64 | Bouncing Back: Mindset Shifts and Preparing for Big Games

[00:00:00] That's cool. It's, yeah, it's like a, this time around I didn't, I went back in and got out of a situation on one pitch. So that was good. But then came back in the next day and gave up two hits. But it was just two hits, you didn't give up and run, that's what I'm saying. No. And you guys came back and won that game. Yeah. No, but what I'm saying is there's a cultural difference. Yeah.

[00:00:23] And I think now, okay, I struggled the first couple of innings. I got taken out because it's first and second. I just, maybe I just gave up three hits a row or I walked two and I gave up a single. All right, taken out and then knowing that mentally you need to be prepared. Because you might be asked to go back in and finish your game. Hello and welcome to Catching You, a dad and daughter softball journey. I'm Rusty, a dad who's been in the dugout and on the sidelines.

[00:00:51] 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. For the past 16 years, we've navigated the highs and lows of softball together. From the local field to national tournaments and everything in between.

[00:01:08] From the challenges of recruitment during COVID to the mental and emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a student athlete. We'll be sharing the perspectives of both a parent and athlete and firsthand experience of the impact of sports on mental health and the importance of support from the sidelines. Welcome back, everybody. Catching you. I'm your host, Rusty Ham. My other beautiful co-host, Lacey, say hi. Hello.

[00:01:33] Hello. Rollercoaster weekend for you, but it was awesome. You guys went 5-0 in the, what do they call it, the Silicon Valley? Silicon Valley Classic 1. And you guys are champs. I saw on social media, it says champs. You guys have a trophy? No, it's our own tournament. I don't know why they say that. I don't even know why they call it tournaments because there's no win. I don't know. There's no winner. I guess we're the winners.

[00:02:02] To me, it's like a glorified friendly. These are like friendly. I mean, it's preseason games. I don't know why it's called. I don't know. Tournament or classic. I don't see them as tournaments. Yeah. I was watching some of the clear water and those fields were horrible. They don't look very nice, do they? There were some wicked bounces off that dirt. It just, that infield did not look like it was.

[00:02:28] Like, I was wondering, is that the first time they ever played there? Cause I don't remember. That happens every year. The clear water one happens and then the port of Iarta one happens and those fields are trash too. Yeah. That's where Tori Bolt, Tori CL pitching. Yeah. I would cry as a coach. I'd be like, man, there's potential injuries here. All the top teams are playing there. Yeah. I bet girls have already gotten injured. Probably.

[00:02:58] But back to your team, you guys went five and O after starting out. Oh, and five. Yeah. So now you guys are even Steven. Five, five. You guys scored a ton of runs, which is good, which we talked about last week or a few weeks ago. Actually, it was a private tech. We mean, you know, it doesn't help pitchers when you're not scoring. Cause then there's a lot of, there's additional pressure on you.

[00:03:27] You know, I've pulled the port down, but I think there's three games in a row where you guys score four runs in your first inning. Yeah. And as a pitcher, you go out to the next inning, you're like, you can take a deep breath. It feels way better going out to pitch after that. And understandably, there's going to be games where it's zero, zero until the last inning. And, or just you go into extras and you have to still hold the four down. Sometimes runs are scored out of your control.

[00:03:56] There's always the little bloopers that you can't control. Umpires safe and out can't control. So. Right. Well, you could be pitching the best game in your life and it's all depends on whether he calls it a ball or a strike. Runs definitely help though. It does. And I was, I'm, I was proud of you in a sense because after the last game, Sac State came in at bases loaded.

[00:04:25] And I think you guys are going to be pretty bad anyway. Right. It's almost a situation. But mentally you're like, okay, bases loaded, six, nothing. Their best hitters up to bat. Hitters up to bat. Yeah. It's already two, she's already two for three with a double and a triple. So mentally you're like, okay, this sucks. Right. It sucks. And I try not to go into those situations. I've learned not to be, have like big anxiety in those situations. It's just go attack the hitter.

