University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Tyler Ellison
April 11, 2023 | Softball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Tyler Ellison's favorite moment as a Georgia softball player didn't involve the freshman making a play in the field or scoring the winning run. No, it was seeing teammate Jayda Kearney blast a solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat Auburn last month.
A infielder from McDonough, Ga., Ellison played a lot of different sports when she was young. She said the competitiveness of softball is part of what drew her to the sport.
During a recent Quick Chat, Ellison talked about her start in softball, her love of mac and cheese, her funniest teammate, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: Did you play a lot of different sports when you were young?
Ellison: I feel like I tried a bit of everything when I was young. I played soccer for a little bit, I did dance, I did cheer, and I think my dad was the one who put me into tee-ball. I know when I was younger, a lot of times I couldn't play softball so I had to play baseball. I did a lot of that, but as I got older I leaned more toward softball, and it just stuck ever since.
Frierson: What is it about softball that puts a smile on your face every time you come out here?
Ellison: Honestly, I love the competitiveness of it. I think that's what makes the game the most fun. Also, the people that I'm around, I love hanging out with my friends, my teammates all the time. It makes coming to practice and playing games with them the most fun. It's just being able to compete with the people that you love.
Frierson: Who is the funniest person on the team?
Ellison: Dang. I would have to say Jaydyn Goodwin, Shorty, she's pretty funny. She always cracks me up.
Frierson: When you play as many games as you all do, do you need those super funny people to keep things light and fun?
Ellison: Sometimes, yeah. It's like, sometimes you can show up to practice or games and you don't feel 100% because you had a long day of classes or a long week of tests, and it's always nice to have that person who can crack a joke and put a smile on your face.
Frierson: If you could play any other sport for Georgia, what would it be?
Ellison: I think I'd want to try volleyball. That's one thing that I've always wanted to try to do, I just never got around to doing it. Plus, in high school, our softball season and volleyball season were in the same season, so I could never try it. But that's something I've always wanted to do.
Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do?
Ellison: I'm not much of an artsy person but I do enjoy painting. I'm not the best at it, but it's always fun and calming — therapeutic, almost.
Frierson: Is there one thing you've painted that you were really pleased with at the end?
Ellison: I took art classes in high school, and the teacher gave us this long period of time to do a project. I did a painting, and I think I did a Converse shoe or something, but I had to do it with a whole bunch of different color schemes and stuff. That I thought was pretty good. For someone that doesn't consider themselves an artsy person, I thought it looked pretty good.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Ellison: Oh, gosh, mac and cheese [laughs]. I'm a big pasta person, so mac and cheese is probably my favorite. But any type of pasta, it never gets old.
Frierson: Are you fine with the Kraft basic mac and cheese, or do you prefer something fancier like a lobster mac and cheese?
Ellison: I'll eat Kraft if it's all there is, but I prefer the fancier mac and cheese. I don't know where I got it from, but I had some mac and cheese that was really cheese and it had bacon bits in it, and it was really, really good.
Frierson: Do you make it at home? Are you a good cook?
Ellison: I'm an OK cook. I feel like I can make a meal, but when it comes to spicing it up and adding all the seasonings, I'm not that good at that part. Just making it, I can do.
Frierson: What is your best or favorite moment ever on a softball field?
Ellison: Back in travel ball, I was on a team, I think when I was 16, and we were in this tournament. We were playing so many games, and it was so hot outside. When we started that tournament, we were not playing our best and we were losing a lot of games.
But when we got to bracket play, which is when the games really start to count, we were just rolling. We were on fire. And when we got to the championship game, we were competing back and forth with the other team. We had a bad inning near the end and they scored three or four runs, and when a team scores like four runs late in a game, it feels like, How are we going to come back from this?
We got to the bottom of the seventh and we started rolling. I think we ended up walking it off, and that was the best feeling ever.
Here, my favorite memory was when we were playing Auburn and Jayda (Kearney) hit that moon shot. I was just going crazy, because we ended up taking the series with that game.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
