May 22, 2025 • 53 mins
In this special episode, AJ sits down with legendary softball player and coach Lisa Fernandez at UCLA's iconic Easton Stadium. Fernandez, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time national champion, shares insights from her illustrious career, including her motivational quote, 'never be satisfied,' and her approach to overcoming failure. She emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement, having a strong work ethic, and embracing challenges. Plus, she shares her experience of coaching the Kardashians for a celebrity softball game.
Looking for more diamonds? Follow AJ on Instagram and X.
Share the diamonds you received from this episode by leaving a rating and a review!
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is in partnership with the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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. Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with Me,
aj Andrews, where we dive headfirst into the game of
(00:22):
softball and today joining me at the iconic Easton Stadium
here at UCLA is someone who is a three time
Olympic goal medalist, two time national champion. She won them
right here in this stadium. She's also a Honda Cup winner, which,
if you don't know, is equivalent to winning a Heisman Trophy.
She's associate head coach here at UCLA, and she's also
(00:45):
now going to be stepping into her summer job, which
is being the general manager of the AUSL Talents. Without
further ado, that was a long resume, Lisa Fernandez.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Wow, you you're good at your job, giant.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
That was a lot to remember, that resume and it
keeps growing, it keeps going. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, it's just a pleasure to be here. I'm just
so proud of you and just continuing to grow the
game and spread the game, and you know, thank you
for doing what you do.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, when we talk about growing the game, keep growing
it with that buysor and lucky fabulous. She wanted me
to let everybody know she straight out of practice. How
fabulous does she look? Straight out of practice? Not many
people can do it? Not many people can do it well.
When we talk about dropping diamonds, I love to really
start off, you know how starting off on the game.
It really is impactful that first inning, that first a
B to start off right. And so when I think
(01:33):
of trying to stop and drop diamonds, I always like
to start with a quote. And one of my favorite
quotes when it comes to a championship, how to win
them left and right. One of my favorite quotes is
being a champion isn't so much as a title as
it is a mindset.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
For you, when you think of a quote or an
affirmation that you really feel like has resonated with you
throughout your extensive career as a player as well as
a coach, what's something that really sticks out?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Probably the quote that kind of has catapulted my career
from the jump is to never be satisfied. I always
felt like, you know, every year, there was something I
could always be better at. I could always improve on.
I could always work on. And you know, sometimes we
learn the greatest lessons through games that we have lost.
And it was a goal of mine never to have
(02:21):
to lose a game to learn a lesson, so I.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Would know what that felt like.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, no, no, no, God. I wanted I got the
message right. I wanted to make sure that, you know,
whatever the message that needed to be learned in a
ball game, I could do it winning, you know what
I mean, so, you know, really being able to evaluate
my performances, you know, win or lose, hopefully I won
more than I lost, and being able to look to improve,
making sure I earned the wins and wasn't lucky at
(02:46):
getting them. It was important to me and realizing that
no matter how how well you play, there's always something
that can be done to elevate your game. And so
for me, it was really to never be satisfied, to
continue to look within yourself to be able to see,
you know, what you can achieve. I think each individual
you know truly sets their own ceiling, and I wanted
(03:07):
to make sure I never did that to myself because
that would be limiting my capabilities and that, you know,
to me it's about honoring you know, God who gave
me this opportunity in my family and you know, ultimately
as an Olympian, you know, my country. And so it
was just about to see just how good I could be.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Talk about never being satisfied and not wanting to have
a ceiling. When you looked at your career and your
success from the moment you started playing softball, did you
always envision the things that you would achieve would be possible.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, to be honest with you, I mean when I
grew up, it was about playing slow pit softball. Yeah,
so I really never thought I would have these opportunities.
I grew up with a mindset though, however, you know,
people always asked me, was I born you know, with
the mindset that I had, and I probably one of
the earliest stories I can remember was playing ping pong
with my mom and she would you know, put little
(03:59):
stripe on the table, you know, so that the side
that she had to score on was you know, narrower
than the one that I had, and so it would
kind of even out the game and so forth, and
I just remember wanting to try to beat her, you know,
just competitive competitive, but probably in terms of the work ethic.