[00:04:54] And that's what I did. And she's just a very smart hitter where even I threw a really good drop inside. Didn't swing at it. Call it a ball. Threw a really good drop outside to try and get her to ground out again. A little too off the plate, apparently for the umpire. Call it a ball. Then I was just done after that, honestly. That's if you guys don't know, if you're listening, if you're young, that's code for the umpire was squeezing me. Yeah.

[00:05:25] Not giving the black on the plate. Yeah. But so going back to why I'm proud of you is you texted me after that and you've done this for many years. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't know. I need to change anything. Right. And as a father who's not there, of course, I want to help you and I want to answer your question.

[00:05:56] We always, I always, and we've talked about it in the past, which is go back to the things that look positive. Now the Sac State game was not positive, but the games prior to that where you lost, there was some positives, right? You had, you struggled to get out of the first inning, I think, and then you settled down. But what I was proud of you is that you came out against, on Friday night against UC San Diego and you looked like the Lacey of old, right? You're hitting your spots. Your ball was moving.

[00:06:25] What, nine strikeouts? Yeah. Right? Only gave up four hits and I think it was just four singles. Yeah. I think two of them were off of your changeup where it was just like, they just threw their bat out there and it just looped over. So yeah, really good. All seven innings were falling, right? You added them all up. There might've been like one or two that weren't just due to the number of pitches I was throwing. My first pitch strike count and we do one-on-one battles.

[00:06:55] So when it gets one-on-one, you have to win the battle. So if you get one-on-one, you throw a strike right after. Oh, when the count's one-on-one. Yeah. Oh, okay. So if you get one-on-one, the objective is to get a strike right after. Oh, okay. And so first pitch strike and one-on-one battles are, you want 66%, which would equal a yes, which goes into the quality inning sheet. Oh, okay.

[00:07:26] So those were three things that were like rushing out the whole game. Are you worried that if somebody in your conference is listening to this podcast that they're going to be looking for a strike when it's one-on-one? Not necessarily because... You know why you're going to pitch away.

[00:07:46] No, it's because if I'm going out there and I get to one-on-one and every time it's one-on-one, I'm thinking like, oh my God, I need to throw a strike or I'm not getting a quality inning. I'm not consciously thinking about it where I could throw a really good pitch at one-on-one and it'd be called a ball and I'd be satisfied. Okay, I got you. So the objective is to get a strike right after. Well, again, we talk about control.

[00:08:16] Some of the times, like they just don't swing or it gets called a ball or all that stuff. So if I were consciously thinking about it and worried about it during games, then I'd probably be trying to place it to make it a strike and I'd probably get hit more. So if you're in my conference and you're listening, don't think that I'm throwing a strike. And then the second game that you pitched in, I think I texted you, it just seemed like, oh, your balls are flat. They weren't really moving to it.

[00:08:45] Still had to zip. But what I, and your mom was wondering too, and it's happened to you twice where you got taken out and then you came back in. Yeah. Which shows confidence in your pitching coach. Yeah. Other pitching coaches, they would just take you out forever. Yeah. That's cool. It's, yeah, it's like a, this time around I didn't, I went back in and got out of a situation on one pitch.

[00:09:15] So that was good. But then came back in the next inning and gave up two wins. Yeah, but it was just too, it didn't like, you didn't give up any runs is what I'm saying. No. You guys came back and won that game. Yeah. Yeah. No, but that, what I'm saying is there's a cultural difference. Yeah. And I think now, okay, I struggled the first couple of innings. And I got taken out because it's first and second. I just, maybe I just gave up three hits a row or I walked two and I gave up a single.

[00:09:45] All right. Take me out. And then knowing that mentally you need to be prepared because you might be asked to go back in and finish your game. And that's cool. I think, right? It's not normal. It's not normal that when you take the starting pitch out, you're better back in. You hope not because you hope the person that comes in for you shuts the team down. You don't miss, yes, you're upset that you came out, but you also want to cheer on your teammate that, yes, maybe I struggled in the first couple of innings.

[00:10:12] But if I have a teammate that doesn't come in and shut him down behind me, then that's awesome. Now, so it's a double-edged sword because you went back in because the person who replaced you was struggling a little bit. Yeah, it's, we do a lot to try and throw other team off. So, like, we have a pitching style. We have different pitching styles.

