27 | Journey Through Softball: Lacie's Highs and Lows

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Catching You podcast. As you have noticed, there's a link in the show notes to send us a message.

[00:00:07] Lacey and I are taking questions to answer for future episodes.

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[00:00:21] So it wasn't like I

[00:00:23] was against it, but my whole life

[00:00:26] Was you're going D1, you're going D1 like D1 or nothing.

[00:00:32] So did I have some prejudice against it? Yes, I did.

[00:00:37] Totally.

[00:00:38] But that's how I was

[00:00:41] coached and raised and that's what I was it was ingrained in my brain my whole life.

[00:00:47] My ultimate goal was

[00:00:49] Go D1.

[00:00:50] Hello and welcome to Catching You a Dad and Daughters Softball Journey.

[00:00:54] I'm Rusty, a dad who's been in the dugout and on the sidelines.

[00:00:58] And I'm Lacey, the daughter whose journey through softball has been filled with incredible wins, tough losses and so many lessons both on and off the field.

[00:01:06] For the past 16 years we've navigated the highs and lows of softball together.

[00:01:11] From the local fields to national tournaments and everything in between.

[00:01:14] From the challenges of recruitment during COVID to the mental and emotional roller coaster that comes with being a student athlete.

[00:01:20] We will be sharing the perspectives of both the parent and athlete in first-hand experience of the impact of sports on mental health

[00:01:27] and the importance of support from the sidelines.

[00:01:31] Welcome back everyone to Catching You and your co-host Rusty Ham.

[00:01:37] With me is my

[00:01:39] now home from college daughter

[00:01:42] Lacey, Lacey say hi.

[00:01:44] Hello.

[00:01:46] Lacey you're home now.

[00:01:48] How do you feel about that?

[00:01:49] You're 21 years old and you're back home in your

[00:01:54] cozy little bedroom there.

[00:01:56] I missed it.

[00:02:01] I definitely needed to

[00:02:04] get out of Saint-Ozé for a little bit, come back home and see Jesse graduate.

[00:02:10] Just have a new environment for a little bit and then go back for

[00:02:16] my last year.

[00:02:17] Senior year, go back to the grind.

[00:02:21] Yeah so yeah your brother's graduating high school tonight which is cool.

[00:02:26] Wearing my gown.

[00:02:29] That's right because they give him a gown for a five foot to five foot three person.

[00:02:35] He's not five foot three, he's six feet.

[00:02:37] So long as he's six feet.

[00:02:39] Three, he's six feet.

[00:02:40] So luckily you are tall and he's able to use your old gown which we kept for some reason.

[00:02:47] Secretly knew that something was going to happen.

[00:02:49] That's right, that's right.

[00:02:51] Yeah so very cool same high school that you graduated from.

[00:02:54] Cool stuff.

[00:02:55] So Lace we are, we just finished first year 18s.

[00:03:01] Remember COVID cut it short right?

[00:03:05] So after the fall you played that one showcase game with Tony Bracamonte.

[00:03:11] We ended up choosing to leave.

[00:03:13] We played for Athletics Macargo Greg.

[00:03:16] They didn't, we left them after COVID.

[00:03:21] So COVID remember, everyone probably remembers COVID but in softball we were able to go to Utah.

[00:03:28] We talked about Utah with Greg and Utah was a little more laxed with face masks.

[00:03:35] We still had to wear face masks when we were around people but Utah was a little more anti I guess you would say.

[00:03:42] So there was a tournament up there, showcase, playing that.

[00:03:46] He said okay so after Greg we meet with him and he says yeah you can go up to 18s but you're not going to play for Dave.

[00:03:56] Right Dave?

[00:03:57] It was some other random.

[00:03:59] Yeah it was a coach that we weren't necessarily fans of.

[00:04:03] So that was that.

[00:04:06] So it's the summer so then we come back and if you guys don't know who Ken Briggs is now with the Bengals.

[00:04:16] He created the Bengals, I don't know what the first name is but back then it was Sol Cal A's Briggs right?

[00:04:26] So the 18U, he had two 18U teams.

[00:04:30] He would bounce back and forth from one of them to the other one.

[00:04:35] Not necessarily your team.

[00:04:38] Not my team no.

[00:04:40] Yeah and we got to choose whether we would stay online for school or be hybrid.

[00:04:49] So I'd go to school two days out of the week?

[00:04:55] Yeah Tuesday and Thursday I think it was.

