June 20, 2025 • 18 mins
AJ’s sister, Aliyah Andrews—also known as "Air Liyah"—grabs the mic to share her inspiring journey into the world of softball. She discusses how she earned her iconic nickname, her experiences playing for the AUSL Blaze, and Team USA. Aliyah also dives into building confidence, mastering different pitch types, and offers practical tips for pushing through mental slumps.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, y'all, welcome to Dropping Diamonds with the Leah Andrews.
You heard that right, where we dive headfirst into the
world of softball. Aj. I'm keeping the mic hot for you.
For those of you who don't know, I'm AJ's younger
sister and lsu alum and I'm part of TENUSA Softball
and currently playing for AUSL Blaze. Before we dive deeper
(00:37):
into my background and my experience, let's start the episode
off with the affirmation of the day, which is I
am successful and thriving in all areas of life. I
think if you breathe confidence, you speak confidence outwardly, then
you will actually be able to be confident. I think
(00:57):
sometimes you find ways to be confident because you're making
your self confident, and confidence is a choice. So I
think that affirmation just helps you be successful because it
breaths confidence into yourself. So that's my fave. Okay, So
if we dive into my experience as a softball player,
I fell in love with softball when I was around
(01:20):
seven years old, and it started because Ajay started playing.
I think maybe her friends like got her into playing,
and because she started, my mom was like, well, if
I have to bring her to the softball field, we're
all going to go to the softball field. So I
started playing as well, and both of my parents encouraged
(01:40):
us to try new sports, and we're really supportive if
we didn't like something and we could move on to
the next thing. But softball was definitely one that just
stuck for me. I loved it ever since I started playing.
It's where I met all my best friends growing up,
and whenever we would go visit aj at Ellis to you,
(02:00):
I kind of just always felt like it was home.
And at first I had this idea in my brain
that I couldn't go to LC because my sister went there,
and I should go somewhere and make a name for
myself at a different place. And so that was kind
of like my initial thoughts. I was looking at other places.
I knew I wanted to play in SEC because I
hate the cold, so I wanted to plan a really
(02:21):
good conference and play somewhere in the South where my
parents could travel and it wouldn't be far, but also
where it didn't get too cold. Florida girl here, so whatever,
I was just deciding between schools. LSU always just felt
like home, mainly because of the fans that always treated
me like family when we would go visit aj and
(02:42):
just feeling like I knew the area, knew all the people,
knew the hospitality, and it just always felt like home,
especially with the coaches and everything. So when I got
to college, I didn't even I didn't really know like
pitch types. Like I just got in the box in
high school and swung at strikes and like that was it.
I didn't really think about a curveball, screwball, whatever. And
I remember in college when I first got there, coach
(03:04):
Terarino would ask me, like what pitch was that, and
I was like outside, like I don't know, and it
would be like a screwball or something. But I just
really didn't learn in high school or before how to
pay attention to like pitch types. So then going to
college that was something that was like it probably should
have been an easy thing, and it was something that
I really had to learn. And so yeah, just really
(03:27):
learned learned everything to be aggressive to be a good
teammate to all the analytical things in college and how
to apply it to be your best version of yourself.
So I am called Earlia and I got called that
name I think the first time in my freshman year
at LSU, and it was an SEC tournament, and back
(03:49):
then it didn't really stick. Like I remember getting called it.
It got put on Twitter and I was like, oh,
that's so cute whatever, but it didn't really stick for
like the years to come until I think maybe like
my junior year, I got called it again, but like
I said, just very like sporadically, not always like ear
earlier earlier. And then my senior year I made a
(04:10):
bunch of diving catches, like back to back to back
to back, so then I was getting called early all
the time, and then it just stuck. I was an
All American, and then all throughout college as well, I
was able to make the All SEC teams and All
SEC defensive teams, which I'm really passionate about is defense,
so that was always really cool to see and to
(04:32):
make those teams. So after I finished playing at LSU,
I started playing my professional career with AU. I kind
of tried to bring the same energy and all the things.
So last year playing AU, I was the defensive Player
of the Year, which was so fun. And then I
got invited to a Team USA camp for my first time,
(04:54):
which was really awesome. Whenever I got invited, then I
got placed in to the player pool. So then the
next time, whenever the Pan American Games came out or
were coming out or about to play, I got selected
to play and be on the roster for the PanAm Games,
which was in Chile, which was my first time being
(05:16):
in South America, so that was really awesome and seeing
the culture there, but being able to be chosen was
really fun knowing that I could win a gold medal.
