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Huskers Women’s Wednesday – Ava Kuszak

February 4, 2026·22 min·1 clip
Senior shortstop Ava Kuzak reflects on her final Husker softball season and being voted team captain.
The season feels almost too close. Kuzak tells Jessica Cootie that senior year, fall, and preseason have all gone by fast, so the only real move is to take the day in front of her and soak up what she can. Captaincy comes up first. Jessica frames it through Coach Revell's praise, then asks what Kuzak hoped to bring after her teammates voted her captain. Kuzak calls it an amazing honor and points back to the senior captains she watched before her. Then the conversation gets into fear, which is where the interview has its best texture. Kuzak says freshman year, most of sophomore year, and a few rough weekends last year taught her that trying to protect herself from failure only made her tighter. Ground outs and pop ups followed. Her answer was plain but hard: stop fearing the pitcher, stop worrying about the swing, and battle through the at-bat. Practice is what makes that answer usable. Kuzak walks through her hitting routine: step in, take a big breath, reset, and train that response before game pressure shows up. A bases-loaded moment does not feel as strange when practice has already made it familiar. She also talks about enjoying softball even though it is a game of failure. The close turns personal, with Mallory Pugh from her soccer love and Jenny Finch from the books her mom gave her. National Girls and Women in Sports Day gives the interview its frame, but the episode stays grounded in the habits behind confidence.

As heard by us

A plainspoken senior-captain conversation about routine, pressure, and playing without fear.

Ava Kuzak's senior year conversation stays close to the basics, and that works here. It moves from the season arriving fast to being named a team captain, then settles into the mental routine behind softball: breathe, reset, trust the same approach, and carry that into pressure.

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Why you'd press play

A senior-season captain conversation built for listeners who like the mental side of hitting.

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