In this heartwarming and inspirational episode, co-hosts Rusty Ham and his daughter Lacie reflect on Lacie's challenging journey in her softball career, which was marked by injuries, setbacks, and the global pandemic. Despite the numerous obstacles, Lacie's determination and resilience shine through as she shares her experiences of the recruiting process, the impact of COVID-19, and how she kept pushing forward to achieve her dream of playing college softball.
The duo also celebrates surpassing 1,400 downloads of their podcast and thank their supportive listeners from various countries. The episode is a testament to perseverance, the importance of support, and never giving up on your dreams.
A couple of years ago, as a family, we created family core values. One of them is, "We face challenges with optimism while displaying a growth mindset." We wanted to tell our story so others, who relate, can navigate through these challenges better. Contributing to our Podcast will show we're on the right track and we're making a difference to those who have similar stories. Buy Us A Coffee
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[00:00:00] But I also don't think anyone said Lacie, there needs to be some sort of change.
[00:00:06] We changed pitching coaches for this reason when we changed, when we got up to 18s.
[00:00:13] I don't know if that, if there was any progress there, but I just, I felt like on a straight line,
[00:00:19] there wasn't like, I wasn't going down, but I also wasn't going up.
[00:00:23] And I don't really remember like the specific reasons why,
[00:00:28] but I think all I just needed was just like someone, like just like a little push for someone to be
[00:00:35] like, if you really want to play on this team or if you really want to dominate and get looked at
[00:00:41] and recruited, like something needs to change, something needs to happen.
[00:00:45] Hello and welcome to Catching You, A Dad and Daughters Softball Journey.
[00:00:49] I'm Rusty, a dad who's been in the dugout and on the sidelines.
[00:00:53] And I'm Lacie, the daughter whose journey through softball has been filled with incredible
[00:00:57] wins, tough losses and so many lessons both on and off the field.
[00:01:01] For the past 16 years, we've navigated the highs and lows of softball together,
[00:01:05] from the local fields to national tournaments and everything in between.
[00:01:09] From the challenges of recruitment during COVID to the mental and emotional roller coaster
[00:01:13] that comes with being a student athlete, we'll be sharing the perspectives of both the parent
[00:01:17] and athlete and firsthand experience of the impact of sports on mental health
[00:01:22] and the importance of support from the sidelines.
[00:01:25] Welcome back everyone to Catching You.
[00:01:28] I'm your co-host Rusty Ham.
[00:01:30] With me is my other co-host Lacie, my beautiful daughter who is now
[00:01:36] entering her senior year of college.
[00:01:38] Welcome Lacie.
[00:01:40] Thank you.
[00:01:42] Officially done.
[00:01:43] Yeah.
[00:01:44] How do you feel?
[00:01:44] You are officially now a senior in college.
[00:01:47] I don't really feel like it yet because now I have summer and I have to take summer classes,
[00:01:56] but that's not during the school year.
[00:01:58] I think I'll feel it more when I'm back in San Jose in August.
[00:02:03] Right.
[00:02:05] It's almost like turning 21.
[00:02:06] You just don't, you don't feel like you're 21 yet until
[00:02:10] you start doing stuff.
[00:02:12] Yeah.
[00:02:13] Yeah.
[00:02:14] Yeah.
[00:02:14] And your mom and I came off a nice little competition.
[00:02:22] We got second place in our age group, 50 to 59.
[00:02:27] We are an age group.
[00:02:28] Talk about what you thought about the winners.
[00:02:32] Yeah.
[00:02:34] So we get up to, we got seconds, we were on the podium a second,
[00:02:37] and then they announced the winners.
[00:02:39] They walk up the stairs and they look over
[00:02:42] and I lean over to your mom and I said, we lost to these guys.
[00:02:47] Cause they look, they may have looked older than we did, but
[00:02:53] so we're going to, we have to step our games, step up our game and do better.
[00:02:59] But good times.
[00:03:00] Yeah.
[00:03:00] It was good times.
[00:03:01] We're sore for sure.
[00:03:03] But are you going to take a break or keep trying?
[00:03:07] No, no, we're going to enter another contest, other competition.
