did you handle the pressure and the expectations that were coming at you when people say, oh, this is Cadence. She's amazing. And then you've got to take that onto the mound. Did you feel that pressure to deal with expectations?
• 31:06
  Not really, honestly. I kind of just play the game. I really don't. One of the things I used to describe her in terms of when she's in the circle is she is so calm. She takes that into her. You have kids who are rollercoaster. When they're up, they're up. When it gets down, it gets down. If you watch her pitch and you watch her do her craft.
• 31:34
  you know she's gonna throw the pitch she's gonna get it she's gonna take a walk back to the back of the circle she's gonna get her rosin just completely calm the entire time and you know that's how she goes about you know her success as well is that you or did you learn that or both i think it's just me as a person i feel like i'm just like a laid-back person for the most part i don't really not an emotional person it's it's a fascinating thing uh to study elite athletes because
• 32:04
  So she has this competitive spirit, but yet you have a very laid-back personality. That is a deadly combination. Because my next question is related to this, and I hope I'm not asking you to repeat something you've already said, but you're facing these pressure moments, the last out of a big game against Chatham or against Seneca or whoever, and do you feel elevated heart rate, or do you feel...
• 32:34
  Kind of the same in that moment as you did in the first inning. Okay, so I kind of, I feel it a little bit, but I like the feeling. So it's like, I like having the feeling of pressure, and it makes me want to compete even more. See, this is why she's great. I mean, and then add that as the third thing. So she's calm, but she's competitive, and she likes the pressure.
• 33:06
  When there's a runner on second and third, it's like, okay, I'm striking this batter out. I'm not letting them score like this. So go find some more players that have those three. Got it. What do you do to try to lead? Whether you like it or not, and I know you know this, you're a leader. Just because of the position you play, kind of the spotlight's on you, the program is elite. Are there anything specifically you do to try to lead?
• 33:35
  I try to lead by example a lot. Like I try to carry the equipment or do more do than rather say, which I need to be better about telling people what to do rather than just doing it for them. Right. But I think, yeah, I think it's getting better about opening my mouth a little bit more. But yeah, I try to just show them how to do it a little bit more. Well, that's going to go further than just the words. But yeah, you got to do the.
• 34:03
  You've got to walk the walk first, and I think that's pretty cool. Your mental prep before a game, when does that start? Does it start in school, after school? Does it start during pregame? When does the mental prep, when you know I've got to throw the switch, when does that start for you? I would say about three hours before the game. I'm like, okay. Honestly, if it's like a Saturday game.
• 34:31
  probably about four hours before the game because I start about after school ended I started waking up about 6 a.m. It was not good. I started becoming like him and a little crazy about it and my mom's like you need to get some sleep. I'm like I can't sleep like I'm just thinking about the game getting antsy but then I so I always listen to my Christian music before a game like I'll drive around for like 30 minutes and just listen to it and it's very like
• 34:58
  calming for me yeah so that's probably my like mental prep and i don't really mentally prep necessarily i just calm myself i don't know how that's great no that's perfect so your faith is an important part of who you are um and so the music does something to your spirit that you feel like helps prepare you so can you can you expand on that how the faith part works and who you are as an athlete um
• 35:28
  So I always kind of say this, whether I strike out or strike someone out, God does not care about my performance necessarily because my identity is not in softball. It's me as a person. So I think that always helps me is softball is not who I am. And no matter whether if I go home and my mom's like, you did bad, or my dad's like, you did bad, or you did good, or whatever, it doesn't matter at the end of the day. Like, yeah, we won that game, but...
• 35:58
  at the same time it feels great but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things like in 30 years from now that win is not going to mean really nobody will care right yeah no no it'll still be cool trust me it'll still be cool but i i love that i love that perspective because i think there's this belief and and i've fought it um
• 36:27
  That somehow following your faith and following Jesus would make you less competitive. And I couldn't find anything to be more untrue. I feel like if your identity is in Christ, it actually frees you up to not have the things that others can sometimes cling to. And you say, I don't have to worry about that. Failure doesn't scare me because that's not going to change.
• 36:55
  It's what happens to me, but it's not who I am, right? And so I think that's the cool perspective. I'm glad you shared that, and I appreciate you being open about that. That's cool. The biggest challenge, I think, for the program in the next step, because you've had this run, and what's the biggest challenge for you as a coach as you enjoy this and you get a chance to reflect and take a deep breath?