[00:10:35] So, if I'm on my third time through the lineup, unless, like, the game against UCSD, unless I'm mowing them down, like, there has to be some sort of mixture. So, usually, we'll put someone else in for that third part of the lineup who's different. Now they're all thrown off. And then, say they're doing really well, too.

[00:11:04] Like, they'll probably go through the fourth time. But then again, I could go back in for the fourth time, do the lineup. And now they have to readjust to what I was throwing. Right. No. Yeah, I like that. And it seemed to work, right? Mm-hmm. So, what you got coming up this weekend, Mary Nutter. So, for those of you that are listening, Mary Nutter is probably not as prestigious because Oklahoma's not in it anymore. But there's still some good teams in there, right?

[00:11:33] You got the, you're going to play Nebraska on Saturday, right? Who are the other major teams? What? Other major teams that we can talk about who you're playing. I think four other Mountain West teams are in it, too. Yeah. Like, Mount, Nevada. San Diego State had a really good weekend. Yeah. So, you're in a very good conference. I am. Yeah. I would have been ranked because they had, I think, an undefeated weekend. They went five and up. And they beat Missouri. And they beat Minnesota. So, yeah.

[00:12:02] So, you're going to play Howard. You're going to play UC Santa Barbara. Nebraska. I wouldn't imagine Jordy Ball playing in that game. You never know. Never know. No, that's the thing. It's because I wasn't really keeping track of how specifically that team was doing. I just saw, like, highlights of the, what tournament they were at. Yeah. Yeah. And she got beat. Maybe, I think, once or twice. Yeah.

[00:12:31] She also had a perfect game. And then you get teachers like that. You might. You got University of Northridge. Northridge. And then you're also playing Loyal of Maramount, who has owned you guys the last couple years. Kicked our butts last year. It was close for a bit. And then they knocked you over the fence. Yeah. I don't want to. But you've done a great job of keeping the ball inside the park. Yeah.

[00:13:01] All of you guys have, I think you've only, as a picture, only got one home. Hmm. And 10 games. That's actually really good. Right? That's a great job. Yeah. And then you have some mental stuff going on with your grandmother passing away. She was awesome. And we're all very sad that it happened. She passed away very peacefully, which is what she wanted. And we were all there to support her.

[00:13:30] She was able to watch you pitch your shutout game. She was put the computer on her bed. She was there watching a segment. So she's in a good place. I know it's hard because she was very supportive. Mm-hmm. We're all very sad. We're going to have a little ceremony. And we love her very much. Yeah. Moving forward, Lace. Let me ask you this.

[00:13:57] We talked about the conference and how it's pretty difficult mentally. Because Boise State's really good. Nevada, I think, is pretty good. I think Fresno State went undefeated this weekend. Mm-hmm. It's, I think every game was good. And they're all going to beat up on each other, too. It's not, you know what I'm saying? I think you guys have, if your offense is, no, you're in the first five games, your offense was not necessarily there. And that could be for different reasons.

[00:14:25] It could be the opening weekend. You guys are nervous. Now you guys are killing it. You have a shoe girls that are hitting the ball pretty hard. I think you guys have a pretty good chance. Now, to win the whole thing, maybe not. But I think you have a chance to do what you did a couple years ago, which is, I think you guys came in third and won the finals in the conference. Second. You guys came in second conference? In the regular season?

[00:14:55] Yeah. Regular conference. You got it? The other, I think we came in fourth or fifth. Fourth or fifth. Okay. Then we went to the championship. Yeah. So that year, you were predicted last? Second to last. Second to last. And you ended up getting fourth or fifth and then making it to the conference championship against San Diego State, right? Now this year, being predicted to be very last is actually disrespectful. That is disrespectful.

[00:15:25] It really is. Yeah. It's, yeah. So you... Compared to... I don't want to call out teams. But disregard everything I just said. I won't call out teams, but there are teams that were ranked above us that are like, it's like, are you serious? Are you kidding me? Especially with when our team has all returners. Like our whole lineup is pretty much all returners. And you think we're going to do even worse than we did last year.

