The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Getting to know Softball's Erica Wright
02.26.2015 | Softball
Freshman pitcher leads Texas in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and shutouts in 2015
By Ian Shogren, Texas Media Relations
AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman Erica Wright has already proven to be a vital part of the Longhorns' pitching rotation through the first 15 games of the 2015 season, appearing in nine games while amassing a 3-3 record. Her 1.89 ERA, 28 strikeouts, 40.2 innings pitched, four complete games and two solo shutouts lead the Longhorns in each category.
Wright's best game of her brief career came in Texas' opening contest at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Feb. 19th, as the Longhorns handed No. 8/7 Georgia its first defeat of the season, 5-0. Wright spun a three-hit shutout against the Bulldogs, while the win marked her second over a ranked opponent in three weeks after defeating No. 16 Arizona State back on Feb. 8th, 9-4.
The Huntington, Texas, native was a highly-recruited player out of Huntington High School as a four-time Texas Sports Writers Association (TXSWA) all-state performer. During her senior campaign in 2014, Wright posted a sparkling 31-2 record from the circle with a 0.50 ERA over 199.1 innings and recorded 441 strikeouts to give her 1,013 K's in her career.
TexasSports.com recently sat down with the Texas freshman to learn a little more about her:
On being recruited by Texas: "I chose Texas because of my dad. My dad was a really big UT fan, and growing up, I was a big Texas fan. When I was deciding, I really thought I didn't know where I wanted to go – even though I really did. We had a meeting to discuss my offer with Coach [Corrie] Hill and she said, 'If you commit, I want you to call Coach [Connie] Clark at three in the morning and wake her up and tell her.' I prayed for a sign, and that night I woke up at 2:40 a.m. in the morning and saw that as a sign. When I called coach, I expected her to be groggy, but she was peppy. She said, 'I had a feeling you would call.' I'm glad she was happy when I called and not grumpy."
On wearing the Texas uniform: "It's really awesome. When I was a sophomore in high school, I felt like this time would never come. I would watch games and think how much I couldn't wait to be at Texas. Now that I'm here, it's everything I expected. It's awesome."
On differences between high school and college: "In high school, if I didn't strike out at least 16, it was a failed game. Now if I strike out two, I think that's fine. The hitters are just so much better because it's the best of the best. That's definitely a big difference, just the competition."
On expectations for 2015: "Team-wise our expectation is to win the Big 12 and then go to the Women's College World Series and win that if we can. My personal goal is to just go out there and attack. That's my word of the year, to attack. I've been walking too many people. I'm just going to go out there and attack batters. Hopefully, I'll make ground balls and some fly balls happen and just let my defense work for me."
On Austin/UT: "I like living on campus because everything is so close. Restaurants are close. The weight rooms are close. Classes are decently close, and if they aren't, there are buses that can take you to them. They say its 40 acres – and 40 acres is a lot of acres – but it's all close together, so it's not terrible to get around to places."
On what the coaches have helped her work on: "Probably my mental game so far, and that also has to do with the attacking. I have to just go at them, because you can't just pitch around these batters. I feel like the strike zone is a little bit tighter than in high school. Players just have a better eye, and they know what they are looking for. I've also been working more on my flip changeup. We've been working on that pretty much all fall and up to now. Hopefully that will be really good soon."
Head coach Connie Clark on Wright: "Erica is feisty and competitive as heck and has a little bit of a wild thing mentality going on. Batters don't like to dig into the box on her because she's got great velocity and will put a little bit of fear in the hitter. Her competitiveness really stands out."