[00:04:57] And then the other two days I'd go online.

[00:05:01] Yeah teaching while I was there, I had to go every day as a teacher and there was probably five or six people in the class each day.

[00:05:13] And we would just walk the track that's all we did in the first semester.

[00:05:17] We couldn't go inside, we couldn't go in the gym, we had to stay outside.

[00:05:24] So it was a mess.

[00:05:26] But on that team, correct me if I'm wrong, was Maya Perez?

[00:05:32] That was Greg's team.

[00:05:35] Oh okay so Greg, so Maya Perez who did very well right in the regionals.

[00:05:42] Her first career home run was a Grand Slam against Texas.

[00:05:46] That's right.

[00:05:48] The latest girl I knew ever.

[00:05:50] She was nice yeah.

[00:05:52] I played with a lot of great girls right?

[00:05:54] Yeah.

[00:05:55] So now we're with Sokale's Briggs in the fall and describe that and what happened right?

[00:06:02] We go, so something happened with San Jose State where you're at now.

[00:06:08] Yeah so.

[00:06:10] You give us the connection with Briggs and all those coaches and how that kind of came to fruition there.

[00:06:17] It was a big change.

[00:06:19] Even with Athletics Mercado, it was definitely a different vibe.

[00:06:23] Because now I'm entering my senior year of high school but with Greg I was in my junior year.

[00:06:29] Which is prime recruiting high school year.

[00:06:33] And so with Batbusters, recruiting was never really the main focus.

[00:06:39] Because you've said before the coaches come to us, we don't go to the coaches.

[00:06:44] So big thing with Athletics Mercado and Sokale Athletics was like you need to reach out, you need an email.

[00:06:52] We're going to call coaches for you.

[00:06:54] We have all these connections like this is going to happen.

[00:06:56] We're going to get you recruited.

[00:06:58] So it was definitely really different than what I'm used to.

[00:07:02] But that's how it was on Sokale's.

[00:07:05] We had a recruiter with us who would contact coaches for us and give us feedback whatever they were saying.

[00:07:13] Was it the most competitive team?

[00:07:17] Not so much.

[00:07:18] I went to a couple of games and it was, I wouldn't say it was Bad News Bears.

[00:07:23] But you had some talented girls but it was not as serious as teams that you've been on in the past.

[00:07:31] No and I was not used to that at all.

[00:07:34] Oh yeah I'm just playing softball for fun.

[00:07:36] I'm like I'm here to get a scholarship.

[00:07:41] Yeah so I'm here to win, I'm here to get a scholarship.

[00:07:44] Like I was all business but I remember when Coach Briggs was saying how St. Jose State got new coaches.

[00:07:55] There's a lot of spots that opened up like this could be a great opportunity.

[00:08:00] So I think I immediately started reaching out to them and sending videos to them.

[00:08:06] And I got some calls back and then they started coming to my games in like Elsinore.

[00:08:13] Saw my coaches and then yeah I don't really remember how it all went down.

[00:08:26] Yeah the stars aligned for you right?

[00:08:31] You talked about your frustrations with your head injury and that five steps backwards right?

[00:08:39] During a very hot recruiting time when you were in 14's in Campbell.

[00:08:45] Then you talk about COVID where we go to visit North Carolina.

[00:08:50] This is the ACC team, they needed a pitcher.

[00:08:54] They were going to come out and watch you pitch.

[00:08:58] You're going to pitch against Norco and all these top California teams and then COVID hits.

[00:09:05] So another five steps backwards right?

[00:09:08] Then the St. Jose State coach happens to get fired right?

[00:09:15] Because when you got into Briggs, you still were not.

[00:09:18] You came back, you're starting your high school season.

[00:09:21] You still were not getting like offers or people wanting to chat with you.

[00:09:27] Remember, I don't know if you remember, we were talking maybe we should just go to the

[00:09:32] JC and play for Junior College for a couple years.

[00:09:38] It's a route that works for a lot of people.

[00:09:45] It's definitely a route that saves you money.

[00:09:49] Those coaches have connections with D1 schools, D2 schools.

[00:09:55] You're, I wouldn't say granted, like a spot somewhere.

[00:10:00] But going to the JUCO route is a tough deal, but I think it makes you stronger as a player.

[00:10:06] I've had some friends go to the JUCO and make it out to D1 colleges and they said

[00:10:12] that it was the best decision they made.

[00:10:14] So it wasn't like I was against it, but my whole life was you're going D1, you're

[00:10:21] going D1, like D1 or nothing.

