Texas A&M Softball Star Mya Perez Reflects on Busy Offseason, Looks to Future

For most sports fans, the offseason is seen as a time for the athletes to rest up after the grind of a grueling season. For Texas A&M star slugger Mya Perez, the grind did not stop when the Aggies’ season came to an unceremonious end.

Since No. 1 Texas A&M’s shocking loss to the Liberty Flames in the Bryan-College Station Regional, Perez has kept herself busy with some impressive opportunities.

With the summer beginning to wind down, Perez took some time to reflect on her busy offseason and what is next for her.

Inside Perez’s Not-So-Offseason

Before coming to Texas A&M, Perez played softball at Norco High School, where she knocked 13 home runs and 46 RBI, while averaging .451 at the plate and playing in the Alliance All-Star game as a senior. She would represent her high school, do her practice and drills, then go and suit up for her travel squad, Athletics - Mercado.

“It was very competitive,” Perez said. “Super fun and I was still able to get all my work in, and still be ready for travel ball and stuff back then.”

Through her high school years, she was recruited heavily by Arizona State, which was then led by coach Trisha Ford. On June 7, 2022, Ford was announced as the next head coach of Texas A&M’s softball team. In October of the same year, Perez announced her commitment to the Aggies.

“I knew this was the place for me and these were the coaches I wanted to play for,” Perez said. “I love being here and I feel like once I got here, I knew it was home.”

While adjusting to life in Texas, Perez had a relatively quiet freshman season. She recorded one home run, nine hits and nine RBI on a .214 batting average. Perez’s career trajectory changed when she hit her first collegiate home run against the rival Texas Longhorns, a three-run bomb that sent the Aggies into extra innings. From that moment on, everything began to click for Perez.

“I feel like I had no belief in myself, kind of, and I was second-guessing everything I was doing, trying to be perfect in certain situations,” Perez said. “After that, I realized, like, you know what? This is for me, I could do this. My coaches were right, my teammates were right, and you know, they all believed in me from the start. So just getting that belief in myself really helped me push myself.”

OH MYA 🤯

📺 ESPN#GigEm pic.twitter.com/Fu0x1ydt1y
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) May 25, 2024

Her sophomore season, Perez’s belief in herself was evident through her play. She recorded 16 home runs, 67 hits and 73 RBI on a near-doubled .424 batting average. She broke a 43-year-old Texas A&M program single-season record for single-season RBI, while her .424 batting average was third best and .804 slugging percentage was sixth best all-time in school history. For her efforts in her breakout season, Perez earned honors, as well as NFCA All-Region Second Team and All-SEC First Team nods.

Shortly after the season ended, Perez boarded a plane to Colombia, leaving the U.S. for the first time in her life. She got the chance to represent Team Mexico in the 2025 Women’s Softball Pan American Championship. Although she was born and raised in Corona, Calif., Perez has a strong Mexican heritage that she greatly identifies with.

“It was a good chance to learn more about my culture with the girls on my team,” Perez said. “It meant a lot to me, honestly, getting to rep my heritage and my ancestors.”

With “Mexico” on her chest, Perez did what she does best. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mexico knew exactly whose number to call. Put in the game as a pinch hitter, Perez took the first pitch then proceeded to send the second screaming back over the left-center field wall to give Mexico a 4-0 lead. Perez would earn Player of the Day for her grand slam heroics.

¡Adiós, pelota!

That ball is on a permanent vacation 😎@MyaPerez2023 hits a pinch-hit grand slam to propel Mexico to a 7-0 victory. Mexico is now 3-0 in group play in the Pan American Championship. #GigEm pic.twitter.com/rP1OUCk4lU
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) June 29, 2025

As just a sophomore, Perez had hit her first collegiate home run in a clutch postseason moment, hit a grand slam for her grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ homeland and even became enshrined in Texas A&M’s record books.

Texas A&M Aggies, Mya Pere — Texas A&M infielder Mya Perez (24) runs safely through first base during a softball game between Tennessee and Texas A&M at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium at University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, Tenn., May 1, 2025. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Just when it seems like there is not much left for Perez to do, she has even bigger ambitions. On Saturday, July 26, Perez is set to represent the Los Angeles Dodgers in MLB’s Home Run Derby X at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas.

“I’m so excited,” Perez said. “It's a great opportunity, you know, get to meet some MLB players and also get to compete against some Texas girls that I've played against all the time. So it's going to be a great experience and I get to hit baseballs, so that's gonna be new and exciting.”

Home Run Derby X is a new concept from the MLB that turns home run derbies into a three-on-three team matchup. The teams are comprised of an MLB legend and baseball and softball stars. Unlike a traditional home run derby, where points are earned only for hitting homers, Home Run Derby X allows players to earn points on defense, awarding a point for each ball caught. While one team is batting, the other team gets to play defense. Offensively, teams earn points for each home run hit. At the end of the event, the team with the most points wins.

Perez prides herself on her consistency, something that will be crucial to her performance at the home run derby. The more consistently she can hit balls over the fence, the better for her team.

Ft. our Aggie — Mya Perez! 👍

🥎 Home Run Derby X
📍 Dell Diamond, Round Rock TX
🗓️ July 26#GigEm | @MyaPerez2023 https://t.co/1gOtEaTg4Q
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) July 23, 2025

Although she is just a rising junior, Perez already has plans for life after collegiate softball.

“One thing that is definitely on my list to do once I graduate is definitely play for [Athletes Unlimited],” Perez said. “MLB has put money into it, and it's starting to become really, really big, and I feel like in a couple of years, it's just going to get bigger and expand. So it's definitely something I want to do.”

Once she is done playing, Perez hopes to share her wisdom and experience with the next generation of softball players.

“I could be a coach, or I could open up my own facility and be a peer mentor,” Perez said. “I truly understand the outside of softball struggles, mental and physical, so I just want to be there for athletes and be an advocate.”

Until the day comes that Perez has to leave Aggieland, she will be stepping into even more of a leadership role, especially after the departures of key players like Emiley Kennedy, Koko Wooley, Amari Harper and Mac Barbara. As a sophomore, it was clear that Perez would be the Aggies’ next leader. Now, she thinks another rising sophomore could follow on a similar path.

“I would say KK [Dement] for sure,” Perez said. “From just being a freshman last year and all that she accomplished, this year, she's definitely gonna step it up and we're definitely gonna come together and be leaders and do everything the right way.”

Dement put together an impressive freshman campaign, logging 56 hits, 18 doubles, a triple and 16 home runs on a .335 batting average.

so nice, had to do it twice 😏@DementKk | #GigEm pic.twitter.com/bFltpJAExH
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) May 9, 2025

The next time Dement and Perez take the field together will likely be in February, but until then, Texas A&M fans can watch Perez do her thing in a multitude of ways.

“I’m just ready for next season, honestly,” Perez said. “We’ve got some newcomers, a couple of freshmen and we do get some people from the portal too that could definitely help us out.”