It was even going back to kickball. I remember there
was this kid that I used to play kickball with
(04:20):
and he was phenomenal at dodging the ball when he
was running the bases. And I was like, man, I
want to do the move that he makes, you know.
So I got in my backyard had a neighbor throw
balls at me over and over until I could master
the move. And you know, before I knew it, I
was you know, hitting inside the park, home runs, you know,
and kickball. So I was like, let's go. So I
learned early, you know, work ethic can get you a
long way, and really being able to if someone else
(04:42):
can do it, why not you.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Someone else can do it, why not you. My dad
always told me growing up, Aga there will always be
someone better at some point, so there better never be
someone that works harder. Yeah, And I feel like that
just was ingrained in me. And playing at LSU, I
would go to bed at night after practice and I
would lay there and just think, Man, someone in California
is two more hours than me. I was like, that'sid.
(05:06):
I'm going back to the field just one more hour.
I'm just gonna get one more hour in and it's
led me. I watched a video of you and you
discussed how you never wanted to leave your overprepared, never
wanted to leave saying what if when it came to
going all out and never having to have that what
if mentality? Was there something that really started that, a
moment or a feeling that said, I don't want to
(05:27):
feel like this again, and I will never allow myself
to say what if.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
One thing throughout my career. I think I've learned some
pretty valuable lessons. And the circumstance that you were talking about.
I was in high school and we had won a
CIF championship my freshman year, and I remember coming back
in year two and I was like, hey, I'm older,
gonna be stronger, naturally, gonna be better. You know, we
were returning I think eight of our nine starters. I'm like,
(05:52):
we've got this. I mean, there's no way we're not repeating.
And I do. I remember, you know, not maybe going
to his pitching workouts as I did the year before,
and I remember maybe not being as you know, determined
in the preparation that I did the year before. And
so we're doing great. We're still ranked number one we
(06:13):
get all the way to you know, we win league,
and some thinking everything is awesome, good, Yeah, I'm good
to go. And then we get to the CIF first
round and I'm playing Cypress High School and first inning,
two outs, two two count on a batter and I
think I throw to strike three, and of course my
opinion doesn't matter. It's the umpires, so he calls it ball.
(06:35):
So I'm like, darn it, three two count. Throw the
next pitch, girl swings at it, hits a line drive
down the left field line. My left fielder dives for it.
There's no fence, and so they end up scoring one run,
you know, two innings go by, we don't score three,
four or five. By the time of the game ended,
we had lost one to nothing. And I remember walking
off that field and I thought, you know, what if
I would have thrown one more day a week in
(06:58):
you know, one more pitching workout, if I would have
gone to the batting cage, you know, one more day
a week. What if I would have just hit a
few more balls. And it was just a bunch of
what ifs that ran through my mind, and it was
the worst feeling as an athlete to have given everything
that you did, although it was not your very best,
but to walk away going what if? And I vowed
at that moment in my sophomore year in high school
(07:19):
that would never be a feeling I would ever have.
And so I think from that point forward, you know,
another motto for me is leave no stone unturned, Like,
if there's something that I can be doing, don't leave
what you can do today for tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
How do you feel like you're able to instill that?
Leave no opportunity to have to say what if? Into
the amazing women that you get to coach.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I have a fortunate opportunity to be able to hopefully
pass on information. You know, there's a lot of people
that you know what's the secret sauce, There's no secret.
It's really a discipline and a decision to decide how
do you want to perform at the end of the game.