I'd played with Team USA before I went to Ireland,
but it was kind of more of like a World
Cup qualifier, so there wasn't really necessarily anything to be
(05:36):
won there at that time. It set us up for
the future, which was amazing, such a great opportunity. But
winning the gold medal at the PanAm Games was really
a surreal moment, just because it's like, you know, whenever
you are thinking of a gold medal, I think usually
you think of the Olympics, which, unfortunately softball just wasn't
(05:56):
in this past year, so we kind of missed opportunity.
But the pan Am Games was kind of another opportunity
to be able to play, show our best and play
against other countries and show what we had and it
meant a lot to be able to get that gold medal,
to play hard. We had such a great team, such
(06:19):
a great roster in Chile at the pan Am Games,
so it was not only just like a good performing team,
but also such a great team to be around, like
we would hang out at the cafeteria hall and while
we were there, we were also able to meet a
bunch of other athletes in different countries, some people that
(06:41):
we have known, like some people that play in the AUSL,
play on Puerto Rico, play on Team Mexico, Team Canada.
So that was really an amazing experience and definitely just
kind of showcase what softball can do. So speaking of
what softball can do, the AUSL is is doing such
(07:01):
an amazing job with showcasing softball, showcasing US athletes and
putting us on the big stage. As a lot of
us know. The MLB has partnered with the AUSL, which
has been the greatest opportunity and has already shown to
be so beneficial for us and for our sport, and
(07:21):
it's been so fun to be able to play in it.
See MLB social media post us be able to see
fans of the MLB comment and say, oh, like, there
is a pro league. I can't wait to watch. This
has been a long time coming. Like knowing that there
has been pro softball for so many years but people
are now recognizing it and are excited about it is
(07:44):
the best feeling because we've just been kind of waiting
for that recognition. So AUSL has been doing everything in
the right way and from my perspective of course as
an athlete, but it feels really great to know that
softball is becoming on the big stage pro softball at
least because college has been so great. We've seen numbers
(08:05):
go up at the Women's College World Series every year
and it's been climbing up and up. So now that
pro softball has that same kind of recognition, in that
same space where college athletes know that there is a
place to go play actor and fans know that there
is a way to continue to watch their favorite college
players go play, is just going to continue to rise.
(08:26):
I have had so many LC fans follow me from
college to being a pro player now. They are really
just so supportive, so so thankful. Like I said, whenever
I decided to go to LSU, a lot a main
reason was because of the people, and not just my teammates,
but the people that are fans of LSU, the people
(08:47):
and batteries, the people in Louisiana just in general. They
love softball and they love to continue to support you.
Let's take a quick break to hear a word from
our sponsor. Playing for the Blaze has been so fun
(09:11):
so far. I think being on the first team is
so cool because you can kind of just create the
identity that we want, which is so cool. Like being
the first of anything is always cool. It can also
be challenging because you're trying to figure out a lot
of things. You're trying to incorporate some things, you're trying
to figure out just really your identity. And so that
(09:31):
has been something that we've been trying to do and
it's been so fun. The players that the athletes that
I play with are so fun to play with. I
love my teammates. Our colors are so cute, the pink
and yellow and orange and black, you know, and who
knows how long the Blaze franchise will last, and so
to know that we can say that we were the
(09:52):
first ones is already an honor and it's just so
cool to see. Although it has been so much fun
to play on this team and play in general, I
want to give you some tips and tricks and some
things that might help you whenever you might be in
a little bit of a runt or just not in
(10:15):
the best space, because we all go through it. I
go through it for sure, still go through it, and
it's taken a long time to kind of figure out
what works best whenever we are in that little bit
of a funk. And so for me, I just like
to think about thinking about the next pitch, like what
can I do to be better next time, instead of
(10:39):
dwelling on the past. And that's so hard to do. Obviously,
you want to think about why you did this, and
oh I should have done that, all those things, But
to try and trick your brain into thinking, well, I
did this, but now I can do this and make
this better. That's what will help you stay out of
your head, out of your head mentally and be able
to physically do the things that you want to do
(11:01):
and to make it better. Something else that I learned
in college was to think about pouring into other people.
So instead of thinking about how I just made an error,
how I just struck out, or whatever it is that's
making me feel bad, I pour into other people. Trying
to pour into my teammates, which just means being extra
(11:22):
loud for them, saying good job, really proud of you.
