Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
On the Road with Emily Williams
April 14, 2020 | Softball, HailStateBEAT
by Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications
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STARKVILLE – A road trip with the Mississippi State softball team always features a game before the game. If you happen upon the Bulldogs in an airport across the country, you can guarantee that at least one pair of teammates will be furiously engaged in a word search race.
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The competitions started with Emily Williams. When she was about 10 years old, she got her first book of 526 word searches. Within a year, she'd finished it. She brought a collection of the puzzle books to Starkville as a freshman to keep up her hobby by herself.
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"Then I started bringing multiple books, and I would make the girls in the dorm race me," Williams said. "None of them were any good, so I started bringing them on trips to play other people. I wanted to race somebody better."
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Her teammates, however, haven't fared much better. Williams remains undefeated.
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"Sometimes they work in teams," she said. "It'll be two of them and then just me. They're better that way, but it's still not close."
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The games used to be highly officiated affairs. With different books, the Bulldogs had to count up the number of words in the two puzzles to make sure it would be a fair race. Now, Williams just buys all of her books in pairs. With identical puzzles, no one can claim their opponent had it too easy.
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Maybe Williams just has an eye for letters or an exceptionally good memory. She approaches every puzzle the same way. She mows straight down the list of words she's looking for and only hunts one at a time. If she spots one that isn't her target, she doesn't get distracted.
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"I leave it, but I keep it in the back of my head so when I get to it on the list, it's super easy," she said.
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Word searches aren't her only road trip activity. When the pitcher double majoring in psychology and political science isn't focused on her schoolwork or winning the race, she's usually playing Fortnite.
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She started off playing on her phone using her fingers but wasn't very good. Once her brother showed her how to connect her Xbox controller to her phone with Bluetooth, things got much better for her.
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Williams and her roommate Carter Spexarth often play as a team. She still remembers their first victory. The pair went out to dinner at a local restaurant and picked up the game after ordering their food.
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"It was like a 25-minute-long game," she said. "Our food had come like fifteen minutes before, and we didn't stop to eat, so it was like freezing cold. As soon as we won, we were screaming around, and everyone was staring at us. That was our first one together."
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It was a rare outburst for someone who considers herself very reserved. Williams does admit that while she tends to be quieter and easy-going, she has a hard time keeping a straight face. That may be the way her teammates can finally break her concentration in their word search races.
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"That might be the strategy. Don't tell anyone," she said.
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Her competitive nature extends to board games with her family as well. The Williams family plays spades and Monopoly a lot. While she maintains no one ever cheats, they've created their own house rules that some may disagree with.
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They stack the deck in Monopoly to make sure the top half of the Chance and Community Chest cards only pay out money and never ask for payment. That lets them build up cash early so they can afford the streak of payments that will be due when they hit the bottom half of the deck.
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When it comes to spades, the biggest argument is over who gets stuck with her brother, who hates playing the game.
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"We get in arguments all the time about that, because he won't try," Williams said. "I'll have to pump him up. I'll give him snacks and be like, 'If we win, we get to do this!' just trying to convince him to try."
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Now that she's home for the remainder of the spring semester, the family has been busy.
Â
"We've had so much time outside of school, we've played a lot of different games," she said. "We've started playing dominos and other stuff once we get tired of the same old games."
Â
New games mean new opportunities for new rules and family arguments, but one thing will remain the same. Emily Williams will want to win.
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STARKVILLE – A road trip with the Mississippi State softball team always features a game before the game. If you happen upon the Bulldogs in an airport across the country, you can guarantee that at least one pair of teammates will be furiously engaged in a word search race.
Â
The competitions started with Emily Williams. When she was about 10 years old, she got her first book of 526 word searches. Within a year, she'd finished it. She brought a collection of the puzzle books to Starkville as a freshman to keep up her hobby by herself.
Â
"Then I started bringing multiple books, and I would make the girls in the dorm race me," Williams said. "None of them were any good, so I started bringing them on trips to play other people. I wanted to race somebody better."
Â
Her teammates, however, haven't fared much better. Williams remains undefeated.
Â
"Sometimes they work in teams," she said. "It'll be two of them and then just me. They're better that way, but it's still not close."
Â
The games used to be highly officiated affairs. With different books, the Bulldogs had to count up the number of words in the two puzzles to make sure it would be a fair race. Now, Williams just buys all of her books in pairs. With identical puzzles, no one can claim their opponent had it too easy.
Â
Maybe Williams just has an eye for letters or an exceptionally good memory. She approaches every puzzle the same way. She mows straight down the list of words she's looking for and only hunts one at a time. If she spots one that isn't her target, she doesn't get distracted.
Â
"I leave it, but I keep it in the back of my head so when I get to it on the list, it's super easy," she said.
Â
Word searches aren't her only road trip activity. When the pitcher double majoring in psychology and political science isn't focused on her schoolwork or winning the race, she's usually playing Fortnite.
Â
She started off playing on her phone using her fingers but wasn't very good. Once her brother showed her how to connect her Xbox controller to her phone with Bluetooth, things got much better for her.
Â
Williams and her roommate Carter Spexarth often play as a team. She still remembers their first victory. The pair went out to dinner at a local restaurant and picked up the game after ordering their food.
Â
"It was like a 25-minute-long game," she said. "Our food had come like fifteen minutes before, and we didn't stop to eat, so it was like freezing cold. As soon as we won, we were screaming around, and everyone was staring at us. That was our first one together."
Â
It was a rare outburst for someone who considers herself very reserved. Williams does admit that while she tends to be quieter and easy-going, she has a hard time keeping a straight face. That may be the way her teammates can finally break her concentration in their word search races.
Â
"That might be the strategy. Don't tell anyone," she said.
Â
Her competitive nature extends to board games with her family as well. The Williams family plays spades and Monopoly a lot. While she maintains no one ever cheats, they've created their own house rules that some may disagree with.
Â
They stack the deck in Monopoly to make sure the top half of the Chance and Community Chest cards only pay out money and never ask for payment. That lets them build up cash early so they can afford the streak of payments that will be due when they hit the bottom half of the deck.
Â
When it comes to spades, the biggest argument is over who gets stuck with her brother, who hates playing the game.
Â
"We get in arguments all the time about that, because he won't try," Williams said. "I'll have to pump him up. I'll give him snacks and be like, 'If we win, we get to do this!' just trying to convince him to try."
Â
Now that she's home for the remainder of the spring semester, the family has been busy.
Â
"We've had so much time outside of school, we've played a lot of different games," she said. "We've started playing dominos and other stuff once we get tired of the same old games."
Â
New games mean new opportunities for new rules and family arguments, but one thing will remain the same. Emily Williams will want to win.
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