[00:10:24] D1 or nothing.

[00:10:25] So it's did I have some prejudice against it?

[00:10:28] Yes, I did.

[00:10:30] Totally.

[00:10:31] But that's how I was coached and raised and that's what I was, it was ingrained

[00:10:37] in my brain my whole life.

[00:10:40] My ultimate goal was go D1.

[00:10:43] Right.

[00:10:44] Yeah.

[00:10:45] And you're playing on these high end teams.

[00:10:46] It's all these girls don't go to JC if you're playing for Stith and Campbell.

[00:10:51] Yeah.

[00:10:52] In your head, it was almost D1 or nothing.

[00:10:55] So options were running out, but you get one offer from Longwood and the

[00:11:01] offer was like, hey, here's a couple of dollars come play for us.

[00:11:05] Now Longwood is a private university in Virginia.

[00:11:09] Yeah.

[00:11:10] And I remember I went out with you guys and I was like, yeah, it's 70% women,

[00:11:16] 30% men, maybe 2000 people go to that school.

[00:11:21] Very limited athletics.

[00:11:23] I remember saying that I wanted like a football team and go to football

[00:11:27] games or like sporting events and have the athletes be all kind of

[00:11:32] friends together or something like that.

[00:11:34] And Longwood was not that.

[00:11:37] Yeah.

[00:11:38] And you had to pay a lot of money to go there.

[00:11:42] A lot of money.

[00:11:43] Yeah.

[00:11:45] So that was one option.

[00:11:48] Portland State was another option.

[00:11:51] I remember talking to that coach.

[00:11:54] I remember talking to the Monterey Bay coach who I think just resigned

[00:12:00] actually, just tired, I think.

[00:12:03] That was D2.

[00:12:06] So I remember really liking her though and having a good

[00:12:11] conversation with her.

[00:12:12] And then there was San Jose State.

[00:12:14] So what happened?

[00:12:17] So I would call Tammy all the time and I think during this time still

[00:12:25] athletes were still not allowed to officially visit the campus

[00:12:30] with their coaches.

[00:12:32] So yeah, you and I went out there and we walked around the campus.

[00:12:36] Yeah.

[00:12:37] Walked out lit with my future teammate, Caroline Bowman, who was so nice

[00:12:42] to walk us around and everything.

[00:12:44] And it was definitely different.

[00:12:47] San Jose is the center of Silicon Valley.

[00:12:50] There's San Francisco about 40 minutes away, downtown area.

[00:12:55] I remember walking around downtown and everything was boarded up.

[00:12:58] Yep.

[00:12:59] Nothing was open.

[00:13:00] There's broken windows.

[00:13:03] Yeah.

[00:13:04] We were, we, I think we took a wrong turn and we're like, remember

[00:13:07] that?

[00:13:08] We took a right and we're like, let's make a U-turn here.

[00:13:11] I think we stayed at the hotel in downtown and the fire alarm went off

[00:13:16] at two in the morning.

[00:13:17] The morning, yeah.

[00:13:18] And we're like, what is this?

[00:13:20] Yeah.

[00:13:21] So, yeah.

[00:13:22] So the stars on line was you weren't getting a lot of options,

[00:13:27] right?

[00:13:28] You just mentioned probably four schools that were, and these are

[00:13:31] in your head as you've been prepped to go to these power five

[00:13:36] schools and then your options are running out.

[00:13:38] And then all of a sudden this coach gets fired from San Jose State.

[00:13:41] Tammy from Cal comes over, gets hired.

[00:13:44] Yeah.

[00:13:45] I think you said more than half the team quit for whatever reason.

[00:13:49] We don't know.

[00:13:50] I think maybe they liked the old coach and they're just like, no,

[00:13:52] screw this.

[00:13:53] We're out of here.

[00:13:54] So that left money open and they needed pitching.

[00:13:58] And so they came and watched you play when you were on Briggs and

[00:14:02] you got offered.

[00:14:04] And it was, yeah.

[00:14:06] Hello?

[00:14:07] Yeah.

[00:14:10] But I remember Tammy calling me and telling me the whole logistics

[00:14:15] of it.

[00:14:16] And you don't want to like immediately be like, oh yeah, yes,

[00:14:20] I'll take it.

[00:14:21] I was just like, oh, let me talk it over with my parents.

[00:14:24] But I remember because you were home.