It's really hard to be in your own brain, in
your own head when you're cheering for others, right, So,
finding ways to be able to deal with failure and
to overcome it is a big part of softball. So
being able to figure that out is only going to
help you and can help your team in general, and
(11:43):
also can make the game a lot more fun because
you find ways to not be in your head, to
not be feeling down or any negativity, to try and
switch around and think of the fun, the positive things
and how we can be better next time. So yeah,
so just don't always only think about the physical aspect
and how many a million home runs you can hit,
(12:06):
which is obviously great and that would make you feel good.
But there's days when you're not going to and you
might feel bad. So thinking of ways to just remain coachable,
to remain a student of the game, and to keep
being a good teammate and be positive, I think is
a big part of softball that some people miss sometimes. Okay,
now we're going to enter into AJ's favorite segment, which
(12:29):
is the no fly zone. Though my favorite play that
I have made in my career, I would probably say
is last year or two years ago, playing au professionally,
I made a diving catch. It was two outs, seventh,
(12:50):
bottom of the seventh inning. We were up by like
two runs or something. It was a tight game, and
I made a diving catch going back on my glove side,
And that was my favorite catch of my career, I think,
because I had never made a diving catch to end
a game, and so that was really fun to me
(13:11):
because I feel like usually whenever I've made diving catches,
it's been in the middle of an inning and you know,
you can like barely celebrate because you have to get
ready for the next batter. But for that one, it
was like one of the game saving catches. So just
to know that I got to save like a hit,
got to save possibly the game, and got to celebrate
(13:32):
with my teammates and see their reactions like directly after
I caught it. That was my favorite moment, just being
able to celebrate with my teammates. That's always. That's just
always like the cherry on top. And I think doing
that with two outs to be able to end the
game with it was just top notch. It was like
the best feeling ever. So that's definitely my favorite catch,
I think, And then I think my second one would
(13:54):
be at LSU whenever I dove back, and that one
kind of became like my logo and we got like
a really cool photo from it. But I get asked
all the time how I'm able to make some diving catches,
how I'm able to make certain catches in general, because
players will say young players will say that they're scared
or they don't know how to just go out there
(14:15):
and do it and all those things. And my answer
is always, like I never just go out and do it,
like I have had to practice it so much practice.
I really like, actually practice it in practice, do diving workups.
In college, there was no practice that I could like
take a practice off and not dive like I was
supposed to try and catch every single ball and that
(14:37):
made it possible for me to one want to catch
every ball and to be able to trust myself to
do it because I practice it so much in practice
and knew the things that I could get to, the
things that maybe I should ask a teammate to get,
all those things. You just know yourself better. You know
when to dive, when to not dive, when, you know
(14:59):
the timing of it, all those things because of practice.
And do I catch everything? Absolutely not. There was a
ball that I didn't catch yesterday that I'm still beating
myself up about. But I don't catch everything, and it's okay.
It sucks you want to catch everything, But I just
know that I would rather give the effort and know
(15:20):
that I did try my hardest than to just not
try at all. So yeah, just bandaly outfielder is to
really practice the little things and to trust yourself to
go all out, to be fearless, to think about how
cool it would be to do the cool things and
not be passive on the other side and think, well, crap,
(15:42):
what if I don't catch it? What if I don't
do this? Thinking about the positives like how cool will
it be when I do catch it? And learning from
your past mistakes is definitely something that can just help
you move forward and help you be able to continue
to be elite and just to be better to keep growing.
There's so many times where, like I said, I don't
catch everything and a lot of things that I miss
(16:04):
or I throw the ball to the wrong side of
the plate, and I know that, Okay, next time, I
need to not over rotate, I need to stay a
little bit more straight, or on that ball, I need
to maybe dive a little bit earlier instead of diving
the timing that I did that time. So just being
able to learn from your past mistakes is a way
(16:25):
in general with softball, is a way to just continue
to get better and to know that sometimes you're not
going to have it all together, but as long as
you learn from it, then you can have it all
together next time. Okay, this has been so much fun.
Aj Thank you so much for passing the mic to
me and to all the listeners that have listened to
(16:46):
me rant about my experience, my softball experience and just
hearing me talk about myself in general. So thank you
so much. Has been so much fun. Thank you for
joining today's episode and to member today's affirmation, which is
I am successful and thriving in all areas of my life.
