Rocky: 0:15

The.

Coach Emily Cowell: 0:35

Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Rock Pile here Tonight. The Rock Pile brings you a special edition of the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch, different day and time Tonight. I wanted to get Coach Cowan tonight before their big regional game this weekend, so I'm excited to talk to her. I got a lot of good stuff for her tonight. I went back and actually watched. I spoke to Coach back in mid-April so I went back to watch that interview this week and I got a lot of stuff to bring up from that interview. But I'm really excited to talk to her. Bring up from that interview but I'm really excited to talk to her. And what a great story this RFA team has been this year and Coach has done a fantastic job in her first year with this group, so I'm excited to talk to her. If you're watching on Facebook, you're watching on YouTube, any of the social media channels if you have any questions for Coach and you put them in the comment box, I'll try to bring over some questions tonight. As many as I can Follow me on YouTube. Hit the subscribe button. All the stuff will be played back so you can make sure you don't miss anything from tonight's show. So, without further ado, let me bring Coach on. Coach, let me just switch us up here and there we go. How are you? I'm great, thank you. How are you? I'm doing pretty good.

Coach Emily Cowell: 1:45

I went back to our last interview. You and I spoke on April 13th and you were pretty much just getting off the bus from. You played the game against Shenandoah and Gilderland and I went back and I watched it and some of the stuff on there. I got to tell you you were pretty spot on for what you said then to where you are today and there's a few things I said. I said to you and I'm looking at my notes. I said what are some things this team needs to do to win sectionals? And you said no one they can win, expect to win, play with a chip on their shoulder, believe they belong and gain confidence. And I got to tell you, coach, I don't know you, but I followed you guys this season.

Speaker 3: 2:35

And they take after the personality of you. I appreciate that. I mean. No matter what I feel like, a team is always following the personality and the expectations of their coach, and that's the job of the coach, isn't it? You know what I mean. But it's not just me. Like my assistant coach, mark Beer, he's known these kids since they were little tykes in elementary school. He's been coaching them a long time too. It's both of us, it's the community, it's their parents, it's their travel ball coaches. They were built for this moment, and when I was talking to you about it back in April, it wasn't just a guess. We knew what we had to do and we went out and did it, and I am so extremely honored to have been part of the journey and the ones to help them walk across the finish line so far.

Coach Emily Cowell: 3:18

I know you were really confident too, because when I was talking to you about this team and I always joke with Coach Snyder, who's the Notre Dame girls basketball coach, and I tell him every year I'm like if you have any assistant coaching spots open, I'd love to come on, because every year these teams get younger and younger and they're really good. And you talked about your roster and you said you really just can't screw this thing up and you can really plug and play girls. The lineup from top to bottom is real good, but talk to us a little bit about because you do have a lot of young kids that played for you this year and you had some kids step up too.

Speaker 3: 3:53

Yeah, absolutely. You know a couple of young kids that have really stood out, obviously freshman Amelia Szymanski, in the circle, I mean she was my one and only ace on JV no offense to a junior that's also on the team this year. Emma Lopez she was our backup pitcher just in case last year on JV. But the way that she's been able to step up to this next level and throw the ball really well on defense we follow her lead and we always try to have her back in the batter's box and try and score her some runs because we know how hard she's working and how well she's throwing the ball. You know. Besides that, I would also have to mention sophomore Sage Pelton. This is her third year on varsity and she's really stepped up a lot, she's matured a lot and actually she's been put in some different positions a lot. And actually she's been put in some different positions. Like you know, she was a third baseman mainly for coach Klasinski the last couple of years and with the obvious addition of Haley Bostwick in our in our infield it's kind of been a domino effect with where some of the other girls are placed and Sage has kind of earned a spot over at second base and has played very well for us over there and she's kind of owning it.

Speaker 3: 5:12

And then also Gianna Greer. You know she's another one. She was on her first year of varsity last year, saw the field a little bit last year, was put in some big situations last year but you know she went out and earned a spot this year. She had to work, she had to battle with some other kids and in the end she got the confidence and she started doing some really great stuff in the hitting lineup and it earned her her spot.