[00:14:29] I think you were doing something in your office and I came up

[00:14:33] and I started bawling my head off.

[00:14:35] And you're like, what's wrong?

[00:14:37] And I was like, no, it's a good thing.

[00:14:38] It's a good thing.

[00:14:39] Yeah.

[00:14:40] And I think you started crying too.

[00:14:43] Yeah.

[00:14:44] Because I'm not ashamed to say that I cry.

[00:14:48] I'm a crier.

[00:14:49] You're it's okay to cry.

[00:14:51] It's it was just a great it's everything I probably could have asked

[00:14:59] for in a school.

[00:15:03] There's competitive athletics.

[00:15:06] We're in a competitive conference.

[00:15:08] We play all these competitive schools.

[00:15:11] I'm still in California.

[00:15:12] I could drive home if I wanted to.

[00:15:15] There's the beach about 40 minutes away.

[00:15:18] There's the city.

[00:15:19] There's downtown San Francisco, all these things I could go

[00:15:22] and do.

[00:15:23] It was stars aligned.

[00:15:26] Totally started lining up.

[00:15:28] So get offered.

[00:15:30] You commit, which was awesome.

[00:15:32] We were all on the couch and you had the speakerphone out.

[00:15:35] We're listening to you.

[00:15:37] I was proud.

[00:15:38] I was proud of you because you worked so hard.

[00:15:40] Right.

[00:15:41] We talked about how hard you worked and all the setbacks you had and then having

[00:15:45] them offer you money to go play there.

[00:15:49] And you have an opportunity, like you said, to play in a competitive environment

[00:15:55] and get the college experience to live on campus and do all that kind of stuff.

[00:16:00] Because I never just, I was a commuter.

[00:16:03] I commuted to my school.

[00:16:06] I never experienced living in the dorms or frat parties and all that kind

[00:16:11] of stuff.

[00:16:12] I commuted back and forth to my mom's house.

[00:16:14] I was still living up with my mom when I was going to college.

[00:16:17] So I was so proud of you.

[00:16:19] So we commit.

[00:16:21] Unfortunately, after Christmas we come back and we jump teams again.

[00:16:27] Remember I talked about it earlier where we were so committed to the

[00:16:31] Batbusters from you were nine years old until probably I think when you

[00:16:36] were 15 or 16.

[00:16:38] We were strictly Batbusters.

[00:16:40] We were all in.

[00:16:41] And now we're bouncing around to Gregg, to Briggs.

[00:16:44] We ended up coming back to Batbusters with Tony Bracamonte, which is the

[00:16:49] team you played for that one time.

[00:16:51] Okay, so it was a team that looking back we talked about an awful lot of

[00:16:56] we probably should have stayed.

[00:16:58] Like I said, we kind of had a bad taste in our mouth at that time.

[00:17:00] We were just like, yeah, let's try different things.

[00:17:03] Come back to Tony, Batbusters.

[00:17:05] And it was kind of a cool ending to your travel book to explain

[00:17:11] that or describe like who was on the team, why that was surreal for

[00:17:17] you to get committed number one.

[00:17:20] So now that's off your chest and then come back to a team with good

[00:17:26] describe that.

[00:17:28] So Tony Bracamonte, I remember when I first started out on like Team

[00:17:33] Mizuno, like he had a older team that we would go practice with.

[00:17:39] And so I remember him since I was little, but I never really got close

[00:17:46] with him like that as a coach or anything.

[00:17:48] But we get to this team and there's at least we have T and Emily, who I

[00:17:57] started out travel ball with on Team Mizuno and you're very close with

[00:18:01] their parents.

[00:18:02] I'm very close with those girls.

[00:18:04] And then we get Arissa to come onto the team with Lugo, with

[00:18:10] Tom Lugo.

[00:18:11] And those are girls that I have deep friendships with since I was nine.

[00:18:18] So now I'm 18 in my senior year and I'm ending my travel ball career

[00:18:23] with the girls I started out with.

[00:18:25] And then I am meeting all these new girls on this team and we get

[00:18:30] close so fast.

[00:18:32] And the whole season we had our like, we had incredible highs,

[00:18:37] incredible lows and that's like what you want to go through with a team.

[00:18:42] And that's what brings you a lot closer.

[00:18:44] We had like terrible friendlies and then awesome friendlies.

[00:18:47] And then we go to, we're in the summer and I'm, we go to

[00:18:52] Colorado and we do terrible in Colorado.