[00:15:54] Right. Interesting. That's really interesting, actually. That's an eyebrow razor. It is. Yeah. Obviously, like the conference is going to be tough, but for you guys to be at mass, I think that's a stretch. Because all you need to do is... Because a lot of the three-game series, right? You just... You win a couple of those series and went two out of three. Now you're up there. Right? I think our goal is either four or five to win four or five conference series.

[00:16:23] And the majority of our conference series are at home with a 245 dead center fence. Yeah. And that was crazy that... Now, what's it down the line? Because I think that's where the home runs were. Because it's very unusual. Two what? Yeah. So two-thirds. So for anyone who's listening, and we've talked about it before, about your field. And I was telling, I think, Uncle Kevin on Sunday.

[00:16:53] It's unusual because most fields are 210, 220. Maybe at the most. I think we have the biggest field at NCAA. Yeah. So it's definitely a pitcher friendly. So if you're a pitcher and you want to go and you want to have really good stats, go to San Jose State. Now, if you're a hitter... We did have a few home runs this weekend, though. What I was saying is that you guys popped a few over the fence, which is unusual, right? It's unusual. Because you probably lead the conference

[00:17:20] in either the other team hitting triples or you guys hitting triples. There's a lot of triples at that field. Because if you hit it in the gap... Yes. It's 3.245. And it's Rick Shane off the fence. That's 245 feet away, not 210. And we have a turf outfield. Oh, yeah. So when it bounces, you don't know where it's going. We do, though. Right. We know where it's going. Yeah. So that's the good thing.

[00:17:50] So the conference-wise, you have a lot of home. You do end your conference against Boise State and then you're at Boise State and then you're at San Diego State. No. Yes. Okay. I've looked it up. I see your day is in San Jose against Boise State. Are you sure? Where? And then my last conference series is at San Diego. And then we'd be back in San Diego for the tournament. Oh, yeah. You're right. But what I'm saying is you're ending... I'm not saying where. I'm saying you're ending your conference with those two.

[00:18:20] Two top teams, yes. Predicted. And I wouldn't count against Nevada. Nevada, their hitters are really good. They were third place last year. Yeah. But I think we've said it before, one of the advantages is that our pitching staff is the only returning pitching staff. Everyone else had graduating a number ones or transfers in. So you just never know how that's going to go. But... Yeah.

[00:18:50] Good stuff. We're going to keep this one short this week. We just want to recap everybody early our weekend and she's going to be coming out. So if you guys are local, you're listening to this podcast and you're local, come see Lacey play. She plays 5.30 and... Let me look. 5.30 and 8.30 on Friday night. And then she is 5.30, 7.30 on Saturday night. And then 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. Nebraska, if you want to come

[00:19:20] watch her play Nebraska, that's going to be on the main field. Right? Yeah. Where all the... where all the people are and that's going to be against Nebraska at 5.30 p.m. Saturday night. So come out and watch her play. All right? The Mary Nutter is notorious for not being on time with games. So I'm a little worried about the night games. Like at 8.30. I don't know

[00:19:49] if they will actually start at 8.30. If they start at 10.30? Yeah. Yeah. But people are going to be there all day. So I see 5.30, but they can always... And it's a hot tech feel. It's mostly... What if the Mary Nutter was like travel ball where they did hour 30 drop dead? And then the worst rule ball where they revert back to the previous inning? That was the worst. Two-hour cap. Yeah. Let's do that. That was the worst because you had scored five or six runs in an inning and then time was up

[00:20:19] and then those five or six runs that you scored didn't count and it went back and you ended up losing. Anyway, those are the days, right? Yeah. Stupid. Stupid. All right, Lace. Looking forward to seeing you Friday after Mom and I go golfing for your game. You should take it up. You can come up. I'm terrible at golfing. Okay. Then you'll just be in the cart with Jesse and then me or Mom with golf and just look cute. Is this coming? No, just in the future or whatever we'll be looking for.

[00:20:49] All right. Love you, Lace. Love you. Catch everybody else on the other side. Bye.