What do you want to be able to say about
what you did? I gave it everything I could. Then
he whether the ball lands fair or lands foul, that's
(08:03):
not in your hands. All that you can control is
the effort that you put forth. Then were you present
in that moment? And so for me, it's it's really
just a constant reminder, and it's modeling. You know, I
plan the practices. I you know, lead with instruction, I
lead with motivation. I communicate with them. You know, guys,
we're not going to leave any stone unturned. What do
(08:24):
you need from me to help you be the best
version of you, regardless of outcome, because outcome is not
within our control. Like we can scorch balls and someone
might be right there and then we may hit like
a duck fart and we're.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like, no one there, Yeah, I got a double thing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So it's like this game is tough. It's not for
the weak hearted. It's not for the you know, for
people who are you know, lack confidence because it's it's
a tough game. And so you know, we talk about that.
I'll be standing behind them. They'll be in VPM, like literally,
you scorch that ball one defender and you're out and
they're like, oh, coach, I'm like, hey, all we can
control is the fact that you sweared it at so
(09:02):
for that man points to you. So it's just constant conversation,
giving them perspective, you know, supporting them and loving them
because this game is hard, especially with social media and
some of the things that I didn't have to endure
that I'm proud of these guys, you know, to see
them to continue the fight to take the arena. I mean,
there's a quote by Teddy Roosevelt, you know, man in
(09:24):
the Arena. I strongly suggest everybody read it because it
truly does signify like what it means to be the
warrior that takes the field.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You think about talk about the frustrating moments we have
on this field that we cannot control, the failure that
is inevitable when it talk about coming back from those moments,
or staying the course and not allowing it to get
you down, which it can easily do when to your point,
you're hitting it so hard and it's just getting hint
to everyone and you just feel like, I don't know
what else I can do. What do you tell your
(09:51):
team in those moments, we.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Say break up with Adam, Okay, you got the atoms today,
break up with that guy, you know what I mean,
or you know whatever, because and that's true, that's part
of the game. I mean, it's almost like the game
tests you. How long will you keep your resolve? How
long will you continue to fight when everything is up
against you, and you know, then there's times when literally
you can't get out, you know, and it's crazy how
(10:14):
the game works. It's very you know, it's cyclical. You know,
you're on the top of the world. You literally think
you can do no wrong, and then all of a
sudden you're like, uh uh, but can you fight your
way out of it now? The difference is is, you know, mentality,
the harder you are on yourself, the more negativity you think,
the longer you're going to stay. Yeah, you know, you've
got to be able to find the reasons why you're
coming out of it. And to me, that's you're almost there.
(10:38):
You're one swing away. You know you're making solid contact,
Keep squaring up the ball, keep fighting. You know you'll
break out of it. You know. To be probably that's
the biggest thing is having that mental mindset that know
that you can overcome anything.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
When you're realizing knowing you can overcome anything in order
to win as much as you have, You've had to
overcome so much. You've been a champion in high school,
you've been two time champion. In college, you've been a
champion three times. You just kept going up the Ladder
three time for a Team USA. When you think of
characteristics that make someone a champion, that made you a champion,
(11:10):
what do you see?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I think that there's just a belief that there isn't
anything that you can't figure out. And I think that's
that's the answer for me. You know, no matter the circumstances,
it's about Okay, what am I going to do to
beat this situation. It's not even necessarily this picture this
it's this situation. How am I going to win this situation?
Is it strategic? Is it technical? Is it mentality? Is it?
(11:36):
What is it? What are the answers? And you know
another story. You know, I was running on the track
and I wanted to be fast, and you know, this
guy saw me running and he's like, hey, what do
you you know, what are you doing your softball player?
Why are you running on the track. I'm like, I
want to be fast and he's like, well, come train
with me. I'm like, true, okay, let's go. And at
(11:57):
the time he was actually training another athlete, Iron Scott,
and I'm like, dang, that's a laquery, right, And I
was like, Sweitch, yeah, I'm in I'm gonna get fast, right,
and he's like, hey, Lisa, go, you know, go out
two hundred meters and Byron's gonna dribble a basketball and
he's going to try to race you to the finish line.
Now he's at four hnometers. I'm at two hunimeters. I'm like, okay,
(12:20):
so the bow's whistle. I'm running and I see this
guy catching me. I'm like, heck, no, he ain't catching me.