[00:18:55] Or guys like this is not, and then with this is not how we're

[00:19:00] supposed to be playing.

[00:19:02] Like we worked so hard all season for this.

[00:19:06] I have a key memory because on, on SoCal athletics, there wasn't very

[00:19:11] much like discipline I'd say.

[00:19:13] Right.

[00:19:14] But you go to BatBusters and you're in for a wild one.

[00:19:17] So whoever does foul pulls at practice knows what I'm talking about.

[00:19:24] Like we're at practice and we're setting up and T is 14 minutes

[00:19:32] late to practice.

[00:19:34] But she lives about 10 minutes away from where we practice.

[00:19:39] Come like, what?

[00:19:41] No one's ever late, right?

[00:19:43] No one's ever late.

[00:19:44] We run 14 foul pulls while T is watching us do it.

[00:19:49] Like she can't run with us.

[00:19:51] She, we run because she was 14 minutes late.

[00:19:54] And those are the type of things that like, I bet other teams do this,

[00:19:59] but I felt like only BatBusters were like the ones to do that.

[00:20:02] And I was so glad to be back on a team that actually cared enough.

[00:20:08] And practices were brutal.

[00:20:10] Yeah.

[00:20:11] I remember the first practice, right?

[00:20:13] First practice you're back.

[00:20:14] I'm like, I just, I felt at home, right?

[00:20:17] Cause you got Lenny in the stands, you got Tom in the stand,

[00:20:20] all these guys that we, when we were 10 you and 12 you and

[00:20:24] we're hanging out together at these hotels.

[00:20:26] Now we're back, right?

[00:20:27] So we feel like we're home and the first practice, somebody

[00:20:32] missed a ground ball and he pointed to the polls.

[00:20:37] And I was like, finally she's, this is what she's wanted this

[00:20:42] whole time.

[00:20:43] She's wanted, you probably did not enjoy.

[00:20:46] Oh, I dreaded her.

[00:20:47] I'm sure during polls you were just like, this is what I wanted.

[00:20:50] This is the type of atmosphere I was in.

[00:20:53] So let's get in.

[00:20:55] So we joined them.

[00:20:56] However, we got to pause because you're now in your high school

[00:20:59] seasons about to start.

[00:21:01] So spring softball happens is your senior year.

[00:21:04] We're back to playing.

[00:21:06] Remember cause your junior year was cut short.

[00:21:09] Senior year you're back to playing high schools.

[00:21:12] You have a full season.

[00:21:14] You're great, right?

[00:21:17] You're pitching.

[00:21:18] We win league for the first time in a long time, I think

[00:21:21] 2018 was the last time we won league.

[00:21:23] So we're back to winning league.

[00:21:25] You get into, and if you guys don't know California, it's

[00:21:29] called CIF, which is our playoffs.

[00:21:31] Get into the playoff.

[00:21:33] Get to the semifinals of CIF and again, Southern

[00:21:37] California teams.

[00:21:38] And this is division one, mind you.

[00:21:40] Division one, Southern California teams are pretty good.

[00:21:44] You got modern day, Narco, Esperanza who we played for,

[00:21:49] played against.

[00:21:51] You got Huntington Beach.

[00:21:52] You remember that Huntington Beach game where it was one

[00:21:55] nothing?

[00:21:56] This is a pitcher's duel.

[00:21:57] Here's like two hits, the whole game.

[00:21:59] Huntington Beach is super good.

[00:22:00] Yeah.

[00:22:01] But we play semifinals CIF.

[00:22:03] You play against Esperanza.

[00:22:05] You play against a girl that was on the not team

[00:22:10] of Zuno, but she was with you 10-12U.

[00:22:13] She committed to Oklahoma at the time.

[00:22:16] So this is a battle.

[00:22:17] We tie at the top where you go up one in the top

[00:22:20] of the six.

[00:22:21] They tie at the bottom six.

[00:22:22] We go to extra innings.

[00:22:25] 11 innings, right?

[00:22:27] This is CIF semifinals, extra innings, 11 innings.

[00:22:30] It was second and third.

[00:22:33] I don't know if you remember this, second, third,

[00:22:35] one out.

[00:22:38] And she comes up to bat.

[00:22:40] So her space is open.

[00:22:42] And...

[00:22:44] Remember you telling me to walk her.

[00:22:46] Yeah.

[00:22:47] So Tony asked me if we should walk her.

[00:22:50] And I think...

[00:22:51] I don't know if you wanted to walk her or not.

