Getting to know …

Woodstown’s Tulana Mingin

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of in depth interviews with athletes in Salem County. Coaches, if there is a player in your program with an interesting background or backstory the community would be interested in “Getting To Know …”, forward details in an email to Riverview Sports News at al.muskewitz@gmail.com

WOODSTOWN – If teams got to pick a player’s walk-up music as they came to the plate the undisputed choice for Woodstown shortstop Tulana Mingin would be the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started.”

From her spot in the lineup, the senior gets the Wolverines going and is usually right in the middle of any rally they put together. When this season is over, she will have collected 100 career hits and leave as the program’s all-time hits leader.

Mingin is all about softball, but when she’s not leading the Wolverines on the field you will usually find her taking a nice stroll in the park or dropping a hook in the water to wait on the next big fish to bite.

With the pressure of making a college choice behind her – she signed with East Stroudsburg in November – her mission for her senior season is simply to go out and have fun while doing all she can to ensure retiring coach Dave Wildermuth goes out with a bang.

RIVERVIEW SPORTS NEWS: When did you first fall in love with softball. I’m sure you played a bunch of sports growing up, but what was it about softball that did it for you?

TULANA MINGIN: I started to really like it when I started playing travel ball; the more I played it, the more I would enjoy it. I really started to love it a few years ago, like sophomore year, when I was playing travel because I saw just a complete different level of competition and seeing all the other good players it just made me want to be great.

RSN: What are some of the experiences softball has afforded you that you might not have had otherwise?

TM: Aside from making my best friends, I got to travel all across the East Coast. We even went to Colorado this past summer. I got to stay there for a week. It’s really cool to see the different parts of the U.S. I’ve never been that West before and I wouldn’t go there unless I was playing softball.

I got to see a lot of mountains in Colorado. In Massachusetts I got to see seals an stuff, so I know there’s probably a Great White (shark) somewhere in there.

RSN: You’re in line for a couple milestones this year. You need three hits for 100 – maybe Monday? – and will probably set the program’s career hits record. What do those things mean to you?

TM: It is important to me because I put a lot of time into this so it’s nice to see when it pays off. To see you’re the all-time leader for something is just crazy to think about for a whole program.

(Getting 100 hits) was something I thought about when I started playing high school softball, that was my first goal, to try to get 100 hits in my whole career. If I get it I’ll be really happy.

RSN: You’re known as a slap hitter. How does that style fit into the way the game is played?

TM: I think it’s important to have some slappers in the lineup because it creates chaos on the defense and there are multiple things you can do – you can play small ball, you can bunt, soft slap, hard slap. You’re just trying to direct the ball; you look at the field and see where everybody’s positioned and try to hit it where they’re not.

RSN: You’ve been a 2-hole hitter in the lineup, but Coach Wildermuth told me a while back he might put you at leadoff (she batted first in Saturday’s scrimmage with Sterling). If that does happen what does it do for your style of play; does it alter your approach at all? I guess, really, you’re only leadoff in the first inning.

TM: When I’m in the 2-hole, if someone’s on in front of me, it takes away a slap to the shortstop or second baseman because they can get the force at second. When I have nobody on base, it expands what I can do. I come in with a different approach depending on the situation, but I’m usually just reading the defense and seeing where I should place the ball.

I’ve been leadoff my whole life, not every single time but I’m used to it. When I was younger I would always bat leadoff, even before I was lefthanded, so I’m kind of used to being the first batter and just having that mindset and not being nervous about it.

RSN: Wait. What? Before you were left-handed?

TM: Yes, I was a right-handed batter until my freshman year. I switched over the winter of my freshman year right before the high school season. I was a good hitter before, but decided to switch because I wasn’t a power hitter and I knew my speed would be more beneficial for recruiting if I was a slapper. I just went completely lefty instead of being a switch hitter so I could just focus on getting good at that.

RSN: They tell me you eat it up defensively at short, too. What do you think about your defensive skills. Shortstop traditionally is like the best athlete on a team.

TM: I really like taking ground balls at practice. Just getting different ground balls at practice really helps me. Just getting reps in outside of team practice.

RSN: Tell me a little about your recruiting. I know you signed with East Stroudsburg in November. What separated them from whoever else you were considering and how did signing fulfill a lifelong dream from you?

TM: I loved it when I toured there. It felt like someplace I could live and be happy with. I really like the softball program. I really like the coach. And all the girls on the team were nice. Going to their camps and seeing how they run practices made me want to be a part of that.

I was kind of looking at a lot of D-I, D-II schools local because I don’t want to go too far. So I was looking at FDU (Teaneck), Wilmington, Georgian Court, West Chester, Bloomfield. 

RSN: Here’s the fun stuff. What do you like to do away from the field; how do you decompress?

TM: I like to be outside, so I like to go on walks. Watch movies. I like to fish when it’s nice out, so after softball I’ll go fishing with my friends. I catch a lot of fish; I get pretty lucky with that. It’s fun. It’s really relaxing. It’s a time for me to think about stuff.

The biggest fish I caught? I don’t know how many pounds, but I’ve got a picture of it. It’s like this big (holding her hands about 12 inches apart). I threw it back. I’ll get a bigger one.

RSN: Have you ever considered being a Phillies ball girl down the foul line at Citizens Bank Park?

TM: I’ve thought about that before. That sounds really fun and to continue working with sports would be really fun. One of the girls who graduated from ESU softball does that (MacKenzie Lewis was a Phillies ball girl in 2023). I haven’t thought about it that much, but it would be something fun to do. I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up yet.

RSN: Back to the serious stuff to finish up. The last two years you had some hard-luck losses to Audubon that knocked you out of the playoffs. How much has that stuck with you and drive you this year?

TM: This year I want it more than anything, especially with two losses by one run in such close games. Audubon’s a really good team so I know it’s not going to be easy, so that just pushes me to want it more. Everybody wants to beat Audubon after the past two years because we know we can do it.

RSN: And lastly, Coach Wildermuth is retiring at the end of the school year. What was that like when he told the girls of his plan, what’s he meant to you and your career and what will that dynamic mean for the season that starts Monday at home against Schalick?

TM: Obviously we’re going to want to have a really good season for him for his last year. Our all seniors, he’s leaving with us, so it’s our last season, too, and it means a lot.

Everybody was sad when he said that. They knew it was coming because he’s, like, retired before. I’m sure there will be crying whenever the last game is. No tears were shed yet, but it’s definitely something sad when you think about it, but we still have a whole season ahead of us; we’re not thinking about that yet. We want him to have the best last season.