[00:03:11] I think she's got the bug and I got the bug too.
[00:03:14] I like it different.
[00:03:15] It keeps me healthy.
[00:03:16] I'm 55 and hopefully that'll keep me going for a while.
[00:03:21] So yeah, so we're transitioning and what I want to do Lace,
[00:03:26] and this is a surprise to you, but I wanted to thank all the listeners we have.
[00:03:30] So we didn't really recognize because we did surpass a thousand downloads.
[00:03:36] We're actually about 1400 downloads since March.
[00:03:41] So that's actually a pretty good feat.
[00:03:43] So I just wanted to thank everybody that out there listening from,
[00:03:47] I think there's five or six different countries too, that we're,
[00:03:50] people are listening from.
[00:03:52] So I just wanted to do a shout out to our listeners
[00:03:56] and those listeners, if you can, would you rate us please?
[00:04:01] And share it.
[00:04:02] That would be awesome.
[00:04:05] And leave a little review.
[00:04:07] That would be cool too.
[00:04:08] But thank you so much everyone for, and I think we have some traction going Lace.
[00:04:12] We have more and more listeners coming in and so our numbers are getting up.
[00:04:16] So we appreciate it.
[00:04:17] Hopefully what we're bringing to you is valuable.
[00:04:21] But yeah, again, I just wanted to appreciate everybody listening.
[00:04:25] Lace, we're going to transition.
[00:04:27] We are now, we got done with 16th.
[00:04:31] So last week we just did some listener questions.
[00:04:33] We just did that.
[00:04:34] So let's transition to, we're out of 16th.
[00:04:37] We go O and two in PgF.
[00:04:41] You don't necessarily remember any part of PgF?
[00:04:44] Why would you remember you went O and two?
[00:04:46] So what's there to remember?
[00:04:48] I don't remember.
[00:04:50] Yeah, you don't remember.
[00:04:51] So now we, so again, when we're,
[00:04:54] when you were in 10U and 12U, Coach Chris says the ultimate goal for me is
[00:04:59] to get you to play for Mark Campbell and Mike Stiff, correct?
[00:05:03] Yes.
[00:05:04] So you ended up with that goal, right?
[00:05:07] You played for Mark Campbell.
[00:05:09] Remember second year 14th, you had your,
[00:05:12] you come back into your head.
[00:05:15] So that kind of puts you, I don't know,
[00:05:21] your trajectory slowed down a little bit because you were,
[00:05:23] you had a great first year 14th.
[00:05:26] You were doing well in the fall of 14th.
[00:05:28] You and Liv were just tearing it up.
[00:05:31] You get the injury, you're out all summer.
[00:05:34] You didn't go to any showcases.
[00:05:36] You couldn't play in Colorado where all the top colleges are watching.
[00:05:41] So you had to take a step back as far as the recruiting process, right?
[00:05:44] I don't know if you wanted to talk about that a little bit.
[00:05:47] Recruiting process, pitching wise, mental wise,
[00:05:52] I think it was just a whole,
[00:05:56] as a player, I took three steps back while everyone was taking
[00:06:01] five steps forward, I think.
[00:06:04] That was, we went into that summer with Mark saying
[00:06:07] this is the most crucial summer of your career.
[00:06:11] So I didn't get that.
[00:06:13] I got what, maybe a few games in PGF,
[00:06:16] but I still wasn't the player I was before.
[00:06:20] Yeah.
[00:06:20] And that kind of just kept going throughout 16s
[00:06:25] and now I'm going into 18s with Coach Mike
[00:06:29] and I don't feel the same,
[00:06:33] but I also don't think anyone said,
[00:06:36] Lacey, there needs to be some sort of change.
[00:06:39] We changed pitching coaches for this reason
[00:06:43] when we got up to 18s.
[00:06:46] I don't know if there was any progress there,
[00:06:49] but I felt like on a straight line,
[00:06:53] there wasn't like, I wasn't going down,
[00:06:55] but I also wasn't going up.