[00:22:53] I think you wanted to pitch to her, but we pitched

[00:22:55] to Hannah anyway.

[00:22:57] Now again, this is an Oklahoma commit.

[00:22:59] Yeah.

[00:23:00] And first base is open with one out.

[00:23:02] I think if we walk her, we end up winning the game

[00:23:06] because I think you'll get the next two outs,

[00:23:08] no problem.

[00:23:09] But if they score it, because this is bottom 11,

[00:23:11] if they score it, the game's over anyway.

[00:23:13] So you leave a screwball a little bit over the plate.

[00:23:16] And if she wins it, I'm going to go with her.

[00:23:20] If she wins it, I don't walk off home run anyway.

[00:23:23] But that is exciting.

[00:23:25] Yet that was the end of your high school

[00:23:28] softball career, which is fine.

[00:23:30] We got semifinals.

[00:23:31] You won a league.

[00:23:32] I think you get a first team all league and

[00:23:35] so all good stuff.

[00:23:37] Then we come back to Tony.

[00:23:38] So talk about again, just to set the stage

[00:23:41] for Lacey's last softball travel ball.

[00:23:46] Hurrah!

[00:23:48] It's no longer a PGA.

[00:23:49] PGA is still there, right?

[00:23:51] A lot of good teams still go to PGA.

[00:23:54] We're not discounting PGA.

[00:23:55] But at the time when we were coming up through

[00:23:58] BatBusters, PGA was the thing, right?

[00:24:01] That was kind of our main goal.

[00:24:03] And I'm sure everyone who's listening

[00:24:06] recognizes Alliance, right?

[00:24:08] So Alliance created a kind of competitive

[00:24:13] tournament to PGA.

[00:24:15] So BatBusters, Corona Angels,

[00:24:18] Athletics Mercado, kind of these major teams

[00:24:22] in Southern California go to Alliance

[00:24:24] and not PGA, right?

[00:24:26] So we go to, because now you're

[00:24:28] BatBusters, we go to, you qualify

[00:24:30] for Alliance Tier 2.

[00:24:33] We kept going to qualifiers and making it

[00:24:36] to the championship and losing in the

[00:24:38] championship.

[00:24:39] Of these Tier 1, right?

[00:24:40] Tier 1, yeah.

[00:24:41] But once you get to the championship,

[00:24:43] you automatically qualify for Tier 2.

[00:24:46] Okay.

[00:24:47] So I think we did that twice.

[00:24:50] And Tony was like,

[00:24:52] we're just going Tier 2.

[00:24:54] Which worked out, right?

[00:24:56] Because if you want to bring up the

[00:24:59] fact that we didn't come to your last

[00:25:00] tournament, you can do that now

[00:25:02] on this podcast so we can get it

[00:25:05] recorded.

[00:25:06] You brought it up just now.

[00:25:08] So now that we're on the topic,

[00:25:10] we can bring it up.

[00:25:12] Right.

[00:25:13] So those of you that are listening,

[00:25:14] my wife and I go to Las Vegas every

[00:25:16] year for some husband and wife time

[00:25:19] and we miss her last travel ball

[00:25:23] tournament ever.

[00:25:25] And we miss her.

[00:25:26] In your life.

[00:25:27] You'll never, yeah.

[00:25:29] You'll never be in travel ball

[00:25:30] ever again.

[00:25:31] This is your last tournament.

[00:25:32] And your mom and dad

[00:25:34] are not there.

[00:25:36] Right?

[00:25:37] So what happened?

[00:25:38] What did we miss?

[00:25:40] I don't know.

[00:25:41] Okay, so Alliance is different

[00:25:42] than PGF because they form it

[00:25:44] like the World Series.

[00:25:46] So we have regionals, super

[00:25:48] regionals and then the World

[00:25:49] Series.

[00:25:50] Which is so much,

[00:25:52] it's really cool because it

[00:25:54] prepares you for what it looks

[00:25:56] like to be in college when you

[00:25:58] go off to college.

[00:25:59] So I think we had,

[00:26:01] we started off in pool play

[00:26:02] with five other teams.

[00:26:04] I think we did really well.

[00:26:06] Four and one or something like

[00:26:08] that.

[00:26:09] Got first in our pool.

[00:26:11] Sure.

[00:26:12] Yeah, you wouldn't know.

[00:26:14] And then

[00:26:17] we go to regionals.

[00:26:19] I don't remember if we play in

[00:26:20] regionals, but we won.