I am running. So I'm running, running, running, running, running, runing,
and I beat him, right, and I'm like, whoa, I
was a good race, Thank you. I'm done. Oh no,
we're going again. I'm like, oh again.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I just know I had that one before we start.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Nop, go again, go again, go again. I don't even
know how many times we went, but all I know
is I didn't lose once. Right. So finally we're done,
and I'm like, thank god. I need to drink and
go to the drinking fountain and you know, lost my
stuff right because I'm not feeling well right, so I'm
I'm like, wow, I got to go to the training room, right.
So I'm like, okay, thank you guys for training. I'm
(13:00):
great workout, you know, but I thank you. I appreciate her.
I know we're done. He's like, oh no, no, we're
not done. I'm like, oh, oh no, no, no, we're
not done. He's like, oh no, we're not done' This
was great, but we're not done. And I'm like, I
think I got to go to the training room and
they're like what happened? And I'm like, well, I just
kind of got sick. And they're like, whoa, You're ready
(13:20):
to world? Now you're ready?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, you ready?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Walk into the club and I was like, you people
are crazy. They're like, let's get you some gatorade, let's
get in shade. Fifteen minutes later, I was back on
that track and I was running and I was like, Wow,
how powerful is the mind? And I think that's when
I realized that there really is more that I even
thought I could do when I thought I was down
(13:44):
and out, Nope, you can take a minute, you can recoup,
and you can do more. And I think that really
shaped if I had to pick like a situation that
I can remember. That truly shaped the mentality that I
have and the way that I have the resolve to
be able to handle difficult situations. I think that was
a test that I was able to pass that. I
was Wow, that made a difference in my career.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So we should I'll go try and run again.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I would not advise it. That's why when I tell
the story, I'm like, I don't advise that happening, but
I want you to know that if it did, you'd
be on another level. So you know, hey, don't do it.
To know you can be on another way. I'm telling
you you can get to another.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Level thinking about knowing that there's so much more in
your tank, and you don't really realize that until you're
forced to do it and watching again, watching another video
you watched and you said, if it's easy, it's probably
not the right way. Can you elaborate on that the
right way to get better, the right way to excel,
or the right way to even challenge yourself and see
(14:40):
how far you could truly go?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, I think it's an eight that we all kind
of do what we're comfortable with. And you know, to me,
you're only as you know, depending on how good you
want to want to get, you're only as good as
your weaknesses. And so another mentality that I have is
to make my weaknesses my strengths and my strengths stronger,
and if I can do that, I'm going to be
pretty dark good. And so sometimes that's getting out of
(15:02):
your comfort zone, which is why I told you I
wanted to be fast save some point in one of
my strengths, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So you said, I don't know, did our time to
first get down a lot more like a full second?
In my head all accounts is like I've booked it
the first. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's called you know, having some instinctual you know, opportunities
to be able to prepare and you know, look for
the mistake, you know, not react to the mistake. So
uh but yeah, I mean that's just something that you know,
as part of my thought process is you know, continue
to build on those weaknesses. And usually those are things
that probably aren't the funnest things to do. You know,
(15:44):
we're we're very we're very good at at wanting to
do the things innately that we're really good at. You know,
people that can hit really well tend to hit. You know,
people that are fast tend to run, and it's like,
I don't know, maybe you should work on some defense,
you know what I mean. Or you know, people that
love to hit the inside pitch man, they'll hit it
all day long. I don't know, Maybe I want to
(16:05):
think about the outside, you know, and so it's just
being well rounded, but a team of nature and it's
you know, we have a thought process that you know,
you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and ultimately that's
how you can improve.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
I think of the saying with that a good better best,
make your good better, and your better best absolutely then
add your weaknesses, make your weaknesses great. Yeah, we talk
about taking risks, being getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. You
have made Ucla your home. You're since nineteen ninety. You're
(16:42):
not getting out of not gonnat math yeh, don't do
any math. All I'm saying is that she has been
a Bruin for a very long time. There's one person
knows the Brewin way. It would be you. If you
were to describe the Brewin way making sure you get better, best,
getting better, working hard on those weaknesses to make them
what you can be to be successful, what would you
(17:05):
say is a Bruin way.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Really it's the fearlessness. And I think here at UCLA
there is just so much family to it that you
have the ability to be free to fall, to fail,
and know that you will be picked up and you
will recover and you will be supported through you know,
through thick and thin. You know, here we we embrace that.