[00:06:57] And I don't really remember the specific reasons why,
[00:07:00] but I think all I just needed was just like someone,
[00:07:04] like just like a little push for someone to be like,
[00:07:08] if you really want to play on this team
[00:07:10] or if you really want to dominate
[00:07:12] and get looked at and recruited,
[00:07:14] like something needs to change.
[00:07:15] Something needs to happen.
[00:07:17] And it would have been great to hear that
[00:07:18] from someone in the organization.
[00:07:21] But I don't think I really got that.
[00:07:23] Do you think I got that?
[00:07:26] Yeah, no, the phrase trust the process
[00:07:30] was in our heads, right?
[00:07:31] Because again, 10 you, 12 you,
[00:07:33] hey, the ultimate goal is for me to get you
[00:07:36] to play for Mark Campbell, Mike Stith.
[00:07:39] So we checked off one box, Mark Campbell.
[00:07:42] Boom, we played for Mike's daughter, Katie Stith,
[00:07:45] or you're still on the top teams.
[00:07:47] You play for Mike Stith's 18.
[00:07:50] So now we check off another box.
[00:07:52] Oh, we're playing for Mark Stith.
[00:07:53] This is great.
[00:07:55] Even though you had that setback as far as your head,
[00:07:58] we're still on the path that we were told
[00:08:02] to be on the path, right?
[00:08:04] Yeah, but now I'm a junior in college now.
[00:08:08] High school.
[00:08:09] Or Pye School.
[00:08:12] It's the year of recruiting in college
[00:08:17] and I have nothing.
[00:08:20] You alluded to that in your solo cast
[00:08:23] where September 1st of your junior year
[00:08:25] you had zero calls, right?
[00:08:28] That was painful for you.
[00:08:29] You talked about how painful that was when,
[00:08:33] you know, listen,
[00:08:35] the girls on that team that are in Oklahoma and Tennessee,
[00:08:39] they already had,
[00:08:40] they already committed the year before, right?
[00:08:42] Because they were seniors.
[00:08:44] You're playing on the same team with Mackenzie Hanson,
[00:08:48] Alyssa Britto,
[00:08:50] Tiara Jennings,
[00:08:51] Nicole May,
[00:08:53] Zeta Pooni,
[00:08:54] G.
[00:08:55] These girls are in the Super Regionals right now.
[00:08:58] They committed a year ago.
[00:09:00] I'm sure they got a call at 1201, September 1st of their junior year.
[00:09:04] So it was painful for you not to get a call
[00:09:07] and part of the reason you didn't get a call
[00:09:09] because you didn't play a whole lot for Mike at that time.
[00:09:12] He had that super team
[00:09:15] and then you got some innings here and there
[00:09:17] but it was tough because you're going to Florida
[00:09:21] and we got some innings, right?
[00:09:23] We have a showcase at the end of the fall.
[00:09:27] Didn't get any innings.
[00:09:28] That was on, I think that was on a Saturday.
[00:09:30] You didn't get any innings and obviously everyone's there to see.
[00:09:34] Like, I swear to you that showcase,
[00:09:37] every coach in the whole entire country was there.
[00:09:40] Yeah.
[00:09:41] And I am one of the uncommitted pitchers on the team
[00:09:47] and I don't see the field.
[00:09:50] Yeah.
[00:09:50] Again, the backdrop of it is they played the same team
[00:09:54] that they lost to in Florida, I think.
[00:09:55] So I think Mike wanted to prove a point
[00:09:58] because you're probably going to face this team
[00:10:01] or they were in PGA.
[00:10:04] So they just want to maybe make a statement
[00:10:05] and they're like, we're not going to pitch
[00:10:07] our uncommitted against this team
[00:10:10] and maybe lose whatever.
[00:10:12] Yeah, you didn't get anything.
[00:10:15] No time, no innings,
[00:10:17] no colleges are looking at you because you're not playing.
[00:10:20] He says, yeah, this is not going to work out.
[00:10:22] Hey, why don't you play for Tony, Coach Tony,
[00:10:27] which is another 18th team in the same organization on Sunday.
[00:10:32] And maybe there's going to be some colleges looking at these ones now.
[00:10:36] It's not Oklahoma, it's not Tennessee,
[00:10:38] it's not these big time schools
[00:10:42] but they did get some looks from some mid majors, right?