[00:26:22] But then we go to the

[00:26:23] semi-final series

[00:26:25] and it's against another

[00:26:27] BatBuster team.

[00:26:28] Which is, they're a very

[00:26:29] competitive BatBuster team.

[00:26:31] I don't, I haven't,

[00:26:33] we haven't played them ever

[00:26:34] like in the whole season,

[00:26:35] but now we're playing them

[00:26:36] of course in the

[00:26:37] semifinals.

[00:26:38] And so mind you,

[00:26:40] a bunch of girls throughout the

[00:26:41] season have quit.

[00:26:43] And Tony never brought on more

[00:26:45] people.

[00:26:46] So we're at,

[00:26:48] we're in nationals with

[00:26:52] 12 players.

[00:26:53] Yeah, 12 players.

[00:26:55] So we have three,

[00:26:58] three extra girls

[00:27:00] on the bench.

[00:27:02] Non pitchers.

[00:27:04] Ready to go in if someone

[00:27:06] wants to.

[00:27:07] Three.

[00:27:08] Other teams, you might have

[00:27:10] probably six or seven other

[00:27:11] girls.

[00:27:12] Yeah, like a second set of

[00:27:13] nine.

[00:27:14] Yeah, a second set of nine.

[00:27:15] But we have three

[00:27:17] and we have two pitchers.

[00:27:20] I'm one of them.

[00:27:22] And then another one is

[00:27:23] Kelsey, who's now at

[00:27:25] USD.

[00:27:26] But at this time

[00:27:29] Kelsey was struggling a little

[00:27:31] bit.

[00:27:32] That leaves

[00:27:33] me.

[00:27:34] Me.

[00:27:35] And there's no other pitchers.

[00:27:37] It's just me.

[00:27:38] We're in

[00:27:41] this series with this

[00:27:42] Bad Buster team and I think

[00:27:44] either the first or second

[00:27:46] game we lose.

[00:27:48] But one of those games, we

[00:27:50] like walk off in this crazy

[00:27:52] fashion.

[00:27:53] But it's out of three.

[00:27:55] So we still have one game

[00:27:57] and we have, I think, like

[00:27:59] 30 minutes to get ready for

[00:28:00] the next game.

[00:28:01] And we're like

[00:28:02] and we're in Oklahoma City

[00:28:04] as well.

[00:28:05] So it is burning hot.

[00:28:07] Everyone's faces are beat

[00:28:09] red like

[00:28:11] July in Oklahoma.

[00:28:13] Oh my gosh.

[00:28:14] Think about it.

[00:28:15] I just felt.

[00:28:17] Yeah, everyone was so

[00:28:20] tired.

[00:28:21] You could tell, but obviously

[00:28:23] not done because there's still

[00:28:25] always another game to play.

[00:28:27] So we end up winning

[00:28:29] that last game

[00:28:31] against them.

[00:28:32] And now we're in the world

[00:28:34] series, basically championship,

[00:28:36] but still out of three.

[00:28:39] So we're playing

[00:28:41] bombers, some bombers team.

[00:28:43] There's so many bombers team,

[00:28:44] but those girls,

[00:28:46] some of that like that whole

[00:28:47] lineup D1.

[00:28:49] I mean, I know a few of those

[00:28:51] girls were going to Louisville

[00:28:52] or something.

[00:28:53] All these ACC

[00:28:54] something teams.

[00:28:55] So

[00:28:56] parents are still not there.

[00:29:00] We're still not there.

[00:29:01] We're still not there and we will

[00:29:02] not be there.

[00:29:03] We're there.

[00:29:04] Yeah,

[00:29:05] yeah, we're yeah, we were in

[00:29:07] Las Vegas.

[00:29:08] Yeah.

[00:29:09] So

[00:29:11] I remember

[00:29:12] playing the first game.

[00:29:14] I really wish I remembered how I

[00:29:16] played, but I think I

[00:29:18] was so burnt

[00:29:21] that I was so focused on just

[00:29:23] hitting my spots

[00:29:24] instead of

[00:29:26] pitching as fast as I can or

[00:29:28] I just wanted to spin it

[00:29:30] and hit the spot.

[00:29:31] So

[00:29:32] we win the first game and we're

[00:29:34] like, OK, this is it basically.