You know, we want you to take the risk, you know, fail,
(17:27):
fail early so we can learn quickly and move forward.
And that's to us is important, you know, not just
on the field, but really just as a person, you know,
developing you outside of just who you are innately and
really trying to broaden that so that you can be
prepared for the next phase of life. I mean we're
a stepping stone here and you know part of those
(17:50):
steps it can get kind of scary, you know, learning
how to speak in front of people, learning how to present,
you know, or learning how to be you know, fearless
in those times when there might be some insecurity or
some doubt that that comes into your mind. But know
that we're there to help you guide, you model, you know.
I think Kelly, who's our head coach, Kelly and Away Perez,
(18:13):
you know, really wants her staff to be able to
role model what it takes you know, to be great,
not only in success, but in failure and how we recover,
how we can separate. We're all going to run into
situations where insecurities are going to play a part, and
how we're able to overcome that, acknowledge, recognize, and truly
(18:34):
how to manage. And I think that's probably one of
the secrets is you know, everybody runs into some difficult situations.
But how you learn how to manage, how you learn
how to separate, how you learn how to really figure out,
how to to be insightful and answers of how to
figure out, you know, situations, and more importantly, you've got
alumni to current to future. You know that that's there
(18:58):
to help. I mean, a bruin is is always a
bruin and we understand the rigors of not only what
it takes to compete here athletically, but also academically and
to be in the environment that we're in. You know,
those those are the people that we admire, you know,
the ones that are willing to take the risk and
do more than anybody thought they could.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Taking the risk. As someone who's played here, now coach
is here, is there something that you took from as
a player that you utilize as a coach that you've learned.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I am continuing to evolve. Yeah. I mean, I will
tell you this, the player that I was is nowhere
near the coach that I am, and I think that's
something that I had to learn. You know, there were
things that I did as a player that I might
have taken for granted or thought were you know, not simple,
(19:48):
but just like they made sense to me that maybe
not everybody completely understands or sees. I've been blessed with
some skills to be able to do some things that,
you know, as I continue to teach the game, it's
very rewarding to be able to kind of share those secrets. Yeah,
so it's continuing to be a learning opportunity. I'm continue
to grow. I'm so fortunate that I've had the athletes
(20:09):
that I've been able to coach that I'm like, man,
I know, sometimes it's terrible that it got a crazy coach,
you know, talking to you right now, because they're like, coach,
you're talking too fast. So I'm like, okay, got it.
I'll slow it down a little bit, you know, because
I just get so excited, so fun.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And you just the same excitement you've had playing it
still resides today.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's crazy. I know, it's great. I don't get it.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I just love it. It's just now I live, you know,
through them. I'm just so proud of them.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
All right, we have more diamonds to drop after these messages.
We talk about leaving everything on the line from all
the Olympics that you've been able to compete in, and
in the Sydney Olympics you set the record for strikeouts
at that point with twenty five. You work with the
(21:00):
pictures here, you throw arm circles all day to day
to them for practice. When you think about developing a
great picture, what does it take to do so?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It definitely takes an attention to detail. And I think
that's probably the biggest thing. I probably was known more so.