[00:10:47] It was that same day.
[00:10:48] That was the same day?
[00:10:50] I thought it was the same day.
[00:10:52] No, so we played like an afternoon game.
[00:10:54] He said, so Tony's team is playing at 8 p.m.
[00:10:58] or something like that, you're going to go pitch for them.
[00:11:01] So I just got let go from this team
[00:11:05] that I've been striving to be on for my full entire life
[00:11:08] and now I have to go pitch up seven in game
[00:11:10] against the Corona Angels.
[00:11:12] Yeah, you did great.
[00:11:13] And I did, I think I threw a shutout.
[00:11:16] I think maybe it's...
[00:11:16] You threw a shutout.
[00:11:18] And how did I do that?
[00:11:20] I don't know, maybe I was mad
[00:11:22] and I think I pitched better when I was mad.
[00:11:25] Your rise ball was legit that day.
[00:11:29] And after that game,
[00:11:30] I got a few college coaches cards
[00:11:32] and I was like, what do I do now?
[00:11:37] No, but 100% you do pitch better when you're pitted.
[00:11:41] I've seen that multiple times in your career
[00:11:44] that when you get a little angry,
[00:11:48] the ball comes out of your hand a little bit faster.
[00:11:52] It's hard to find something to be angry at
[00:11:54] every single game.
[00:11:56] Right.
[00:11:57] You got to do...
[00:11:58] Yeah.
[00:12:01] What is it?
[00:12:01] Waterboy?
[00:12:02] He pictures the other person on the other team
[00:12:04] or the person he hates and he goes after it.
[00:12:07] So you just need to be like the waterboy.
[00:12:09] Sure.
[00:12:11] Anyway, so you do that
[00:12:13] and that falls over.
[00:12:16] I think he may have played one more game
[00:12:17] or it might've been just that one game for him.
[00:12:20] So we leave the Batbusters.
[00:12:22] We've been Batbusters since you were nine years old
[00:12:25] and now you're entering your junior year of high school.
[00:12:29] And it was a tough decision, right?
[00:12:31] Because again, we trusted the process.
[00:12:33] We were all about, hey,
[00:12:35] we're going to do exactly what you tell us to do
[00:12:37] because we trust you guys.
[00:12:39] It's not like we distrusted.
[00:12:41] It left a bad taste in our mouth
[00:12:43] because you weren't getting time
[00:12:45] and you weren't getting the front college coaches.
[00:12:48] We could have stayed with Coach Tony
[00:12:50] but I think we just had a bad taste in our mouth.
[00:12:52] We're just like, oh, let's look for another program.
[00:12:55] Fortunately, it was maybe the second year 16s
[00:12:58] it was Coach Greg and Athletic Mercados.
[00:13:01] Very fortunate to get on that team
[00:13:03] because he is a very good recruiter.
[00:13:06] And from day one,
[00:13:09] I don't know if you remember this,
[00:13:10] but day one he was calling coaches for us,
[00:13:13] which Batbusters don't do that, right?
[00:13:15] Colleges go to them.
[00:13:17] They don't go to colleges.
[00:13:19] So we were fortunate to hook up with Coach Greg
[00:13:21] and Athletic Mercado.
[00:13:23] He's calling Ohio State.
[00:13:25] He knows certain colleges need pitchers.
[00:13:28] So he's getting ahold of Ohio State.
[00:13:30] He's getting ahold of North Carolina.
[00:13:33] There might have been one other,
[00:13:35] if I'm not mistaken.
[00:13:37] Maybe we can sit here all day and try to figure it out.
[00:13:39] I think there's three of them where he contacted.
[00:13:41] We end up getting a recruiting trip with North Carolina,
[00:13:45] which was really cool.
[00:13:46] That was in February.
[00:13:47] And if you guys don't know,
[00:13:49] so listeners when we were with Stith and Batbusters
[00:13:52] it was 2019.
[00:13:54] We are now fresh in 2020.
[00:13:57] February of 2020.
[00:13:59] Yeah.
[00:14:01] So we go on the recruiting trip North Carolina.
