OKLAHOMA CITY – Sitting in a parking lot in Piscataway, N.J. on a frigid February evening, preparing to call a Rutgers men’s basketball game, Adam Amin was not thinking about a sun-baked softball field in Oklahoma.
Then the phone rang.
Reporter Laura Rutledge will join Adam Amin and Amanda Scarborough on the telecasts and like her partners, Rutledge is also making her Women’s College World Series debut.
“I am looking forward to profiling these athletes,” said Rutledge after spending time with each of the eight teams yesterday. “There are some remarkable athletes with amazing stories.”
Rutledge worked with Amin and Scarborough at the SEC Tournament earlier this month, where the chemistry was instant – on and off the field.
“In addition to leading our telecast, Adam is also our musical leader,” Rutledge said. “He has been known to hijack a guitar at a restaurant and play – for the entertainment of all. We have a good time together.”
That good time will be on display for a national audience as dreams are realized – on and off the field.
“Do you want to call the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) this year?” coordinating producer Meg Aronowitz asked Amin, an ESPN play-by-play commentator.
Truthfully, it wasn’t really a question – more of an assignment declaration.
“I was ecstatic,” said Amin, who has always had his eye on Oklahoma City and college softball’s pinnacle event on OGE Energy Field at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium which begins today at noon ET today when No. 8 seed Tennessee meets No. 1 Florida on ESPN (full schedule).
“To be able to call this championship, to receive this assignment, is really important to me,” he said. “I have been lucky enough to call the NCAA Wrestling Championships the previous four years, so I am familiar with a bigger atmosphere, a bigger stage than the regular season. However, having grown up on stick-and-ball sports, having called a ton of softball, this assignment is special to me.”
Days before Amin’s cell phone rang in N.J., Aronowitz had made another phone call. That call went to a WCWS veteran – on the playing field – Amanda Scarborough.
She is a two-time All-American who led Texas A&M to back-to-back WCWS appearances in 2007 and 2008. After her college career came to an end, she discovered a second passion.
“After being an analyst for the first time in 2009, I knew I wanted to continue to work on television,” Scarborough said. “I loved it. I simply wanted to do as many games as possible – regardless the size of the audience.”
Over the course of the next six seasons, Scarborough would gain an immense amount of experience, including being teamed with Amin the past two years.
When Aronowitz called this past winter, Scarborough was thrilled.
“Getting the chance to call games here, a place where I have so many memories,” Scarborough said yesterday, pausing to glance at the field. “It is my biggest dream come true.”
Editor’s Note: Amin, Scarborough and Rutledge will call the afternoon games throughout the Women’s College World Series. WCWS veterans Beth Mowins (play-by-play), Jessica Mendoza (analyst), Michele Smith (analyst) and Holly Rowe (reporter) will call the evening games and the Women’s College World Series Championship Series.
