Texas A&M’s Mya Perez pays tribute with classic ‘Volver, Volver’

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – As Mya Perez smiled while granting a little girl an autograph Saturday evening, Raymond Perez Sr. got in line behind several adults and kids waiting for autographs from the sophomores on Texas A&M’s softball team.

Raymond Perez Sr. had not been in Texas since he was briefly stationed at Fort Hood – now named Fort Cavazos – in Killeen 55 years ago after finishing a tour in Vietnam with the Army. He joined his son Raymond Jr. at Texas A&M last weekend to watch his granddaughter play for the Aggies. 

The Aggies lost against Arkansas on Saturday, but the visit was of much greater significance than wins and losses. It was about a proud grandfather and father cheering on the first in their family to attend college. 

“It means the world to me,” Raymond Sr. says. “That’s why I want to stand in line to get an autograph.”

Among SEC leaders

Mya Perez is one of the top sluggers in the Southeastern Conference. The left-handed slugger carries the fifth best batting average (.433) and slugging percentage (.827) in the SEC. She’s also fifth in the SEC with a team-leading 59 RBIs, 49 of them in conference play.

Mya also leads Texas A&M with 13 home runs. The first baseman from Corona, Calif., rarely has family in the stands. So she cherished the opportunity to play in front of her grandfather for the first time during the three-game series against Arkansas.

“It means a lot to me,” Mya says of her grandfather’s visit. “He’s always helped me since I was younger to grow into the athlete I am. I’m very happy that he’s here watching me.”

Mya would look into Section 108 at Davis Diamond to make eye contact with her father and grandfather each time she got to first base. Her dad loved how Aggie fans reacted to her walk-up song, “Volver, Volver.”

The gritos and buzz through the crowd gave Raymond Jr. a sense that his daughter has connected with her fellow Aggies and A&M fans. Mya Perez is a third-generation Mexican American from California’s Riverside County. Her paternal great grandmother Petra came over from Jalostitlan, Jalisco, Mexico.

Mya’s great-grandmother spoke mostly Spanish before dying when Mya was little. Mya found ways to communicate with her great-grandmother as a toddler and small child while spending many of her earlier years visiting her grandparents. 

Texas A&M sophomore slugger Mya Perez had one of the best walk-up songs in NCAA softball. She uses Vicente Fernandez’s Volver, Volver.
We see you, @MyaPerez2023 ! 🇲🇽🇺🇸#LatinoExcellence #GigEm pic.twitter.com/rUFYsYMv32

— Our Esquina (@OurEsquina) April 26, 2025

By the time Mya’s dad Raymond Jr. grew up, though, their generation of the family hardly spoke Spanish. Mya isn’t fluent in Spanish, but she appreciates her culture and pays tribute to it before each at-bat.

Proud to represent

She carries the Perez on the back of her Texas A&M jersey with a sense of obligation and a desire to show the world what Latinas can accomplish.

“It means carrying strength and pride and just remembering those who were before you, like my grandma and my great-grandma,” she said. “They definitely worked hard in their traditions. Just knowing that I’m not representing just myself but them (and) my community is huge.”

That’s why Mya Perez walks up to the plate with Vicente Fernandez’s iconic “Volver, Volver” playing in the background. Hearing that walk-up song at Davis Diamond, Raymond Jr. was almost moved to tears as he soaked in the reaction from Aggies in the sellout crowd.

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“Volver, Volver” takes Raymond back to the backyard gatherings that are common with the Perez family in Corona. The Perezes are close. Mya grew accustomed to playing in front of multiple generations of relatives since she started playing softball at 7 years old.

She missed that familial support as a freshman. Mya fought homesickness for much of her freshman year as she struggled to get consistent playing time. 

Her parents, older brother, grandparents and former travel-ball coaches and teammates called Mya often to lift her spirits and offer support. Even though they were nearly 1,500 miles away, Mya’s family reminded her that she wasn’t alone on her trailblazing journey as the first in her family to attend a university.

Overcoming difficult freshman season

Adjusting to college softball was the most difficult test of Mya’s young life. She finished her freshman season with only 42 at-bats. One of those at-bats, though, was a signature shot that introduced her power to college softball.

With her parents watching on their mobile devices at a family party in Corona last May, Mya crushed a three-run home run to force extra innings in Game 2 of the NCAA Super Regional in Austin against rival Texas. Mya Perez’s mom, Delia, was watching a stream of the game on her iPhone. Several feet away, Raymond Jr. was watching the stream on his iPhone.

The stream on Delia’s device was a few seconds ahead of Raymond’s feed. The rest of the family was focused on the party until Delia and Raymond screamed and jumped up and down.

Raymond Jr. had asked his wife not to tell him what was going on. He wanted to see it for himself first on his device. But he knew something special happened as soon as he saw a small tear of pride roll down his wife’s cheek.

That home run was one of the biggest of the year for the Aggies. It also helped boost Mya’s confidence.

“I wasn’t starting. I was mostly a pinch-hitter,” she said. “That was a lot mentally for me because I wasn’t really used to that. But I remember .. in the Super Regionals against Texas I hit my first home run and it was a meaningful home run. I feel like ever since that moment I realized that I can do this. 

“My family knew that I could do this. My teammates, coaches, everybody knew I could do it. But just having that moment happen let me be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I can do this. I can play in the SEC and compete with the best.’”

Clutch home run against Texas

Mya credits her parents with preparing her for college softball. She has been around softball most of her life. Her father played in slow-pitch and fast-pitch adult leagues when Mya was a kid. Raymond Jr. was ecstatic when Mya came home from school with a flyer for a local softball league when she was 7 years old. 

He definitely helped the left-handed slugger develop. Yet in a conversation with Raymond about his daughter, he rattled off more than half a dozen coaches who helped his daughter become an SEC power hitter. If there’s one piece of advice that sticks out for Mya from her dad, it was to go the opposite way.

“My dad always says left-center,” she says with a chuckle. “So basically when I’m hitting, my dad’s a big hitting guy and softball guy. He’s always like, ‘left-center, hit left-center, go oppo gap.’ But my mom’s always (saying) ‘Believe in yourself.’ I’ve always had a hard time believing in myself when I was younger.

“I remember hearing both of those voices and how different they are. Dad’s so into sports. Mom is just, ‘I miss my baby.’ It’s pretty cool.”

Buoyed by the three-run blast against Texas, Mya Perez returned to Corona last summer committed to work on her craft. She put time in the gym and the batting cages. She was the SEC Player of the Week early this season and has surged ever since. Along the way, she has taken pride in showing her Latino roots. 

“Not everybody is going to be Latina or Latino around you, but show who you are and be proud of it,” she says.

That’s why she picked Fernandez’s “Volver, Volver” as her walk-up song.

“I try to throw in a Spanish song during an at-bat and stuff,” she said. “A lot of the Aggie fans, they’ll come to me and they’ll be like, ‘We’re so proud of you, our community.’ Just knowing they’re by my side and they’re looking up to me is huge. I take it with pride for sure.”