[00:14:05] So we go on the recruiting trip North Carolina.
[00:14:07] Fun time.
[00:14:08] We go to Carolina.
[00:14:09] Hurricanes game.
[00:14:10] We cheer on the campers.
[00:14:12] It was the weekend of the Duke UNC basketball game.
[00:14:16] Oh yeah, that's crazy.
[00:14:18] People were camping outside the basketball gym.
[00:14:21] And I remember they were carrying mattresses
[00:14:26] across the street and I loved the campus.
[00:14:29] They had really good facilities.
[00:14:31] And I remember us walking down the sidewalk
[00:14:34] and the coaches were like in front of us.
[00:14:36] And you asked me like, do you like it here?
[00:14:39] And I was like, yeah, I do.
[00:14:40] And he's would you really move 3000 miles away?
[00:14:44] What do you feel about that?
[00:14:46] We said in that moment, I was like, yeah, I would.
[00:14:50] And now that I think about it, probably would not.
[00:14:52] Yeah.
[00:14:54] You would have.
[00:14:56] I would have.
[00:14:57] Yeah.
[00:14:59] But the main thing.
[00:15:02] So what is it?
[00:15:03] Two day visit probably.
[00:15:04] Yeah.
[00:15:05] Two full things of stuff.
[00:15:08] Yeah, because I think we met with the coaches,
[00:15:11] hung out and then there was a camp where you pitch during the camp.
[00:15:17] Yeah.
[00:15:17] And it was super fun.
[00:15:19] I think I did well.
[00:15:20] It was hard because it was in, it was indoor.
[00:15:24] It was like an indoor facility.
[00:15:26] Remember that because North Carolina in February is not hot.
[00:15:30] It's pretty cold.
[00:15:34] There might have been some rain or something like that.
[00:15:36] So that we you did your head camp indoors and it was on turf.
[00:15:40] You're going to different stations and stuff.
[00:15:42] They had you hitting too, which is weird.
[00:15:44] Yeah.
[00:15:45] I don't know why, but yeah.
[00:15:47] And by the end for those like going into like their junior year
[00:15:53] and going on visits and stuff, you're thinking to yourself by the end
[00:15:56] and you have a meeting with the coaches.
[00:15:57] Are they going to offer me or what's going to happen?
[00:16:00] Is it just going to be so long?
[00:16:04] So that was really stressful going into that last meeting.
[00:16:08] But the main thing was is that they've never seen me lay in person
[00:16:14] was like the main thing.
[00:16:16] And once they saw me play in person, then they would make a decision.
[00:16:20] Oh, a few weekends after that was our high school showcase.
[00:16:31] One of the big cases for our high school team
[00:16:34] and we're playing all the good like SoCal high school teams.
[00:16:38] I think in Chino Hills.
[00:16:40] Yeah.
[00:16:40] The Norco tournament.
[00:16:42] Yeah.
[00:16:43] Yeah.
[00:16:43] So it was one weekend, but it is now March of 2020.
[00:16:48] Yeah.
[00:16:49] And they're telling me they're going to fly out
[00:16:53] to watch me at that high school showcase.
[00:16:56] They are supposed to go and watch me.
[00:16:58] And what happens on what?
[00:16:59] March 17th?
[00:17:01] 13th, but no one's counting.
[00:17:03] No one's counting.
[00:17:04] The whole world shuts down and tournament gets canceled.
[00:17:08] Coaches say they're not coming anymore.
[00:17:12] Schools canceled all of that stuff.
[00:17:14] Yeah.
[00:17:14] And you were pitching great too in high school is different, right?
[00:17:17] You were, I think you were seven and oh, you had like a point something.
[00:17:22] You are in, you were just killing it.
[00:17:23] Right.
[00:17:24] We just beat, we each come off of beating Vista Marietta.
[00:17:27] It was a rival.
[00:17:29] You freaking shut them down.
[00:17:31] You played what is it?
[00:17:33] Where Humphries is on KK Humphries who's on Oregon.
[00:17:37] You pushed against their teams, shut them down.
[00:17:39] I think KK may have had to double off for you.
[00:17:41] You almost hit that home run.
