Father's memory motivates Gold Glove infielder Tallen Edwards

Trisha Ford and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie softball team return to Davis Diamond on Thursday to open the 2026 season with the Aggie Classic. We’re looking ahead to the upcoming campaign with our 2026 Texas A&M Softball Preview Series.

While the world began to move on to our new normal after a global pandemic, time stood still for Tallen Edwards.

A nightmare became her family's reality as they were left standing in a hospital room with an unimaginable decision to make.

On Dec. 15, 2021, Tallen lost her father, Larry Joe Edwards Jr., to COVID-19 at just 48 years old.

Larry, having wrestled with diabetes, seemed to have made a full recovery after 45 days in the ICU. Only a few weeks and another hospital admission later, he was gone.

A young Tallen, then a junior in high school, was left to pick up the pieces and cope with the loss of her first coach as she left home early to begin her collegiate softball journey.

“He didn’t get to watch me in any of my college career, so I’m just trying to make him as proud as possible,” Tallen said.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Before transferring to Texas A&M, Tallen Edwards appeared in 170 ballgames over three seasons at Oklahoma State.

With a heavy heart, Tallen made her way to Stillwater, where she starred for Oklahoma State.

As a freshman in 2023, she earned freshman All-American honors from D1Softball after hitting .328 and becoming the most difficult player to strike out in the Big 12. She had three home runs, 26 RBIs and 57 hits along with a .977 fielding percentage in 60 games played for a team that reached the Women’s College World Series.

In three seasons with the Cowgirls, Tallen led her team to new heights. As a sophomore, she paced the club with 41 runs scored and 27 walks on her way to NFCA Third Team All-Region and All-Big 12 Defensive Team recognition.

Perhaps her crowning achievement came in 2025 when she received a Rawlings Gold Glove Award after fielding .973 on 149 chances. For her, these accolades are more than simply milestones and serve as a way to honor her dad with the career he never got to see her have.

“It meant a lot to me because, especially with my dad passing away in high school,” Tallen said. “This was something that he really wanted for me.

“The Gold Glove was very bittersweet. I left with the cherry on top.”

For all of her accomplishments on the field, her voice off the field is inspiring girls and boys everywhere. Now, with the support and encouragement of her new team at Texas A&M, she is using her platform to raise awareness of a cause close to her heart, in hopes of helping kids like her embrace their new normal.

At age seven, Tallen was diagnosed with Alopecia, but she never let that stop her from pursuing her dreams and becoming the best at the game she loved. Softball became her escape, her place to be all that she wanted to be. Looking different from other kids wouldn’t stop her from being the best player on the field.

“I had to stop asking myself, ‘why me?’ and instead, ‘what can I do with this?’” Tallen said. “I started reaching out to other people, and weirdly enough, started meeting a couple of kids in Oklahoma who had it. I started helping younger kids and younger kids.”

She reaches out to kids and other athletes who also have Alopecia to build a system of support. She has created group chats to bring a sense of belonging and has used social media to spread awareness, especially during September, which serves as Alopecia awareness month.

On the field, Tallen spent the next few years working her way to the top of the college game. However, she felt stuck and like she could never punch through the ceiling of her potential.

She knew there had to be more. The opportunity of entering the transfer portal loomed, and she knew it was time to look for a new home.

@EdwardsTallen/Twitter

Tallen Edwards announced her commitment to Texas A&M on June 18, 2025.

After a visit to College Station, Tallen knew she found her new family in Aggieland.

She saw a program that would sharpen her, a coaching staff led by Trisha Ford that would equip her and a team that would champion her all along the way.

She knew the dream. She knew the goal. Aggieland was the place she was going to reach it.

“There is no doubt that I got to the Division I level because of my dad,” Tallen said. “Since then, you kind of play with this chip on your shoulder now. He didn’t get to watch me in any of my college career, so I’m just trying to make him as proud as possible.”

Two schools and numerous awards later, as she looks into the empty stands at Davis Diamond that will soon be filled, Tallen thinks she finally reached that dream.

Amidst the bubble guns, the Aggie traditions and the thrill of wearing the Maroon & White, she already has everything she dreamed of. She had finally made it to the place she knew her father was preparing her to go.

“He would be so happy right now that I am in the SEC, that I have Aggies on my chest,” she said. “Weirdly enough, I feel like I just accomplished that goal.”

A&M has been a part of punching through the ceiling she felt caged by in Stillwater. After spending three years longing for the feeling of making her first coach proud, she has made it.

She is not only the softball player he trained her to be, but she is also the woman and the advocate he raised her to be.

“For three years, I felt like I couldn’t break it. I couldn't figure it out,” Tallen said. “Coming to A&M, it was like whatever I do on the field in these next 65 games doesn't matter. I got to the point that he would want me to be as a softball player now. This place has helped me tremendously.

“It has been really special to do this for him.”

She’ll take the field for the first time as an Aggie on Feb. 5, and she’ll play with the joy and the purpose she has been looking for. She is playing with pride for the program that is building girls into women and shaping them to go out and make a difference.

For Tallen, softball has always been about more than a game.

It has been her escape from hardship, her coping mechanism through an unimaginable tragedy and her place to make the ones who came before her proud.