OKLAHOMA CITY — Jessie Harper loves hitting.
Arizona’s fifth-year senior spends hours every day in the batting cage perfecting her craft. When she’s not on the field or in the batter’s box, Harper is talking about hitting.
It’s Harper’s passion — her eyes light up when she’s talking about it.
One thing she really doesn’t want to talk about is her home run chase. And that’s the majority of questions she gets these days.
Heading into Thursday’s Women’s College World Series opener against Alabama, Harper has hit 91 career home runs — the third-most in college softball history. With one more blast, Harper can tie former UA teammate Katiyana Mauga for second place. Former Oklahoma star Lauren Chamberlain is tops in history with 95.
The three-time All-American likes crushing bombs, but admits its never been about the numbers.
“I honestly just love the sound that the bat makes when it hits the ball,” Harper said. “You can tell when you hit something solid just based off the sound of it. … As long as my home runs help our team win, that’s the bonus. You want the home runs to be hit so that your pitchers can feel more comfortable. …
“I’ve always told myself that you’re going to put in all the work that you possibly can to be the best you can be. That’s something I’ve really prided myself in. I love going and hitting extra – I’m there before practice every single day, hitting all the time. I just have fun doing it. Softball is fun to me. Putting in extra work is fun. I think that’s how I’ve been able to have so much success — it’s because I find it so much fun.”
Harper has been a slugging star since arriving on campus. As a freshman, she hit more home runs — 19 — than anyone. She followed that up with 18 as a sophomore and 29 as a junior. Harper blasted 10 before the pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, and has put up 15 heading into Thursday’s WCWS opener.
It was in her rookie season that UA coach Mike Candrea knew that Harper would put up big numbers. Maybe not 90, but definitely big numbers.
“She’s got tremendous hands — got great hand-eye coordination. She’s got quick hands, and I watched her enough to see her hit some bombs that I knew damn well if she could catch up to the pitching here she would do the same thing” Candrea said. “But I did not predict that she was going to be a 90 home run hitter. We’ve had many unique home run hitters in our program. And if you really think about it, you know from Laura Espinoza Leah Braatz, Jenny Dalton, Kait — I mean, they’re all so different. For some of those kids, you knew that they were going to be able to hit a ball ballpark, but you don’t know how frequently that they can do that in game situations. …
“It’s a very tough game to sustain that over a long period of time and part of that is, what kind of work ethic does the kid have? Are they going to continue to develop? Or do they think they hit 20 home runs as a freshman and think that they’ve arrived? I know Jessie Harper wasn’t that type of kid. She would continue to work and keep herself in good shape and get stronger.”
Arizona shortstop Jessie Harper has hit 91 home runs in her college career, the second-best total in program history — behind Katiyana Mauga's 92 — and third-most in college softball history.
During her UA career, Harper has picked up tips from three former Wildcats stars — Mauga, Chelsea Goodacre and Caitlin Lowe.
Watching Mauga up close was special for Harper.
“She would just swing and finish with one hand and the ball would clear the stands,” Harper said. “It looked to me like it was effortless. Just talking to her you could tell how smart her softball IQ was and how knowledgeable she was with her approach. I was like, ‘She is amazing at what she does. Good for her. That’s awesome.’ But I never really thought ‘I’ll get you’ or anything like that. No that was never me. I think I took it as, ‘Hey, I’m an Arizona softball player and I’m going to be the best and whatever I can be for my team.’”
Goodacre, who hit 71 homers and drove in 239 runs during her career, was an Arizona graduate assistant during Harper’s first two seasons. Harper leaned on her when it came to talk about the mental game or how to tweak her swing mechanics.
Her biggest takeaway?
“Just tell yourself that you’re the best. Go out there with so much confidence. Go out there knowing you’re going to be beat the pitcher, and then just kind of know your swing,” Harper said. “‘Goody’ and I had completely different kinds of swings and mechanics, but just know yours and know what works best for you. … She really helped me keep the game simple. She always said ‘BTB’ — ‘Be the best.’”
Harper sits next to Lowe. the UA’s associate head coach, while she charts pitches during games. It was Lowe who gave Harper a tip when the Wildcats played Team USA during the 2020 season. Harper responded by hitting two home runs — one against legendary lefty Cat Osterman, and the other against Ally Carda. The Wildcats lost 5-4 at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Soon, it’ll be Harper who’s mentoring younger players. After playing in the Athletes Unlimited league this summer, she’ll return to Tucson as a graduate assistant. She’ll be filling her journal with more hitting strategies and tactics.
Harper has known since high school that she wanted to be a coach, and Candrea promised he would save a graduate assistant spot for her on his staff.
“I love visiting younger teams. I tell them ‘Hey, you could be me one day or you can be better than me one day. Let’s do it,’” she said. “It’s fun. I love giving back to the sport.”