[00:17:42] You remember that?
[00:17:45] You always hit a home run.
[00:17:46] What team?
[00:17:48] For ours in high school, you almost hit a home run came up and then
[00:17:52] you got thrown out of the second.
[00:17:55] Anyway.
[00:17:55] Was it because that team, they weren't that good were they?
[00:18:00] No, they had, they just had KK Humphries.
[00:18:02] But they told their outfielders on changeups to, they literally would
[00:18:08] run in five steps, all the outfielders.
[00:18:13] So I would just sit there.
[00:18:16] I'm like waiting and I'm just looking at the outfield and then I see all the
[00:18:19] infield or outfielders run.
[00:18:22] So I'm like, okay, change up.
[00:18:25] I just sit on it and I hit it to the wall and then.
[00:18:28] I got to get thrown out of second.
[00:18:30] Yeah.
[00:18:31] So you're right.
[00:18:31] So you're having a great and they're going to come out.
[00:18:34] They're going to come out and visit you, which is awesome.
[00:18:36] You visit them.
[00:18:37] They want to see you live.
[00:18:39] You're going to play in this Norco tournament.
[00:18:40] You're going to play Norco.
[00:18:41] You're going to play all the top teams in Southern California.
[00:18:45] And then COVID happens and just the whole country shuts down.
[00:18:49] And then not only did the seniors, which suck for the seniors because they
[00:18:55] can't suck for you because you're in the middle of recruiting.
[00:19:00] It's no.
[00:19:02] You want to hear recruiting horror stories?
[00:19:04] I think mine is up there.
[00:19:07] Yeah.
[00:19:08] And then now you're virtual pitching lessons.
[00:19:13] So that's all you can do now is send your pitching lessons to these colleges.
[00:19:17] So you're doing that.
[00:19:18] You're doing your due diligence, you're emailing them your pitching
[00:19:21] lessons and blah, blah, blah.
[00:19:23] But God, what a.
[00:19:26] That this, you know, not only.
[00:19:29] So these are the ups and downs, right?
[00:19:30] So this is for everybody listening.
[00:19:32] And again, as a parent, you got to be supportive.
[00:19:35] It's what do you say to your daughter who gets injured?
[00:19:40] Can't and the most.
[00:19:43] The time for her to get recruited in four teens has been
[00:19:46] eliminated because of her injury.
[00:19:48] She's on the top team in the nation.
[00:19:50] She gets injured, can't get recruited.
[00:19:54] 16s coming back from injury.
[00:19:56] You're pitching well, but you're, you're on 16s and 16s don't
[00:19:59] necessarily get looked at a whole lot.
[00:20:02] You get on the top team and 18s, you don't play.
[00:20:07] And then COVID it's everything just goes like all of this, every, it's just one.
[00:20:15] One ball after another that you're having to navigate over, right?
[00:20:19] Nicole Soule-I feel like I couldn't catch a break.
[00:20:24] Cause now I have to finish my junior year of high school completely online
[00:20:28] and everyone gets like automatic A's and all this stuff.
[00:20:32] And I was taking a certain class to get into UNC because I had to
[00:20:40] up my academics a little bit and now it's completely done.
[00:20:46] So I eventually had to, I eventually dropped out of the class
[00:20:49] because I just couldn't do it anymore.
[00:20:51] I thank you.
[00:20:52] That Jesse's taking right now and he's a good, he's very good at math.
[00:20:56] So he enjoys it, but now we're not playing on the weekends because no one,
[00:21:02] the parks are closed.
[00:21:05] Gyms are closed.
[00:21:06] I'm working out in my garage.
[00:21:08] This hot garage.
[00:21:11] Yeah.
[00:21:11] You don't, Ben's in the garage when it's 110.
[00:21:14] I'm not, I don't, I don't know.
[00:21:17] I don't know.
[00:21:17] I don't know.
[00:21:18] I don't know.
[00:21:18] I don't know.
[00:21:19] 110.
[00:21:20] Yeah, I'm not, I don't, we're not seeing friends.
[00:21:24] I'm not seeing my teammates.
[00:21:25] We're doing, I remember Greg had us doing zoom workouts.