(17:07):
So be sure to meet Aj here next week at
the Diamond And if you want to keep up with
what's going on in the software world, check me out
at the Blaze with AUSL.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. I'm your host, AJ Andrews. Our
executive producer is Jesse Katz. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer,
and this episode was mixed and mastered by Mary dou
Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app,
(17:48):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, y'all, welcome to Dropping Diamonds with the Leah Andrews.
You heard that right, where we dive headfirst into the
world of softball. Aj. I'm keeping the mic hot for you.
For those of you who don't know, I'm AJ's younger
sister and lsu alum and I'm part of TENUSA Softball
and currently playing for AUSL Blaze. Before we dive deeper
(00:37):
into my background and my experience, let's start the episode
off with the affirmation of the day, which is I
am successful and thriving in all areas of life. I
think if you breathe confidence, you speak confidence outwardly, then
you will actually be able to be confident. I think
(00:57):
sometimes you find ways to be confident because you're making
your self confident, and confidence is a choice. So I
think that affirmation just helps you be successful because it
breaths confidence into yourself. So that's my fave. Okay, So
if we dive into my experience as a softball player,
I fell in love with softball when I was around
(01:20):
seven years old, and it started because Ajay started playing.
I think maybe her friends like got her into playing,
and because she started, my mom was like, well, if
I have to bring her to the softball field, we're
all going to go to the softball field. So I
started playing as well, and both of my parents encouraged
(01:40):
us to try new sports, and we're really supportive if
we didn't like something and we could move on to
the next thing. But softball was definitely one that just
stuck for me. I loved it ever since I started playing.
It's where I met all my best friends growing up,
and whenever we would go visit aj at Ellis to you,
(02:00):
I kind of just always felt like it was home.
And at first I had this idea in my brain
that I couldn't go to LC because my sister went there,
and I should go somewhere and make a name for
myself at a different place. And so that was kind
of like my initial thoughts. I was looking at other places.
I knew I wanted to play in SEC because I
hate the cold, so I wanted to plan a really
(02:21):
good conference and play somewhere in the South where my
parents could travel and it wouldn't be far, but also
where it didn't get too cold. Florida girl here, so whatever,
I was just deciding between schools. LSU always just felt
like home, mainly because of the fans that always treated
me like family when we would go visit aj and
(02:42):
just feeling like I knew the area, knew all the people,
knew the hospitality, and it just always felt like home,
especially with the coaches and everything. So when I got
to college, I didn't even I didn't really know like
pitch types. Like I just got in the box in
high school and swung at strikes and like that was it.
I didn't really think about a curveball, screwball, whatever. And
I remember in college when I first got there, coach
(03:04):
Terarino would ask me, like what pitch was that, and
I was like outside, like I don't know, and it
would be like a screwball or something. But I just
really didn't learn in high school or before how to
pay attention to like pitch types. So then going to
college that was something that was like it probably should
have been an easy thing, and it was something that
I really had to learn. And so yeah, just really
(03:27):
learned learned everything to be aggressive to be a good
teammate to all the analytical things in college and how
to apply it to be your best version of yourself.
So I am called Earlia and I got called that
name I think the first time in my freshman year
at LSU, and it was an SEC tournament, and back
(03:49):
then it didn't really stick. Like I remember getting called it.
It got put on Twitter and I was like, oh,
that's so cute whatever, but it didn't really stick for
like the years to come until I think maybe like
my junior year, I got called it again, but like
I said, just very like sporadically, not always like ear
earlier earlier. And then my senior year I made a
(04:10):
bunch of diving catches, like back to back to back
to back, so then I was getting called early all
the time, and then it just stuck. I was an
All American, and then all throughout college as well, I
was able to make the All SEC teams and All
SEC defensive teams, which I'm really passionate about is defense,
so that was always really cool to see and to
(04:32):
make those teams. So after I finished playing at LSU,
I started playing my professional career with AU. I kind
of tried to bring the same energy and all the things.
So last year playing AU, I was the defensive Player
of the Year, which was so fun. And then I
got invited to a Team USA camp for my first time,
(04:54):
which was really awesome. Whenever I got invited, then I
got placed in to the player pool. So then the
next time, whenever the Pan American Games came out or
were coming out or about to play, I got selected
to play and be on the roster for the PanAm Games,
which was in Chile, which was my first time being
(05:16):
in South America, so that was really awesome and seeing
the culture there, but being able to be chosen was
really fun knowing that I could win a gold medal.