I had a really good change up, for sure, but
I was really consistent, you know. I think that was probably,
you know, just being really consistent. I always talk about
you're only as good as your misses, So as long
as you don't miss over the plate, you're gonna have
(21:29):
a good chance to win. And you know, for me,
it was being able to master that there has to
be an attention to detail. I kind of think of
pitching like golf, right, it's a repetitive motion that you
completely have control over, which is shocking for people to
think about, but I'm like, it's true. If you have
the attention to detail, if you do everything that's necessary,
step where you need to step, body position where it
(21:50):
needs to be, release where it needs to be, snap
where it needs to be, you should be able to
reproduce the same pitch over and over again. And so
the more attention to detail that you have, the more
successful you will be in terms of long term right right,
anybody can be phenomenal on anigan day there, Man, I
just felt really good, and then all of a sudden
you'll have a picture that goes, well, I kind of
lost the feel. Well, how do you get that back?
(22:12):
You know, you get that back by being able to
know what it takes to develop and to actually throw
that pitch. And so to me, it's kind of locking
into that.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
When you are recruiting the next great picture, are you
looking for finished product? The attention to detail? What do
you look for?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Definitely you look with someone that's got resolved, right, someone
that's got a short term memory, someone that doesn't matter
how many times you knock me down, I'm gonna come
back up. Right. I mean at the end of the day,
that's you know, especially in this game with the way
that you know, video is used, way technology is being used,
the kids are now training at another different you know,
at a higher level offensively, So you have to have
(22:52):
a picture that definitely has an ability to recover and
to recover quickly, right, to have a short term memory.
Who wants to you know, I I'm a big believer
in being able to reinvent yourself, you know, And and
you know that was something that was big for me,
you know, to have a a look one year, you know,
maybe have a rise ball one year that you dominated
the circuit with, and now I'm gonna add in a drop,
(23:13):
you know, or now I'm gonna add in an off speed,
or now I'm gonna add in this, so that you know,
you're con you're kind of staying one step ahead of
the competition. To me, that was a big thing, you know,
even at the even at the ripe old age of
my later career in the thirties, I was continuing to
try to reinvent myself as I went from you know,
one Olympics to the next. Cause I never wanted the
opponent to to ever have an advantage on me.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
When you think about having resolve and being able to
compete on the field, is there a comeback story, whether
it's your own or one of your players, that has
really resonated with you for someone that has been able
to push through with that resolve.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think probably.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
A story was my senior year at UCLA. Had literally
wanted to do everything possible to go out as a
national champion. And I remember setting some lofty goals and
I've always set goals at the beginning of the year
of the season of things that I wanted to accomplish,
and you know, kind of strategized how I was going
to do it, the things that were going to have
to be done to get it done. And I was
(24:10):
killing it. I mean I was doing it. I was like,
this is what I'm going to commit to this. I'm
training here doing this and was kicking butt in the fall,
got into season and I'm like, I'm very goal orient oriented.
I want to I want to try to win the
Pac twelve. You know, at this time, the PAC ten,
you know, Pitcher of the Week and Player of the
Week in the same week. You know, people that I
couldn't do it I'm like, you just watch, I'm gonna
(24:32):
come there. Wait a minute. Yeah, if I go ten
for ten and then through a perfect game, you're trying
to say, I can't do both. So game on, you know,
was able to do it. Wanted to have the lowest
d ray and the highest batting average my senior year.
Was able to do it. And you know, we get
to the World Series and wanted to end the season
as a national champion. Who doesn't right want to finish?
(24:53):
And I remember pitching against Arizona. Gave up a girl
got first, girl got on base, next girl, I think
Bunnett rover. Two outs, Next girl hits a change up,
groundball up the middle, play at the play girl safe.
You know, third inning that we don't score, We don't score.
They end up winning the game one nothing, And I
remember walking off the field and I remember going, you
(25:13):
know what, I gave it everything I could, like it
just wasn't our day. And I remember going to the
interview room afterwards and a reporter said, hey, Lisa, you've
had an illustrious career. You've won all these you know awards.