Speaker 3: 5:39

And you know I always kind of joke with her a little bit because Gianna has always had a love for the infield. She loves being a middle infielder, she loves getting ground balls and being in the action in the infield. And she actually earned a spot in the outfield this year because of her speed and her ability to move side to side and go after some balls. And you know one thing that I've had to help coach her with is that a starting spot is a starting spot. You know what I mean Like go own it and be proud of what you've been able to accomplish. You know, and I know that from experience, when I was a freshman in college I had never played the outfield or any other position besides third base and shortstop. And my freshman year in college I ended up being a catcher, because our one and only catcher ended up dropping out.

Speaker 3: 6:30

And then, after that, my sophomore year, I ended up being a starting right fielder, you know you just own the spot, you just go out and play and, in my opinion and this is something that I've tried to say to all my kids it gives you a new respect for the game when you're able to play a bunch of different positions. So, you know, those are my three youngest players and they really stepped up and I'm proud of them.

Coach Emily Cowell: 6:52

One thing I remember talking with you about back in April was I really liked the confidence in your voice and as a coach, you got to be confident. I'm the same way. There wasn't a game on the schedule that I didn't think we could win.

Coach Emily Cowell: 7:05

We might've been outnumbered against some teams, but I you know that attitude and personality is contagious with with your players and I think right now, from when we talked in April, you told me you really learned something about this team after those two games against Gilderland and Shen. What have you learned the most about your team? Here you are coming off a section three title and then now you head into the regionals. Take me back to April. You got off that bus. What have you learned about this team at this point in the season?

Speaker 3: 7:37

The most important thing that I've learned about this team is that we're not just talk, we walk the walk. We believe what we say and we band together no matter what the situation is Something that I always harp with every single team that I coach, no matter what sport, no matter what level. It's the life lesson of there's always two things that you can control. And if, if any of my girls right now are watching, they're rolling their eyes going oh here we go again. Right they they've heard me say this a million times, but you know you don't really get it until you get it. But the two things that you can always control is attitude and effort. You know you can be down four runs, five runs and going into the top of the seventh.

Speaker 3: 8:15

When you just traveled to Syracuse, when we went to go play West Jenny in terrible weather, really, really difficult field conditions, wink, wink, but the umpires weren't on our side either. And we're down and you know what? We banded together and we ended up coming away with a 9-7 win. We're never out, it doesn't matter the score, we just play hard and it just. You know, you just feel good about your team when you can step into battle, even when you're down and you just keep playing hard. You know we all want to put the team on our back and we all want to just try our best and grind it out. Nobody's scared to play, and that's huge not playing with any fear.

Coach Emily Cowell: 9:01

And Coach, we talked about the TVL and I know you said the TVL was going to be really good this year, and again that statement couldn't be more true. I mean, whitesboro finished 13-2. New Hartford won 13 games, camden won 16 games, notre Dame won 11 games. And here you guys are too. Talk to us. I mean that TVL was brutal from start to finish.

Speaker 3: 9:22

Yeah, I actually I really love and appreciate how competitive our league is. You know, coming from somebody that played and coached at Herkimer College, you know we would kind of beat up on some teams in our conference and then we'd have to suddenly turn it on when we got to regional play. And when you're challenged all season long, it just sets you up and it just builds. You know you get to experience some things and you get to kind of learn what kind of team you are and you're not shocked when it comes to postseason play and end of season play, like how amazing is it that we got all these TVL teams, section champions, we got TVL teams that you know I mean wow, and how awesome is it for our local area. You know we're producing a lot of amazing athletes and listen all you college coaches out there.

Speaker 3: 10:17

Come see us play. Come see Utica Whitesboro, rome. Come see us play, because we have excellent athletes here in the Mohawk Valley. It's not just in Syracuse, it's not just in Rochester, it's not just in Section 2, albany. Come see us play because we can play.

Coach Emily Cowell: 10:32

Yeah, amen, I say that about all sports. We have a lot of good talent in this area across the entire Mohawk Valley, so I agree with you, coach. The other thing is, coach confidence. I mean winning's contagious right. I mean your team right now has that swag to them and you know, as you said, your team's never down and out. You get behind, your team finds a way to rally together and come back. And you've been ahead where you've stayed ahead. You've been behind where you've come back. How much confidence right now does this team have going into the weekend?