I'd played with Team USA before I went to Ireland,
but it was kind of more of like a World
Cup qualifier, so there wasn't really necessarily anything to be
(05:36):
won there at that time. It set us up for
the future, which was amazing, such a great opportunity. But
winning the gold medal at the PanAm Games was really
a surreal moment, just because it's like, you know, whenever
you are thinking of a gold medal, I think usually
you think of the Olympics, which, unfortunately softball just wasn't
(05:56):
in this past year, so we kind of missed opportunity.
But the pan Am Games was kind of another opportunity
to be able to play, show our best and play
against other countries and show what we had and it
meant a lot to be able to get that gold medal,
to play hard. We had such a great team, such
(06:19):
a great roster in Chile at the pan Am Games,
so it was not only just like a good performing team,
but also such a great team to be around, like
we would hang out at the cafeteria hall and while
we were there, we were also able to meet a
bunch of other athletes in different countries, some people that
(06:41):
we have known, like some people that play in the AUSL,
play on Puerto Rico, play on Team Mexico, Team Canada.
So that was really an amazing experience and definitely just
kind of showcase what softball can do. So speaking of
what softball can do, the AUSL is is doing such
(07:01):
an amazing job with showcasing softball, showcasing US athletes and
putting us on the big stage. As a lot of
us know. The MLB has partnered with the AUSL, which
has been the greatest opportunity and has already shown to
be so beneficial for us and for our sport, and
(07:21):
it's been so fun to be able to play in it.
See MLB social media post us be able to see
fans of the MLB comment and say, oh, like, there
is a pro league. I can't wait to watch. This
has been a long time coming. Like knowing that there
has been pro softball for so many years but people
are now recognizing it and are excited about it is
(07:44):
the best feeling because we've just been kind of waiting
for that recognition. So AUSL has been doing everything in
the right way and from my perspective of course as
an athlete, but it feels really great to know that
softball is becoming on the big stage pro softball at
least because college has been so great. We've seen numbers
(08:05):
go up at the Women's College World Series every year
and it's been climbing up and up. So now that
pro softball has that same kind of recognition, in that
same space where college athletes know that there is a
place to go play actor and fans know that there
is a way to continue to watch their favorite college
players go play, is just going to continue to rise.
(08:26):
I have had so many LC fans follow me from
college to being a pro player now. They are really
just so supportive, so so thankful. Like I said, whenever
I decided to go to LSU, a lot a main
reason was because of the people, and not just my teammates,
but the people that are fans of LSU, the people
(08:47):
and batteries, the people in Louisiana just in general. They
love softball and they love to continue to support you.
Let's take a quick break to hear a word from
our sponsor. Playing for the Blaze has been so fun
(09:11):
so far. I think being on the first team is
so cool because you can kind of just create the
identity that we want, which is so cool. Like being
the first of anything is always cool. It can also
be challenging because you're trying to figure out a lot
of things. You're trying to incorporate some things, you're trying
to figure out just really your identity. And so that
(09:31):
has been something that we've been trying to do and
it's been so fun. The players that the athletes that
I play with are so fun to play with. I
love my teammates. Our colors are so cute, the pink
and yellow and orange and black, you know, and who
knows how long the Blaze franchise will last, and so
to know that we can say that we were the
(09:52):
first ones is already an honor and it's just so
cool to see. Although it has been so much fun
to play on this team and play in general, I
want to give you some tips and tricks and some
things that might help you whenever you might be in
a little bit of a runt or just not in
(10:15):
the best space, because we all go through it. I
go through it for sure, still go through it, and
it's taken a long time to kind of figure out
what works best whenever we are in that little bit
of a funk. And so for me, I just like
to think about thinking about the next pitch, like what
can I do to be better next time, instead of
(10:39):
dwelling on the past. And that's so hard to do. Obviously,
you want to think about why you did this, and
oh I should have done that, all those things, But
to try and trick your brain into thinking, well, I
did this, but now I can do this and make
this better. That's what will help you stay out of
your head, out of your head mentally and be able
to physically do the things that you want to do
(11:01):
and to make it better. Something else that I learned
in college was to think about pouring into other people.
So instead of thinking about how I just made an error,
how I just struck out, or whatever it is that's
making me feel bad, I pour into other people. Trying
to pour into my teammates, which just means being extra
(11:22):
loud for them, saying good job, really proud of you.