[00:21:29] We were doing workouts and everyone had to have their camera on
[00:21:33] and we're all doing sit-ups and pushups and we had to do it in front of the camera.
[00:21:38] And it was just a mess.
[00:21:40] But then yeah, it, it brought me again with the five steps backwards, but yeah.
[00:21:48] And eventually North Carolina stopped responding because I what somewhat reason,
[00:21:54] I don't really know, but that's some things that are going to happen though.
[00:21:58] Like I had a lot of colleges just stop responding to me because they just went a different route.
[00:22:05] And do I think it should be more communicative?
[00:22:10] Maybe say, Hey, maybe this isn't the right fit.
[00:22:13] Yeah, I do.
[00:22:14] I do because, but that's not the business or life we live.
[00:22:19] Especially with college athletics, but yeah.
[00:22:22] But then we get to summer and the only thing open is what Utah, where'd we go?
[00:22:32] Utah.
[00:22:33] For what?
[00:22:34] For Greg?
[00:22:34] Oh yeah.
[00:22:36] Yeah.
[00:22:36] So yeah, we go to our showcase in Utah where it's fricking hot.
[00:22:42] Molasses going out.
[00:22:44] I just said, it was just really bad.
[00:22:46] And yeah, you're pitching.
[00:22:49] Okay.
[00:22:50] I think that's when we found out Kobe Bryant passed away too.
[00:22:53] And this helicopter crashed.
[00:22:57] Yeah, it was just a hard time, right?
[00:23:00] You're coming back live again after you can only do so many individual,
[00:23:05] you can only do so many spins and then that,
[00:23:07] you can only pitch your dad in the side of the yard so many times.
[00:23:11] You need some live action.
[00:23:12] You didn't get a lot.
[00:23:13] It was similar to your head injury.
[00:23:16] You didn't have a whole lot of live that summer until PDF.
[00:23:22] And it's like, hey, let me pitch these high intense games against Corona Angels.
[00:23:26] When you haven't pitched lives in three months, the same thing.
[00:23:29] Three months of just isolation and being at home.
[00:23:32] And then all of a sudden, hey, we're going to Utah and we're going to,
[00:23:35] and then some games are canceled because a girl came down with COVID.
[00:23:39] So then there was games canceled and it was just a crazy time.
[00:23:43] And you weren't the only one that went through it, right?
[00:23:46] All the other girls at your age, the 2021s probably went through the same
[00:23:51] lot of similar things, recruiting wise.
[00:23:54] They were just like, man, I was almost there.
[00:23:56] I was getting recruited by a certain team and then the country shut down
[00:23:59] and then they ghosted me and it's, I'm sure you're, you aren't the only story, but
[00:24:03] man, it was this, it is what it is at the time.
[00:24:06] I think it's made you stronger.
[00:24:08] Like you can now, you can tell that story to your future kids or whatever and say,
[00:24:13] Hey, this is what I had to go through.
[00:24:15] Stop whining.
[00:24:18] People, girls still do this now, but people don't understand.
[00:24:21] I have hundreds of emails and hundreds of videos on my Twitter.
[00:24:28] Like that's the only way they could have seen me play.
[00:24:32] And ultimate goal was to play division one college.
[00:24:37] Like I'm going to do anything in my power to make it happen.
[00:24:41] And with the circumstances at hand, you're only limited to so much.
[00:24:47] But what did you do with Twitter after September 1st of your junior year?
[00:24:54] What did I do with Twitter?
[00:24:55] Did I delete it?
[00:24:57] You get rid of it.
[00:24:57] You're like, is this hard?
[00:24:59] It was hard for you to see all these girls that you've played with
[00:25:03] committing, getting calls at men and they're telling you, oh, I got a call from.
[00:25:07] From Oregon.
[00:25:09] I got a call from what's that?
[00:25:11] And they're announcing it on Twitter.
[00:25:13] Yeah.
[00:25:14] And you're like, and you're like, what's going on?
[00:25:18] My question is why do you need to, anyway, we don't really get into that, but sure.
[00:25:27] But yeah, so it was a difficult time.
