Where Are They Now? . . . Jett Mullally

By Wyatt Hardy

From 2007 to 2011, Jett Mullally was an incredible softball and basketball player at Sullivan High School. She was an all-star in the outfield as well as one of the top scorers on the court. Mullally excelled in college and, afterwards, competed in MMA fighting. Her past memories and mentorships shaped her into the individual she is today.

In softball, Mullally’s ability to consistently get on base and score nearly every matchup was unparalleled. In her senior year, Mullally’s performance reached new heights when she led the team in 109 plate appearances and 47 runs scored. For her achievements that season, she was recognized as an all-state outfielder.

The Lady Eagles softball team dominated under head coach Ashley Crump’s lead, with Mullally helping her team to win 3 district and conference titles.

Mullally credits coach Crump for developing her into a great athlete, stating, “She is really passionate and dedicated to what she does. I picked up on that immediately and wanted to buy into what she had planned for us as a team. Crump made me feel confident in who I was as a player. She taught us a lot about life through the game of softball and how to handle adversity.”

In basketball, Mullally had the opportunity to play alongside remarkable athletes like Carissa Richardson and Sierra Pryor. Mullally’s favorite memory on the court was when her team advanced to the quarterfinals and became a part of the Elite 8 of Missouri.

When looking back on it, she claims, “That feeling was special and winning that game would have sent us to the final 4, but unfortunately we were eliminated by Dexter. The quarterfinal game was one of the most exciting games I have ever been a part of. The crowd was huge. I can still feel the pressure and the intensity of the atmosphere.”

After high school, Mullally earned a softball scholarship to play for the Vikings at Jefferson College. She competed at the Division 1 junior collegiate level in both basketball and softball. After two successful years, she accepted a basketball scholarship to Lindenwood University-Belleville and still actively participated in softball.

But the transition from high school to collegiate sports was not easy. Mullally explained, “[It] was something that I had to learn and pick up on quickly. The level of play was a step quicker. The competition was tougher. Everybody around you is good if not better. The amount of time that I had to put into everything was a lot. I had to work a lot harder for the positions that I wanted.”

Once she left college, Mullally struggled with finding a new way to feed  her competitive spirit, explaining, “When my sports career ended, I had a hard time not having that outlet anymore. I needed something to put my energy too, so I decided to do some training for kickboxing and MMA in hopes that one day I could teach it myself.”

She set off to be in a ring she had never been in before, stating, “Fighting gave me that sense of competition and something to work towards. It was a challenge for me. It was something that I wanted to prove to myself I could do. I have competed in one amateur kickboxing match and plan to do more in MMA. There’s nothing like that kind of adrenaline.”

Whenever a new difficulty arose, Mullally always found a way to overcome what others think would be impossible.

When asked on what was the most challenging part for her in her career, she said, “Over the course of my career I have had 4 shoulder surgeries and hours of physical therapy. It was something that was always a challenge for me. I knew I would always have that set back. I was always conscious of the injury and had to make adjustments when I needed to.”

The pain made her work harder, become a greater athlete and a stronger individual. Through every defeat,  Mullally grew to understand that overcoming a loss and learning from it is a victory in itself.   

Mullally says, “I learned how to work through adversity and to never give up no matter the circumstance. I learned a lot about grit from my coaches and how far I could push myself. A lot of those things transpired into my life and coaching career today.”

Her legacy still lives on today. She is now heading into her third season as a varsity girls basketball head coach and her sixth year being a teacher at Cuba High School.

Mullally continues spreading the wisdom she picked up from her days on the softball field to her time on the basketball court. By overcoming adversity at the collegiate level, in the MMA ring and with injuries, Mullally never stopped pursuing her love for being an athlete.