How does it feel to end your career as a loser?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh my god, and I thought, wow.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And that's when I learned. I go, you know, although
we lost, we gave everything we could. And that's when
I really truly learned, you know, how it is to
be able to have that resolve because there's only certain
things that I can control. And to me, it's it's
really three things. You know. It's are you dedicated, are
you committed to what it is you're doing, and fully
(25:53):
invested in present? You know the work ethic, of course
you know what I mean. And are you making the
sacrifices that are necessary? And at the end of the day,
the sacrifices that you think truly are not sacrifices, because
I would never change one thing. But you're going to
have to make some choices, you know, and some of
those choices are going to be for the benefit of
you as an individual to perform at the level that
(26:15):
you need to perform, but making the right choices that
keep you geared towards what it is that you want
to do. And if you do those three things, you
cannot lose. And so you know, for me, that's how
I continue to come back. You know, no matter what
game I played, no matter what situation I'm in, how
did I go about it? Did I give it everything
I could? Was I you know, dedicated or did I prepare?
(26:38):
You know, did I make the choices right? Did I
get enough rest? And if I can commit to those
three things, then man, I'm good to go. And that
to me is the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Do you see that or try to resonate that also
with the people you coach.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
One hundred percent? Yeah, I mean, and we talk about that.
You know, are you recovering, are you getting enough rest?
Are you truly putting in you know, intentional work? You know,
are you are you working on all aspects of your game?
And that's part of the relationships that you build with
your athletes, y, you know, to have those those talks.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Coming up and talking about all the things that you
can control. Going into a regional where you have to
face three different teams hopefully not as many, but you
have three in the regional, preparing for every single team,
controlling what you can control. How do you create a
practice plan for when you're just going to a season game,
(27:34):
in season game where you just one opponent versus regionals
postseason where you have multiple.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, I mean, hopefully you've trained for that all year right.
I mean, you know throughout the season, that's what it's
all about. Is really the season is just kind of
practice test for the true test that you're going to
face at the end. So throughout the season we've faced
people that have been rise ball throwers, that have been
changed up throwers that have thrown drops. So it's really
just being able to refresh their memory as far as is, hey,
(28:01):
this is what she likes to throw, this is what
she likes to do, this is what you're prepared for.
Have conversations, right. I mean they've had ample tests to
be able to prepare themselves and some tests we have failed.
Some tests we have been very successful at. But that's
how we talk about it, right. These are just single
moments in time to see if you are ready for
(28:23):
the moment.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I remember during my four years at LSU, we went
the World Series twice. My freshman year. There's no reason
we only got there because of pitching. There's no chance
that definitely has my god, that was like on a whib.
My senior year, we definitely had the talent to make it.
But I remember thinking my sophomore were better than my
freshman year and we didn't make it. We lost in
(28:46):
regionals and thinking about UCLA the dynasty that it is,
twelve national championships, thirty six I believe we're in the
college World Series appearances. What does it take to get
to that edge when you do have that good enough team,
because sometimes it takes more than than just having a
good team on the field. What do you think is
really that extra push that's allowed UCLA to be so
dominant for so long.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, it's not. It's not the best talent. It's the
best talent that plays together. And you know, otherwise we
all know, some professional teams with the highest payroll and
the you know, most notable names would be winning World
Series and you know NBA Championships every year. But at
the end of the day, it's it's the team that
has the drive, that has the clarity and has the
(29:27):
fearlessness to put it all out on the line, you know,
regardless of outcome, is to just be able to simply say,
I just gave it my best. And you know, for us,
that's what we promote, that's what we believe in. We
believe that there is a bond within us that you know,
if we're going to go down, we're going to go
down simply believing that we are the best team in
the country and and that we have what it takes
(29:49):
to be able to do it. You know, it's about
getting hot, you know, and and a team can get hot,
and when that happens, we've all seen it. And part
of that is that inner belief. You know that you
have an abdominal personality and perseverance that you will figure
this out.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I like that everything is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
One of my life quotes, everything AJ is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
It is we got it you just I mean, you
might have to think outside the box. Yeah, but if
you want it bad enough, you will be creative in
the attempts of what it is that you need to
get done. And so you know, to me, that's that's
the belief. We're gonna get it done. I don't know how,
I don't know how long it's gonna take, but we
are going to get this done.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We talk about getting it done and being out of
the box. One of the memories that I feel like
you've been viral. Obviously you're an amazing player, obviously an
amazing coach, but then also you're amazing at telling the
umpire when they should take a hike and getting a jet.