[00:29:36] And

[00:29:38] I remember in

[00:29:40] that game break

[00:29:42] while the girls are hitting

[00:29:43] the wiffles, whatever,

[00:29:45] I go out into center

[00:29:47] field

[00:29:48] and I just sit there

[00:29:49] and I like close my eyes

[00:29:51] and I'm like imagining

[00:29:54] winning the championship.

[00:29:56] And I've never done that

[00:29:57] before.

[00:29:58] Really?

[00:29:59] Yeah, that was my first time

[00:30:00] ever

[00:30:02] envisioning something like that,

[00:30:03] which later now I

[00:30:05] know what it's called like imagery

[00:30:08] and like

[00:30:10] meditation in a way.

[00:30:12] Had no idea I was doing it at the time, but

[00:30:15] I didn't.

[00:30:16] And

[00:30:18] we go out

[00:30:19] and we win the second game

[00:30:20] and we win the championship.

[00:30:22] And it was my last ever

[00:30:24] travel ball game of my life

[00:30:25] and I ended in a dog pile

[00:30:27] and it was with like my best friends in the entire world.

[00:30:30] So I couldn't, I probably couldn't have asked for anything

[00:30:32] better other than

[00:30:34] having us there.

[00:30:35] Yeah.

[00:30:36] Yeah.

[00:30:37] So to come full circle is awesome

[00:30:39] because

[00:30:40] your first travel ball experience, 10

[00:30:42] you, you lost the national championship,

[00:30:45] 12 of you lost in the semis.

[00:30:48] You have your setbacks, your head injury.

[00:30:51] We have COVID and for you to come back

[00:30:54] and play with some of those girls that you

[00:30:56] played with initially

[00:30:58] and to win it

[00:30:59] to get dog pile.

[00:31:00] This is your second dog pile

[00:31:02] that you've encountered

[00:31:04] is awesome, right?

[00:31:05] It's not a lot of girls experience that

[00:31:09] and so we talk about

[00:31:11] the ups and downs

[00:31:12] and everything in between

[00:31:14] as far as this podcast

[00:31:16] that you have some ups and downs.

[00:31:18] This is your up.

[00:31:19] You're entering into your college

[00:31:21] years now

[00:31:23] on top.

[00:31:24] You win league in high school.

[00:31:26] You get to semifinals in high school.

[00:31:28] You win the championship

[00:31:30] and second tier alliance

[00:31:32] championship.

[00:31:33] So you're just on cloud nine

[00:31:35] at this point.

[00:31:36] You're like, OK, this is why

[00:31:37] I love softball because it's just

[00:31:39] I'm on the team that

[00:31:41] I love the girls

[00:31:43] competitive.

[00:31:44] I have a coach that

[00:31:46] is disciplined, but he's super nice.

[00:31:47] He's like a Chris Garcia part two, right?

[00:31:49] He's a two point no car.

[00:31:51] He's super disciplined,

[00:31:52] but then off the side, he's like

[00:31:54] very caring and he cares for you guys.

[00:31:56] Awesome.

[00:31:57] Lace.

[00:31:59] You are

[00:32:01] How did you feel when I FaceTimed

[00:32:02] you and I had my little trophies

[00:32:04] in my hand?

[00:32:06] Where were we?

[00:32:08] I don't want to say what we're doing,

[00:32:09] but

[00:32:12] but we were, Mom and I were together

[00:32:14] and we were both crying

[00:32:16] and yeah, so we were just super

[00:32:18] proud of you

[00:32:20] for sure. Again, we apologize.

[00:32:21] I'll apologize again

[00:32:23] on the record.

[00:32:24] I apologize for not being on your last

[00:32:27] travel ball game.

[00:32:29] Please forgive us.

[00:32:31] Why is your there?

[00:32:32] My last college game.

[00:32:34] We will. We'll be there for your

[00:32:35] senior day and we'll be there

[00:32:37] for your last college game.

[00:32:38] Hopefully you are in San Diego

[00:32:40] because that's where the tournament

[00:32:41] is at, right?

[00:32:42] Good stuff, Lace.

[00:32:44] Love you.

[00:32:46] We have a surprise for everybody

[00:32:48] for next week.

[00:32:50] We may or may not have an Olympic

[00:32:52] Olympian on our podcast next week,

[00:32:54] but stay tuned.

[00:32:56] So Lace, I love you.

[00:32:58] Love you.

[00:33:00] We'll see you in about two seconds

[00:33:02] after we hang up here

[00:33:04] and we'll catch everybody else

[00:33:06] on the other side.

[00:33:07] Bye everybody.