In the Monday edition of The Last Inning, we noted that outfielder Jordan Williams, ranked #35 in the recently published 2024 Extra Elite 100 and a member of the Unity – Johnson/Ross travel ball team, had committed to the Louisville Cardinals of the ACC this past weekend.
Here, Jordan talks about the recruiting process and how—and why—she fell in love with her future college program!
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At midnight on September 1st, Coach Bryce (Neal) from the University of Louisville sent me a text telling me how fired up they were to finally be able to contact me and that he wanted to set up a time in the morning to talk to me.
I immediately texted him back and we scheduled a call for 7 am on September 1st to talk before I went to school. We had an exciting conversation and he made me my first official offer. I also talked with (Head) Coach Holly (Aprile) that evening at 9:30 pm after I got home from my high school game.
They scheduled my visit for September 16th – 17th when Louisville had its first home football game. From September 1st until I visited on September 16th, I had contact with at least one of the coaches every day. It made me feel so wanted and excited for the opportunity!
Even though I received two other offers on September 1 and many other D1 calls, texts and e-mails, it was hard to wait until September 16th to commit to University of Louisville, but I really wanted to tell them in person.
I think I knew after I attended a camp there in June that University of Louisville was going to be where I ended up.
My Dad, Mom and brother, Jason, headed to Louisville with me after my high school region game on September 15. My older brother, Josh, is at UVA-Wise so he could not join us.
We drove until 1:30 am and then finished the drive on Friday morning to arrive at the University of Louisville by 10:30 am last Friday (September 16).
We toured the student union, softball locker room, athletic weight and performance area, athletic training area, and laundry services area in the morning before we ate lunch with the softball team at the TACE athletic café.
The coaches made me feel so special throughout the entire day.
After lunch, I toured the freshman dorm, an academic classroom and more of the campus. Then at 2:00 pm, the team had its first team practice and they invited me to be on the field to watch. It was a great practice with different stations and all the players were getting their work in, but you could tell they were enjoying being there.
The environment was so positive and there was a lot of positive energy.
At 5:00 pm, I was in the softball lounge area talking with Coach Holly and my family when Coach Bryce walked in to drive us on the golf cart to the recruit dinner at the football field house.
That is when I told them that I wanted to be a Cardinal!
I will never forget how it felt to see the coaches watch so many of my games in Newberry, Florida and Colorado.
I got to know them all better after September 1st not only because we talked all the time on the phone or FaceTime but because the visit to campus was so personal. It just felt like home on campus, being with the coaches, meeting the players, seeing the facilities, and a good fit academically.
You can tell that Coach Holly, Coach Bryce and Coach Griffin (Joiner) care about the players and it is a family-focused environment.
The recruiting dinner and the football game was so much fun!
Then we finished the recruiting visit with breakfast on Saturday morning with Coach Holly and Coach Griffin followed by the best part of the visit which was taking pictures in the uniform. It was such an honor to put on the uniform and get so many great pictures!
I am so excited to commit to the University of Louisville! Thank you to Coach Holly, Coach Griffin, and Coach Bryce for believing in me!!
L’s up!
— Jordan Williams
Note to recent commits like Jordan… if you’d like to share your story, email us at info@extrainningsoftball.com.
