The Texas Tech Softball program closed their 2024 season with disappointment, but Arriana Villa, outfielder and general badass who just loves to ball, has been a pillar of leadership and motivation for the past four years.
As the waters of collegiate athletics continue to be rough, Villa was with the Texas Tech program for her entire collegiate career. Were things all sunshine the whole time? AbsoLUTELY not. But throughout this conversation with Arriana, there was never a sense of animosity, but a clear message of how something so challenging can unite a group.
"My senior class, we came in with a chip on our shoulder and wanted to immediately make an impact. We've known each other since high school and that's one of the reasons why I didn't leave or transfer. We wanted to make a difference."
Some of the best parts of this series is getting to learn more about the internal workings of these players. Important things, like how did they get into the sport they play, what has been their biggest achievement, and who has the best smack talk on the team. Although Arriana has claimed to only be talkin' in one game against BYU this last year, she's the kind of person you always want in your corner.
"You would have thought this was an old rival [BYU]. I hit a double and a pop slide to second and looked at BYU. Then Riley hit a homer. I have never in my life talked crap, but I was shuffling to third and I said 'KEEP TALKIN. KEEP TALKIN' and then Riley came around talkin' the same mess."
I loved this conversation with Arriana because you hear from someone who stuck around when things were really dark for this program. Not only Villa, but the seniors on this team formed a culture for future Red Raiders to benefit from. From my perspective, Arriana left a legacy of how to adapt, how to love your people through mutual misery, and honestly just a great vibe.
You are going to love it too! Watch it at the top of this article or directly on YouTube here.
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