Speaker 3: 11:03

You know what, going into this weekend, I feel like we have maintained the same and I mean that in the best way possible, we're not making the moment too big, we're not getting too rallied up, because, you know, especially when it comes to postseason play, it's about what team shows up and what team gets over the hype, because if you start hyping something up, you start playing a little bit tighter. You know you start making mistakes. If you just show up and do what you've been doing all season and trust the process and trust your fundamentals and trust your routines, then you're going to show up and play, you know, and that's just something that we've just we've maintained that all season long and, and in times where we haven't, we've had to learn our lesson, you know? Um, so that's we. Just we sit back, we trust everything that we've done so far and we're just going to keep doing that this weekend.

Coach Emily Cowell: 11:53

How fun is your team having? I saw the little pie action in your face last night.

Speaker 3: 11:59

Yeah, actually, I think I still got a little bit of whipped cream in my eye.

Coach Emily Cowell: 12:04

I was like she's got to take the shades off, like she's got to get those sunglasses off. But how fun is your team having?

Speaker 3: 12:11

So much fun. How about this? I'll tell you this funny story. So we're at OCC for the semifinals and we're about ready to play Fayetteville Manlius and we've been so hungry for this game since the last time. This is our third time playing them this season and you know what, when you see a team three times, you just get a little extra hungry for that game. Yep.

Speaker 3: 12:33

And you know what I'm walking around, you know chatting with the girls and I actually brought our um game ball from the first ever game that we played this season, my first game as a varsity coach and our first win of the season. It was at home against fm, and I had all the girls sign it, because I'm really sentimental like that and I keep, I keep game balls like left and right.

Speaker 3: 12:57

But I walked through while they were all playing catch and I said touch the ball, because it's got good vibes on it and everybody's touching, touching, they're still throwing and whatnot. And I have a couple girls come up to me and go coach. I got it and they touched it and they went like this and they held it a little while longer. They're all wearing temporary tattoos of my ugly face on their arm.

Coach Emily Cowell: 13:24

That's awesome, though you gotta have some funny, you gotta have some laughs, it's a long season.

Speaker 3: 13:26

God, I love it. Yeah, man, I absolutely love it. I mean, it's just who we are and I wouldn't change them for the world. I love how they bust my chops. I mean I, you, everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes I'll I'll be trying to say something really serious and then I'll accidentally say something silly and they just they never let me get away with it, which is great. I mean I just love the chemistry of our team.

Coach Emily Cowell: 13:47

So, coach, I asked you about pitching too, and after that April bus, that bus trip there. When you got back and you said you had three, three pitchers and you know, I think you said Madison Saffin was like the Greg Maddox, she doesn't throw hard but she, you know, she hits her spots. And then you had so tossy to throws really hard. And then you got this freshman, Amelia, who's unbelievable, and she's only a freshman. Talk to us about this pitch and staff. That's really got you.

Speaker 3: 14:10

Yeah, I mean obviously I think, gosh, I'm such a sucker. Sometimes I want every kid to play all game. You know what I mean. It's really tough to make these decisions sometimes about who goes in the circle and who doesn't, and where else they're playing, and I want to get every kid in the game. But overall I'm so pleased with how each and every one of those girls have played and thrown, and you know I said it back in april and I'll say it again that you know these three are excellent pitchers and they all provide something different. You know and it's all based on um, who we're facing.

Speaker 3: 14:47

I think amelia has proved this season that she is as good as we expect her to be, um, and especially something with her style. Um, hitters have a really hard time picking up the ball. With her pitching style. You know the way that she releases the ball, the way that she loads up when she's ready to pitch, and she's proven that. I mean, you know you look back at her ERA. You look back just simply on how many walks she's had. She's she averages, I think, maybe only two walks a game, six or something like that.