• 37:21
  I'm not asking you to be proactive today about next year, but what do you, I'm sure, I know, right? It never stops. I'll never forget Keith Liddell walking into my classroom one time, and we're in the middle of the season, and he looks at me, I'm working at my desk, and he goes, what are you doing? The kids are watching a film, and he goes, what is that? I go, it's a death chart for next year. So it was like the 97 or 98 season, and I had the 99 death chart for, okay, and I was already, isn't that?
• 37:49
  But that's what you do, right? It is. And, you know, as coaches, we fall victim to, you know, we can't live in the moment. You're always thinking ahead. And sometimes, I think sometimes as coaches, we think in negatives, even though we don't portray it to the players. You know, we're always thinking worst case scenario. But, you know, in terms, you said it earlier, you know, getting there is hard for sure. But staying there is even harder. And I just think it's just.
• 38:18
  I have to continue, we have to continue as a staff to just that relentless approach. You know, I'll sit down here in about a week or so when everything's calmed down and then I'll be doing that depth chart that I, actually I'll be checking it again because it's already done. But we'll be going over that. Okay, now how are we going to approach this? Okay, let's start thinking about scheduling.
• 38:41
  How does our scheduling fit from this year? Can we carry that over to next year? So those types of questions and those types of things are going to be what's, you know, as we move forward. Of course. What's the biggest takeaway for you in your softball career? What do you feel like you take from being a softball player at Carterville the last four years? Like what? Expand on that one. Like you're going to leave the program, going to go on to the University of Illinois in life.
• 39:11
  What things do you feel like you took away from the program that is going to help you in life beyond Carterville? How to face adversity. He did a great job at helping me with that, definitely. I think when something is just thrown at you, he's always like, this is how we face adversity. I'm like, yeah, that's right. That's good. This is how we face adversity. This year, I gained a little more confidence, I feel like.
• 39:39
  I was not a very confident player deep down. I might have portrayed it, but I really didn't go out there. And you see all the Jordy Balls and the Tee and Kavons, and they're super hype after they get a strikeout or something. But I feel like I want to strive to be more like them in that sort of way. So I feel like this year I had a little more confidence when I was pitching at that sort of thing. So I feel like taking those things out into the big world will help me a little bit more.
• 40:08
  Because life is going to be full of adversity. And that ability to see adversity as an opportunity, not only to grow and get better, but, you know, I can handle this, you know, and it's going to happen. And I'm afraid we have too many people that spend their life trying to avoid adversity or help their kids avoid it. And that's not reality. And you better learn how to handle it. And I love the fact that you feel like playing sports has helped you.
• 40:37
  understand that. That's really cool. What would you, what advice would you, do you give or would you give or are you giving to young softball athletes that are looking up to you? Seven, eight, nine year old, whatever. What do you say to them? My first piece of advice would just be to take in every single moment. Now that I'm here going to college, it's crazy how quick it went by. And then my next piece of advice would be
• 41:02
  You're going to fail so many more times than you're going to succeed. But the way you handle the failure is you can't just quit from failing. Like you can't get an injury because you failed or make up one because you failed. You have to turn that into motivation, which is what I tell a lot of my pitching girls. We can't focus on the result 24-7. They're always worried about pitching the strike. But if you change your form, that's what's good about that pitch.
• 41:32
  So I think it's what you're making or what you're doing. It's not necessarily because it was a ball. You did something well out of it, so it was successful. And I think that's what a lot of people, they find so many things that are bad nowadays, and then they just want to quit. And you can't quit. You just got to keep pushing through it. So you just, you have to keep going and going and going.
• 41:57
  failure can't just be the end of everything. Yeah, I mean, it's such a great point. I love the fact that you would look at a young person and say, you've got to persevere through it because so many people quit right at that point of they're about to have a breakthrough, and they give up, and it's there. And if you have adversity, maybe it's teaching you to take a little different path or train a little different or do something different, but I appreciate that. What has been,
• 42:28
  Your decision to play at the University of Illinois has been made. Why Illinois? Honestly, I like the school a lot. It was just closer to home. But I will say this. I had a difficult recruiting process. A lot of people don't necessarily know that, and it doesn't bother me to share it. But I traveled all the year before going into the recruiting process. It was kind of a whirlwind.
• 42:56
  trying to do all the recruiting. I didn't have, I kind of did a lot of it by myself. And so I pursued Illinois a ton and pushed at it a ton. And then it finally did happen, but it was just a very, very long process. It wasn't rainbows and butterflies like some people make it out to be. And I kept going through it though. I didn't give up and I just wasn't like, okay, I'm not going there. I'm going to commit to somewhere else I don't want to go to. I kept pursuing what I wanted. And so I think that's also part of
• 43:25
  I think that's how my journey's always been, though, is just keep going through it. And it will happen. It will come true. So I think that's a good piece of advice is just keep pushing through. That's great. So it was your advice to players, but it's also something you've lived in the recruiting process. You did a campus visit, obviously. I get this a lot on this podcast. Did that visit to Illinois...