[00:25:30] And again, as a father, you gotta be supportive and you gotta be, it's okay.
[00:25:36] We'll get through it.
[00:25:38] And the one thing I wanted to say was that you never gave up.
[00:25:41] And you've talked about that where it's just, you just gotta put your head down
[00:25:45] and keep going.
[00:25:46] You just like my mom says, keep plugging along.
[00:25:49] Good things are gonna happen.
[00:25:50] We're going to talk about second year 18s in our next episode.
[00:25:54] You didn't give up a lot.
[00:25:56] Some people would just give up or just, oh, I'm taking all these steps backwards.
[00:26:00] Is it worth it to me to keep pursuing this?
[00:26:03] My, does my dream.
[00:26:04] Is it worth it to keep getting punched in the face and no one's no, no colleges are
[00:26:10] communicating with me.
[00:26:11] I don't even know if they know that if I exist and, but you just kept going,
[00:26:15] right?
[00:26:16] You just kept and that's just committed nature in you or just a no give up attitude.
[00:26:22] But I don't know if you want to touch on that.
[00:26:25] I think I knew what I wanted.
[00:26:29] And I, like I said, I was going to do anything to get it.
[00:26:32] And I guess in my head, there was no other option.
[00:26:37] Another option is just to not play softball anymore.
[00:26:40] And that was like never even a thought in my mind.
[00:26:43] Like why?
[00:26:45] I don't know life without it.
[00:26:47] So why not just keep going?
[00:26:50] Obviously I do recommend if it is say, say someone's going through that situation
[00:26:56] right now.
[00:26:57] If it is taking a toll on you, it's physically and mentally draining to really
[00:27:02] reflect on how it makes you feel and what your actual goals are.
[00:27:08] Because if you have a goal and if you want to pursue college and playing
[00:27:14] a sport in college, then I would do whatever it takes and not resort to
[00:27:23] say giving up.
[00:27:29] I don't know how else to say it, but it was never a thought in my mind that I
[00:27:33] was going to stop playing because of these circumstances.
[00:27:41] But I was told from told to me and once I was 10 years old, like you're
[00:27:44] going to play in college.
[00:27:46] And I just like internalized that and knew it was going to happen.
[00:27:50] Yeah.
[00:27:50] You're in this organization, you're going to college and you're going to play.
[00:27:54] Yeah.
[00:27:55] And so that was just like the everyday and everyday thought.
[00:27:59] Like there's going to be, obviously there's going to be bumps in the road,
[00:28:03] but it's how you overcome them.
[00:28:07] What your thought processes and overcoming them is it like, this
[00:28:12] is way too difficult for me.
[00:28:13] I don't know what to do or is there there's different avenues that you
[00:28:17] can go that everyone's situation is different.
[00:28:22] I'm only speaking for myself and what I was thinking that I know, I mean,
[00:28:27] I know multiple people that like couldn't continue to play because it
[00:28:30] was just, it was too much.
[00:28:34] And everyone's situation is different.
[00:28:36] So it just really depends.
[00:28:38] Yeah.
[00:28:39] Depends on your mindset and where you're at physically.
[00:28:43] Where you're at, where you're at on the, on that particular team.
[00:28:46] Are you one of the top two top players in the team or are you
[00:28:48] just a role player?
[00:28:50] I guess that's all right, Lace.
[00:28:52] We are at the end of the episode.
[00:28:55] Thank you so much.
[00:28:56] Congratulations.
[00:28:57] Now you're a senior in college.
[00:29:00] Can't wait to see you when you come home and see you.
[00:29:05] I probably won't see you a whole lot because you're going to be
[00:29:07] health fitting and working at a pizza parlor.
[00:29:12] I don't think I started until June.
[00:29:16] So next week.
[00:29:18] Yeah, I don't start until June.
[00:29:20] That's two weeks anyway.
[00:29:24] All right, Lace.
[00:29:25] I love you.
[00:29:27] Love you.
[00:29:28] Great to see you.
[00:29:29] Bye everybody.
[00:29:30] We'll see you on the other side.
[00:29:32] We'll catch you on the other side.
[00:29:34] Right?
[00:29:35] See ya.