Speaker 3: 15:17

A game. That's really cool, especially as a freshman, goodness you know. Same thing with Soph and Maddie. If you know, if Amelia isn't throwing or they're starting to time her up or anything, we know that we can go to either one of those two right away and the choice of who goes in the circle kind of depends on who we need in the infield. You know, sometimes Maddie, we need to keep her in the infield because we need to have her in that spot or whatever. Or sometimes we know that the hitter's style that we've seen so far, we know that they're not going to be able to catch up to Soph's fastball. You know, and actually speaking of pitchers, we actually brought up a JV player, seventh grader Wendy.

Coach Emily Cowell: 15:59

Reno, I was just going to bring it up, yep.

Speaker 3: 16:01

Yep. So, and I'll tell you what, coach Beer and I have looked at each other a few times and we didn't bring her up by accident. She deserves to be with us. She's thrown an incredible JV season. I mean, my goodness, I think. I think the lowest amount of strikeouts she had in a game in JV was maybe like 13 or 14. That's, you know, one or two every single inning. The girl throws, strikes. She throws really well, she hits her spots. She's got a great changeup. You know she does good stuff and she might only be 12, 13 years old, but she plays like she's been there and she deserves to be with us and we're not afraid to put her in the circle if we need to.

Coach Emily Cowell: 16:43

Yeah, I mean that's great signs for the future. You've got some young talent coming up, which is great. The program's going in a great direction it's in great shape.

Coach Emily Cowell: 16:52

So I want you to talk a little bit about your top three four hitters and your lineup is solid top to bottom. But I just want you to talk to me a little bit about Kennedy Campbell and what she brings to your table, and then Michaela Howard too, but again top to bottom. Haley Boswick this year, who didn't play much last year, but Madison's right there, but they're all juniors.

Speaker 3: 17:14

Yeah, man, we're very junior heavy. It's very exciting, obviously, knowing what we've been able to accomplish this year. They're all coming back next year as seniors and they have that experience, they have that chip on their shoulder as a senior. They've all produced extremely well for us. I mean, let's talk about Kennedy Campbell. That kid is a thorn in the other team's side. I mean, let's talk about Kennedy Campbell. That kid is a thorn in the other team's side.

Speaker 3: 17:39

She's a great leadoff hitter. She gets on base and she is a very good base runner. You know, running bases is just as important as pitching, catching, hitting, fielding Running bases. You have to score runs to win games right. So having her as a leadoff, if she can get on base, we just we know that we're going to score a run in that first inning, you know so. So that's really good.

Speaker 3: 18:03

Michaela Howard, obviously the girl just gets up, she hits for power. We know she's going to hit it to the green and obviously with Kennedy and Lex and Maddie in front of her, sometimes Haley Boswick in front of her too. You know, we got good speed on the bases, we got a chance to score some runs. Same thing, haley Bostwick, how about that sectional finals and she hits the team's very first over the fence home run. Well, the very first home run. We hit the ball hard but we haven't gotten over the fence yet. She hits the team's very first one and that was so exciting and it's not for a lack of hitting the ball hard. I mean, if you look at our field, our field is huge. I bet if we had a 200-foot fence we would have had more at our field. But yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 18:49

Maddie Safin something I love to talk about with Maddie is a lot of times she's up to bat with runners in scoring position and I wish there was a way to actually go back and tabulate. But a lot of her RBIs are game-winning RBIs, you know, and we don't really realize that at the time because it may have only been the third or fourth inning, but there are a lot of game-winning RBIs. The girl is a gap-to-gap hitter. She puts the ball in play really well and also in her position I've had to bunt her many times and the team's backing up because they know that she can hit and when she lays down a bunt she does a real good job for the team. Sometimes you got to manufacture runs and for her to be able to sacrifice her at bat to help us do that.

Coach Emily Cowell: 19:30

That's huge coach, I can tell and I I always ask this question the coaches that come on like you know you, when you got a special group of kids, um, you know when the season starts and I know you were so confident from from the beginning and it's great to see where this team is today. But I can see in your face you're, you're really proud of this team. I mean it's all over your face how passionate you are. I absolutely love it, but how proud are you of this team?

Speaker 3: 19:57

I'm so proud it's awesome.