• 43:52
  help make that decision for you did you feel something there like this is where i'm supposed to be i mean obviously it felt great there like okay but i honestly had my mind set on it like i really just before illinois yeah like they were about the only school i wanted to go that's really interesting and you had i'm sure you have many options and many opportunities but you chose that one that's the one you wanted um what are you going to study elementary education wow okay it's in the
• 44:22
  Plans. Proactive. Okay. Got four or five years. Got to make sure there's a spot, right? You're already looking at retirement and saying, let's see. That's great. Would you come back to Carterville? Probably. Yeah. I'm a homebody. That's okay because, I mean, a lot of young people, I'm doing summer school right now, and I ask them, stay in Marion or go? And most of them at a young age say, oh, I'm getting out of here, you know, and then half of them will end up right back here.
• 44:50
  But I understand that, the desire to go see the world or something bigger and better. But you might consider coming back if the opportunities were here. Yeah. Yeah, wouldn't make a bad pitching coach, man. Head coach, too. Yeah, right. Be a great one. Right, because, you know, right. This is a – I don't mean to embarrass him, but what's the best part of playing for Will Cappy? He, like, he pushes you to be your best. And I think that's –
• 45:18
  what everyone needs as a player. It's like, okay, he always says don't be soft, which is what people need genuinely in this generation. Oh, for sure. Like, you don't need someone to tell you it's okay, it's going to be okay. Like, no, it's not. You need someone to tell you, like, work hard. And his practices are tough. Like, Kinsey, my pitching coach is Kinsey Bennett, and she was, like, saying how his practices are ran more like a college practice. Yeah.
• 45:43
  That's why I think this program is so successful is because of how everything is ran so well. And I definitely think that is one of the best things. You feel you are very prepared for the University of Illinois experience because of the program you're coming out of. And I'm sure they expect that, too. And, yeah, I've talked to, like, Kendall and Maddie, and they've said how our practices did help them going into college. That's good news, man. Congratulations. That's a big deal because when your players go off.
• 46:12
  and come back and tell you I was prepared at the next level because of what we do here, that is a great feeling. And that's a tribute to you. And I don't have enough. I mean, I'm so proud of you. And you know that. We go back a long time ago when you were my left-handed quarterback. And, man, you've come so far. And we did the podcast earlier. We talked about your journey. And I've learned a lot.
• 46:42
  from you listening to what you've done, and I'm really proud of the elite status, national ranking, state championships, man. There's nobody, and I say this to you, Cadence, they'll have a conversation someday about the greatest athletes in Southern Illinois history. You could be at the very top of that list of the all-time, all-sport athletes.
• 47:07
  And your resume is there to prove it. I mean, football, basketball, baseball, put them all in a pile and say, who's the best of that group? You could be number one. And I thank you for being here today. I appreciate your faith, your being candid, your honesty. Man, congratulations on a great career. And congratulations on the person you are, not just the player.
• 47:31
  Because the person is what really stands out to me. And man, I'm so glad you said yes to being here. And you came back a second time. So that's awesome, man. And thank you for, you know, I know I sometimes probably annoy you with some of the texts that I send you. But I think every coach has got to have a counsel outside of his own staff. And I appreciate you giving me feedback and advice whenever I ask. I am always.
• 47:55
  honored and privileged to get a text from you and just that you think I might have some advice that might help. Man, I love it. So anytime.
• 48:06
  day or night, you let me know. And wish you all the best at Illinois, too. Keep watching for those Eagles, too. I always do, man. Every time I see one, I say, man, I wish Will was here. Yeah. We'll keep watching those Eagles. Hey, thanks again for joining us. I want to thank Cadence and I want to thank Coach Cappy for being here. And what a great conversation. You know, a lot of coaches come on here and they drop a lot of wisdom. And you've done it. But, man, she dropped a lot of wisdom.
• 48:34
  for an 18 year old to come in here and talk like that about her career and her approach to the game that's big time stuff so thanks for watching thanks to ross and abby crown brew my buddies at adrenaline uh wedding videography and photography from these two as always and my buddy tony gooch at marion plumbing it's awesome and a privilege to be here and to talk to the best of the best and what this business is about
• 49:01
  high school athletics, college athletics, and the people that make it special. So thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.