Go behind the scenes with ESPN’s prep for Women’s College World Series coverage

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Women’s College World Series begins today (afternoon games on ESPN, evening contests on ESPN2); however, for the student-athletes, the reality of playing for a national championship set in as the teams participated in ESPN’s media day here on Wednesday.

Players and coaches from No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Florida State, No. 13 Baylor, and No. 14 Kentucky each spent an hour with ESPN at OGE Energy Field at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Throughout the session, student-athletes cycled through three stations: Photography, ENG (electronic news gathering) and ESPN’s talent and producers.

For ESPN’s production team – a crew of 100 on the ground – Wednesday’s day-long preparation period is every bit as important as the ensuing game days, as it lays the foundation for up to 17 telecasts throughout the next seven days.

“In the still photography area, we are shooting portraits to be used in our baseball player card lineups,” said Meg Aronowitz, ESPN coordinating producer who oversees the Women’s College World Series production. “When at the ENG station, we are gathering a variety of sound. We ask players to express their thoughts, feelings, emotions and what it means to be playing in the WCWS. We will use these video clips during the telecasts to bring the passion of the game to the fans watching at home.”

It is during the players’ and coaches’ informal sit downs with ESPN’s talent, producers and directors where content is captured which likely will never be on camera, but will resonate throughout every telecast.

“They all have a story, they all came from somewhere. We try to delve into their personalities and also talk about their game on the field,” said play-by-play commentator Beth Mowins. “For us, some of these teams we have already seen and others are new to us. We gather all this formation, and then we hope it’s a great game.”

“This is invaluable time for all of our talent to spend with the student-athletes and coaches,” said Aronowitz. “It helps them dial into what we want to focus on in the telecast.”

Each team concludes its time with ESPN by filming a group shot with the national championship trophy.

For many of the student-athletes, it is the first time they have garnered so much media attention. Aronowitz tells the participants to “be personable and be conversational about it. This is meant to be a fun process. We are trying to encapsulate each team’s personality to showcase on the air in-between the actual softball, which always takes the priority.”

Mowins understands what is at stake for the student-athletes and their mindsets less than 24 hours from playing on the game’s biggest stage.

“They all dreamed about this and worked hard to get here,” she said. “This is the place where the legends are born and your status in the game is made. There is so much on the line over the next week; it is cool to see how they react in those situations.”

Below is an example of the ESPN player portraits being used in starting lineup presentations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvwtilxDzCM

Back to top button