Speaker 3: 20:00

So proud. I said to these kids it was the only thing I could say to them in the pregame speech of both the semifinals and the finals of sectionals that I get emotional professionals, that I get emotional that these girls have they've already set the precedence and they've already left their legacy that from this moment on, every future team that I coach, they're going to have to measure up to the bar of this team. Um, you know, not just play it, not just skill wise on the field, but their personality, their confidence, their character, these are good kids.

Coach Emily Cowell: 20:45

Yeah, I think you hit it on the button. I mean, the bar is set so high that every year now it's like you've got to beat Rome. You know Rome's not just going to lay down, you've got to come and you've got to bring your A game to beat Rome. Talk to us a little bit about the finals, because I got to be honest with you, when I saw the bracket come out, I really liked our chances. I'm like we got a shot. I mean it's a pretty good bracket. And then CNS. Actually, you know, the top seed loses to B-Vill and B-Vill was playing really good. You know, coming into the finals, I mean obviously guys were playing really well too. You, you guys jumped out right out of the gate. I think it was four, nothing through through three innings and amelia went I think six.

Speaker 3: 21:25

And then soph came in and closed the door, but you guys got off to a really good start. Yeah, to be honest with you, I keep saying to to everybody that our mentality is that it doesn't matter who's standing in the other dugout, as long as we show up and play our best game. I I don't know if anybody's gonna beat us, like if every single one of us plays our best game. And you know what, even in the sectional finals, you know we've got we've got a couple errors. We still didn't play our best game and that just goes to show like we still were able to win. You know, we put the ball in play really well. We moved base runners really well. Haley Hitz went over the fence. We get excited for that.

Speaker 3: 22:03

Even though we didn't play our best game, we still go up 7-1 against an awesome B-ville team, someone that has consistently given us a loss at the end of the season these past couple years, and the fact that we were able to overcome that mentally was huge. Um, even if it was cns on the other side, I think the chip on our shoulder would have stayed, and I just especially, I think, to be honest with you, I'm I'm thinking back actually to the liverpool game mid-season. That was huge for us at home, you know. To win that game, uh, we knew at that moment that it was our time.

Coach Emily Cowell: 22:40

So I got to put this comment up here, Anthony.

Speaker 3: 22:43

I know.

Coach Emily Cowell: 22:43

Anthony, thanks for tuning in. He said Syracusecom said 6-3 final is what they predicted. They predicted you guys to actually lose on Syracusecom. When they did all their predictions, they picked Beville to win that game never, count us out I told you.

Speaker 3: 23:00

I told you even when we were behind never count us out.

Coach Emily Cowell: 23:03

We're not done gary says get up, dress up and show up. I like that one.

Speaker 3: 23:07

Yeah, I like that one, gary yeah um so let's fast forward, that's right.

Coach Emily Cowell: 23:13

So first sectional title in 32 years. Um, and I was trying to go back and say 32 years. How old was I when you? Know, that happened. But what did that mean to you guys? Did you know it had been that long going into that game?

Speaker 3: 23:28

I knew it had been a long time. Actually, it's funny because Coach Beer, back in February I think, maybe even March, just before we started tryouts, he pulled the girls in and we were at RFA, in the main gym, and hey, thanks. By the way, I just saw a comment congrats, coach, thank you. Um, he looked up at the wall, at the banner, and I think there was only like one year on it 1988 or 87, whatever it was and he said girls, that's gonna say 2025. If everybody does what they're supposed to do, that's your year is going up there and we've been talking about this for a long time. And that's just where the belief came from. And we knew that we had a whole community behind us. Um, you know, I, our parents, coaches, coaches of other sports, our athletic director, our administration, our school board, our superintendent everybody's been behind us this whole time and it means a lot.

Coach Emily Cowell: 24:29

I'll tell you one of the cool things. So my daughter's only nine, she's a. She's a little thing, but she's really fast. So coach Jerry and coach Beer said to me Mark said it to me last night you got to flip her over to the left side and teach her how to slap because she can fly. So you're going to have to help me with that, because I don't know how to teach softball.

