The 2023 Canada Cup saw eight teams from across the globe compete in the International Softball Championship, with Triple Crown Colorado representing many of the nations’ elite softball athletes.
An opportunity arose for Texas State senior pitcher Jessica Mullins over the summer after receiving an invitation to play for T.C. Colorado in the 2023 Canada Cup in early July, which she accepted.
T.C. Colorado head coach and CEO of Triple Crown Sports, Dave King, said he’s had a close eye on Mullins for nearly two years and was ecstatic about finally being able to recruit her to the team.
“Someone like Jess is from one of the mid-majors,” King said. “I’ll usually have three or four mid-major players a year on the roster that are in the same light, just have never been included in the national team system.”
Mullins received an invitation nearly two weeks before the start of the tournament and needed a little time to realize the opportunity ahead of her.
“I didn’t believe it at first. I felt it was pretty unbelievable that they wanted a mid-major pitcher to come play for them internationally against the best of the best,” Mullins said. “That was an awe-struck moment for me because it made me boost my confidence a little bit more, and so I know I’m going to use that coming into my senior season.”
Being from a mid-major college, Mullins went into the tournament with a chip on her shoulder and much to prove to those who aren’t familiar with her game.
King says he sees that competitive fire in Mullins, as it’s one of the many reasons he was excited to have her play for T.C. Colorado this summer.
“I look for that, because if they don’t think they belong in the U.S. National System, then how are we going to beat Japan, Canada and how are we going to beat the Olympic teams if they don’t believe they belong?” King said.
Mullins said that being able to represent not just Texas State, but many of the other mid-majors across the country was quite an enjoyable experience for her.
“Whenever you think about college softball, you think about all of these really high D-1 schools, and you never really think about the mid-majors,” Mullins said. “I wanted to prove that even though I came from a mid-major, I can still get the job done as well as anybody else.”
Mullins said the decision to play in Canada was made within an hour, as she quickly turned around to begin preparation for her exciting journey to play internationally for the first time.
Josh Trevino, Mullins’ pitching coach at Texas State, was at the forefront in making sure Mullins was good to go in Canada and believes that experiences like these can help factor into Mullins’ success for the upcoming 2024 season.
“Being on a team with athletes who are highly competitive is always helpful,” Trevino said. “I think the more of those things she puts under her belt, the more she can feel confident when we’re playing against a big team for Texas State.”
It didn’t take long for King to see Mullins’ potential and her ability to pitch at the highest level.
“If you put in perspective what she did, she had three starts up there that were consequential for us and she did everything that was expected out of her, meaning she completely shut down other rosters in games that really mattered.” King said.
King felt a sense of validation after witnessing Mullins’ skills and her competitive fire throughout the tournament, and said he thinks highly of Mullins and believes in her abilities.
“She should be in one of the pro leagues next year is my guess… she’s good enough to be picked up by one of the four WBF teams. She’s a legitimate pitcher,” King said.
Mullins is grateful for the opportunity to showcase her skills on the international level and said that she would have never thought of being in this position years ago.
“I came from a small town, and now I’m able to go represent all the people that I know in this university on the international scale, and I feel like that is just an honor in itself.” Mullins said. “I’ve gotten told so many times when I was younger that I would never even make it this far, so being able to prove people wrong, that’s what I like to do day in and day out.”
