Q&A: Jailyn Ford
Jailyn Ford is quietly and steadily one of the best pitchers in softball. We sat down with USSSA Pride’s workhorse to talk a little bit more about her collegiate career, life as a professional athlete and the mark she wants to leave on this sport.
To many, you put JMU on the map. Talk about your experience there and the legacy you left.
It’s hard to sum up 4 years of experience in a few sentences but my experience at JMU was one of the most challenging and rewarding four years that I’ve ever been a part of. Us freshmen knew going into our first year that we wanted to turn the program from a sub .500 team to a household name and a WCWS contender. Looking back, maybe we were a bit crazy but we knew we couldn’t play forever, so we figured we could create something that would. We bought into the coaching styles and the senior leadership, which really laid that foundation for the rest of us. Every year, we fell short of our WCWS goal but every year we built on top of that foundation hoping one day we’d get to the top.
Over my four years, we saw our fan base at home games grow from barely 100 fans to over 2,000.
I’ll never forget Coach Dean giving us a minute before we hosted our first Super Regionals to look around our packed stadium at all of the people in the temporary bleachers in left field, behind our bullpen and the fans that couldn’t get tickets so they stood along the highway or on the hill to watch us play. In that moment I think everything came full circle and we realized what we accomplished and what we were leaving behind for the next set of Dukes to achieve.
There’s a lot to be proud of when you see those expectations that were set from our freshmen year continue to be built upon and passed down through JMU’s team. To finally see JMU on the big stage and reach the WCWS makes all of our sprints and workouts and crying sessions worth it. Reuniting with all of our alumni in OKC to support our beloved Dukes, knowing we all went thru it together and took part in some way, was the most rewarding part.
What is your favorite aspect of professional softball?
I love the freedom and independence it gives me to do things I enjoy outside of softball but my favorite aspect is the continual challenge to be a better athlete . At the professional level, nobody is going to force you to put in the work to be better so it’s up to you how good you want to be and I enjoy that internal competition with myself. I get to compete against, play with, or be coached by the world’s best players which I try and use as an opportunity to continue to learn and improve my game.
We know you’re a work horse on the field. Tell us what you like to do in your down time off the field?
It depends on the season but I love the outdoors and just being in nature and the sun. I enjoy the beach, fishing, kayaking, live music, or even just going for a ride looking at houses with some good music on. I also love to experience new cultures and countries/places. Before Covid, I had a goal of seeing a new country or landmark every year so I’m hoping to start doing that again soon.
What do you want your teammates to ultimately say you brought to the team?
That I was a good teammate over everything. I try to ask myself what am I putting out into the world with every interaction? My intention is to contribute in a positive and good way, making it a better place than I found it. When it relates to softball, I take a lot of pride in playing the game right; hustling, diving, going all out on every play, cheering on my teammates, and treating my teammates with respect. I think our character and the way we make people feel goes further than our athletic accomplishments and I’d like to think that I was always willing to give 100% to whatever was needed of me and that I positively contributed to the team or to a teammate in some way.
Give us your number one tip that keeps you dominating at the pro level.
Passion and competitiveness. You have to love what you do or you won’t put the work in to stay competitive and you have to compete; against your teammates, your opponents but mostly against yourself and being better than you were the day before.
Follow along with Jailyn’s journey on Instagram at @jaylander12.