Coach Emily Cowell: 24:45

I played baseball, but not, obviously, softball. But it was really cool because I was up there last night and I'm watching these little girls play, and my daughter, who's really competitive they lost last night, so she was really pissed off after the end of the game. But I remember coming to the game and my daughter had said is this where the RFA team, is this where they play at the varsity girls? And it's like yeah, and she said she goes. Hopefully one day I can play on that field, dad. And I'm like you know what? Madison honey, they just won the title. She goes, they won the national championship. I said you could say that for high school, honey, but but college is the national championship. But what I wanted to ask you, though, how nice is it though? You see these little girls and you know the running around saying this is the future you know of your program as they get older yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 25:31

I mean our sport is growing. I mean, look at what just happened last night. You know it's game one of the women's college world series and we just broke a record for viewership. You know, women's sports is growing exponentially and it is showing at our level as well. You know you can see our first couple of games of the season.

Speaker 3: 25:51

We had our usual parents and usual fans come in and then we started winning games and all of a sudden the all-of-cost field is packed when we play and it just goes to show that what we do on the field, what we do off the field, it, it's a legacy and what we do today is going to impact and, uh, affect those young kids. You know a lot of my girls actually spend some time with the youth program and Rome girls softball. I got a couple kids that actually have umpired some games already, which is pretty cool. Um, and when we go out and we help coach some of those younger kids and, um, you know it's, it's a community and it starts at that young level. Um, and actually I have, I have my varsity kids as much as they can make sure that they always go and and cheer on the modified team and and cheer on the JV team as best they can. And you know it, we got to pay it forward because if you don't, then then you're not building the program.

Coach Emily Cowell: 26:51

So Sarah says we need to bring the 87 plaque up to cost from Stevens field.

Speaker 3: 26:57

Yeah, I actually just yeah, I just learned that the other day actually, that the plaque is at Stevens Field. I haven't gone over there to look yet, but that's on my to-do list. You know what?

Coach Emily Cowell: 27:13

I forget, because my sister played softball for Coach Jerry Table and Coach Sanborn, who was the varsity coach here many years ago, and they played at Stevens Fieldfield oh yeah for their, for their games. Yeah, I, when she said that, I was like, oh yeah, that's right, that's where they used to play at um. Do you think how much of the and I agree the women's game has gotten so big? I was watching it last night and anthony says it wasn't obstruction. I, I agree it was not. I didn't think either, but again, I don't know the rules, like you guys do.

Coach Emily Cowell: 27:40

Um how much of the caitlin clark thing you think is really impact and not just you know women's basketball, just women's sports in general oh, absolutely, you know, it's uh gosh.

Speaker 3: 27:52

She's just been a catalyst for us, um, and I feel she's done it in a very classy way. I feel she's done it to always look to help improve and be positive and, and you know, it has shown that people care about women's sports and everybody needs to watch and look out and softball, especially softball, is huge. The game is is quick, it's exciting. You know I I don't want to be a knock on baseball or anything because I'm a baseball lover, but baseball and softball are very different and the speed of the game of baseball really helps improve the viewership. It's a little bit. It's really exciting to watch because of that. So I'm a lover of the game of softball because of that reason and I think that's definitely helping with the viewership.

Coach Emily Cowell: 28:41

But definitely Caitlin Clark has been the catalyst to just kind of open people's eyes, you know and we're all really appreciative of that so, coach, take us to now preview uh Lancaster, right section, uh five six six. Okay, section six. As they played, they beat. What was it? Rush, henrietta yep yeah, so take us through. How much do we know about them? Um? Um lancaster's a good team yeah, lancaster's a good team.

Speaker 3: 29:11

They got, uh, they definitely hit the ball around the ballpark really well. We're gonna have to play really good defense. Um, our pitchers are gonna have to hit their spots. Um, we can't leave anything fat, leave anything, uh, over the plate for them because they're gonna to knock it around Bottom line. We just got to score more runs than they do, not to keep it too simple, but that's just it. We got to put the ball in play and try and make them run around and make sure that the pressure on them is just as much as the pressure on us.

Coach Emily Cowell: 29:38

I was going to say at this point everybody's good, you don't really have no film and stuff to really watch. You got to go out and do the little things right. You got to put the ball in play. You got to play solid defense.