It's really hard to be in your own brain, in
your own head when you're cheering for others, right, So,
finding ways to be able to deal with failure and
to overcome it is a big part of softball. So
being able to figure that out is only going to
help you and can help your team in general, and
(11:43):
also can make the game a lot more fun because
you find ways to not be in your head, to
not be feeling down or any negativity, to try and
switch around and think of the fun, the positive things
and how we can be better next time. So yeah,
so just don't always only think about the physical aspect
and how many a million home runs you can hit,
(12:06):
which is obviously great and that would make you feel good.
But there's days when you're not going to and you
might feel bad. So thinking of ways to just remain coachable,
to remain a student of the game, and to keep
being a good teammate and be positive, I think is
a big part of softball that some people miss sometimes. Okay,
now we're going to enter into AJ's favorite segment, which
(12:29):
is the no fly zone. Though my favorite play that
I have made in my career, I would probably say
is last year or two years ago, playing au professionally,
I made a diving catch. It was two outs, seventh,
(12:50):
bottom of the seventh inning. We were up by like
two runs or something. It was a tight game, and
I made a diving catch going back on my glove side,
And that was my favorite catch of my career, I think,
because I had never made a diving catch to end
a game, and so that was really fun to me
(13:11):
because I feel like usually whenever I've made diving catches,
it's been in the middle of an inning and you know,
you can like barely celebrate because you have to get
ready for the next batter. But for that one, it
was like one of the game saving catches. So just
to know that I got to save like a hit,
got to save possibly the game, and got to celebrate
(13:32):
with my teammates and see their reactions like directly after
I caught it. That was my favorite moment, just being
able to celebrate with my teammates. That's always. That's just
always like the cherry on top. And I think doing
that with two outs to be able to end the
game with it was just top notch. It was like
the best feeling ever. So that's definitely my favorite catch,
I think, And then I think my second one would
(13:54):
be at LSU whenever I dove back, and that one
kind of became like my logo and we got like
a really cool photo from it. But I get asked
all the time how I'm able to make some diving catches,
how I'm able to make certain catches in general, because
players will say young players will say that they're scared
or they don't know how to just go out there
(14:15):
and do it and all those things. And my answer
is always, like I never just go out and do it,
like I have had to practice it so much practice.
I really like, actually practice it in practice, do diving workups.
In college, there was no practice that I could like
take a practice off and not dive like I was
supposed to try and catch every single ball and that
(14:37):
made it possible for me to one want to catch
every ball and to be able to trust myself to
do it because I practice it so much in practice
and knew the things that I could get to, the
things that maybe I should ask a teammate to get,
all those things. You just know yourself better. You know
when to dive, when to not dive, when, you know
(14:59):
the timing of it, all those things because of practice.
And do I catch everything? Absolutely not. There was a
ball that I didn't catch yesterday that I'm still beating
myself up about. But I don't catch everything, and it's okay.
It sucks you want to catch everything, But I just
know that I would rather give the effort and know
(15:20):
that I did try my hardest than to just not
try at all. So yeah, just bandaly outfielder is to
really practice the little things and to trust yourself to
go all out, to be fearless, to think about how
cool it would be to do the cool things and
not be passive on the other side and think, well, crap,
(15:42):
what if I don't catch it? What if I don't
do this? Thinking about the positives like how cool will
it be when I do catch it? And learning from
your past mistakes is definitely something that can just help
you move forward and help you be able to continue
to be elite and just to be better to keep growing.
There's so many times where, like I said, I don't
catch everything and a lot of things that I miss
(16:04):
or I throw the ball to the wrong side of
the plate, and I know that, Okay, next time, I
need to not over rotate, I need to stay a
little bit more straight, or on that ball, I need
to maybe dive a little bit earlier instead of diving
the timing that I did that time. So just being
able to learn from your past mistakes is a way
(16:25):
in general with softball, is a way to just continue
to get better and to know that sometimes you're not
going to have it all together, but as long as
you learn from it, then you can have it all
together next time. Okay, this has been so much fun.
Aj Thank you so much for passing the mic to
me and to all the listeners that have listened to
(16:46):
me rant about my experience, my softball experience and just
hearing me talk about myself in general. So thank you
so much. Has been so much fun. Thank you for
joining today's episode and to member today's affirmation, which is
I am successful and thriving in all areas of my life.
(17:07):
So be sure to meet Aj here next week at
the Diamond And if you want to keep up with
what's going on in the software world, check me out
at the Blaze with AUSL.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. I'm your host, AJ Andrews. Our
executive producer is Jesse Katz. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer,
and this episode was mixed and mastered by Mary dou
Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app,
(17:48):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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