Coach Emily Cowell: 29:47

You got to pitch, you got to get outs, uh, and all that turf, field or grass field turf okay, yeah, I didn't know if it was turf or grass and I know a lot of the the people in rome were talking about the scheduling piece and I'd been there before and a lot of the Rome people were so upset because it's the senior ball. We had it when I played and we made it to the state final four. Luckily we had gotten back. But again, that's nothing with Rome. I know Coach Carey I would say Aaron Carey worked really hard, you know, with the state to try to make this thing happen for the girls to get back. But night game, long day for the team bus ride out there. Did you have any preference of time?

Speaker 3: 30:31

Would you have rather played earlier or played a later game? Are you talking about still with senior ball or just?

Coach Emily Cowell: 30:37

putting senior ball aside, just in general. Yeah, putting that aside.

Speaker 3: 30:41

Oh, putting that aside, a late game is fine by me, because my kids still get to have a good night's sleep and not have to worry about waking up at the crack of dawn to get on a bus. To be honest with you all, that stuff's out of my control, so it's hard to have an opinion on it. I mean, if I did have an opinion, I would really appreciate it if Section 6 gave us the grace you know they made the mistake and we're suffering for it, but that is what it is.

Speaker 3: 31:09

You know we're going to put our cleats on and we're going to go out and play hard anyway.

Coach Emily Cowell: 31:13

So, Coach, who does the winner of your game play, and then when would that game be?

Speaker 3: 31:25

So, winner of this game, uh is going to be playing on um friday, june 13th, and that is the state semifinals. And we actually just got the result um corning beat middletown um today six nothing. So, uh, it's going to end up being corning and that is going to be at green light. Uh, grand slam park and binghamton, the former bags, former bagszai They've renovated those fields. It's a beautiful complex. Corning won today and they've made it to the state semifinals. It's state semifinals on the 13th and then, if you win, you make it to Saturday state finals.

Coach Emily Cowell: 31:58

Last question I have for you, and I know what your answer is going to be You're going to keep it simple, but what's this team have to do to win on Saturday and keep playing?

Speaker 3: 32:07

Overcome the adversity because we we will be challenged on Saturday, like we have not been challenged yet. So overcome the adversity, and it's what we've been doing all season. We need to stay together, we need to believe that we can do it and when we see the adversity reset and make the next play.

Coach Emily Cowell: 32:29

Got the lineup made already, or do you make your superstition and make it on the way out there? You already got it made up.

Speaker 3: 32:35

And if you do, how?

Coach Emily Cowell: 32:36

many times is it going to change?

Speaker 3: 32:40

I got some pencil marks in my brain.

Coach Emily Cowell: 32:45

That's all I'll say. That's, that's the answer that I I somehow. I knew you were going to say that, but well, listen, coach, we're behind you. I'm so proud of you and the team and um it's great hopefully you guys keep this thing going and then when saturday and what you and I will do this thing again next week awesome, sounds good all right, good luck coach.

Speaker 3: 33:01

Thank you thanks guys, I appreciate everybody go roam go, roam, thank you, love talking to coach.

Coach Emily Cowell: 33:08

Let me fix my uh screen here. There we go, love talking to her, um. She brings a ton of energy um to the table. And I went back and, as I always do, I go back and watch a lot of my past interviews and I was looking at some of the notes and I'm like everything she said back on April 14th when this team got off the bus from playing Shenandoah and Gilderland was basically spot on Everything that she said and at that time I was ready to run through a wall for and even just now, listening to her, I got goosebumps on some of the things that she said. But so proud of her, so proud of this team and I'm excited to, no matter the outcome.

Coach Emily Cowell: 33:49

This has been a fantastic season for coaching and girls and I'm hoping they continue with this journey and and get a chance to play in the state final four and beyond that. I'm hoping I get a chance to talk to Coach again next week, but I want to make sure that I thank her for coming on with me here tonight and thanks for everybody that tuned in to listen here tonight. I know it was an off night for the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch, but I wanted to get her on live before the game on Saturday. I didn't want to talk to her the day after win or lose. I wanted to get her thoughts on the season and prior to. So I appreciate everybody tuning in tonight to the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch. As coach says, go Rome, go Rome. Girls. Best of luck to you on Saturday. Have a good evening everybody.