I'm so curious. What are the things that you say
when you're just that fired up and it's like, no,
(30:56):
that's it, I'm going in, Like when is your time? Like, now,
that's it, I'm going in.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You know, it's it's just uh, you know first, it's
it's really a defense of the players. Yeah. I mean
when I think about you know, I I don't real
I don't know that people realize how much of a
mental game this is. And you know, we work so
hard at something, and we train something so much, and
(31:21):
you know, something is what you're calling that that was
a strike, like coach, that ball was in the other
batter's box, and I'm I'm like, who am I going
to believe? Right, I'm gonna believe my player? Especially when
I see the catcher going along, you know, reaching across
the body, I'm like, come on now, and and really
the toll right, And sometimes I have to tell my players, hey,
(31:43):
that umpire is calling two hundred and something pitches they
can miss once or twice. Yeah, right, it doesn't have
to change. And so that's something that you know, we've
really have. It's been a part of working on It's
not making up a story like no, staying true to yourself. Right,
you don't have to worry about that pitch until you
got two strikes. Yeah, no one said you had to
swing at it when you're one one, you know what
(32:04):
I mean. You may have to swing at it if
you got two. But so it's that mental, right, I mean,
there's just so much of this game that's mental. And
so you know, I don't talk to the umpires that much,
but when it happens, it usually isn't defense of a player.
And you know, at the end of the day, I
will I will fight for my players. I will defend
my players because I know, I know what it's like
(32:26):
to be out there. I know what it's like to
put yourself out on the line. I know what I
know what they've done to get to this point, the hours,
the strain, the emotional you know part of it, you know,
being fearful of failure. Right, everybody has grown up differently.
Not everybody's family situation is the same, not, not everybody's
cultural environmental situation is the same. And we have to
(32:49):
manage all of these girls, and so we you know,
we manage them individually, and so to know their stories Wow,
that is just that is just something else. That's just
being incredible to be able to see somebody, you know, persevere,
you know when when they thought they couldn't or they
didn't believe they could, and to see them, you know,
take that step, and so I will fight for them
(33:11):
to the very end.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
My favorite moment is the twenty seventeen World Series against
Texas A and M. It was definitely obstruction. Definitely.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So we'll talk about how it started. It started with
the opening game against the team called LSU and our
play at the play that was called obstruction. It was mean,
It wasn't mean I'm just saying I'm just saying no.
(33:44):
I mean I think, yeah, I mean, that's it's just
it's part of the game. You know. Now there's just
a lot of things that are being done to the
game in order to you know, prevent player injury and
so forth like that. So yeah, I mean, you're always
going to be able to defend your player.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Do you remember what you said, especially after they threw
you out, because you know, once they like all right,
you're gone, it's like, all right, well now I have
no reason to stop.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I did. I was like, well, well, first of all,
I got that hot feeling because I'm actually very much
s a rule follower, and so you know, it was
they were gonna they threatened to throw out our head coach,
and I was like, I am not letting that happen,
So now I'm gonna defend my head coach. I tripped.
I was tripped. There was no contact at that area
(34:31):
that I intended to have happened. And when I got
thrown out, I you know that hot feeling you get
when you're like, oh man, I screwed.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Up, but right here now I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I was like, why are you so close to me?
When I remember you were on the other side of
the batter's box, So I don't know how you even
got close to me that I actually touched you, you know,
or bumped you or whatever it was called. So at
that part I was thrown out and I was like, man,
I might as well get my money, right, you know,
And I get it the wow, how could you make
(35:05):
this call? And you know the worst part about it,
the whole country is gonna see it.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
How bad this call is your viral sensation?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Trust me, I am so many thing.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Isn't it so cool? You're a viral sensation for so
many different aspects of life.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, as it pops up every now and then on
my social media, and I will say, my my family
even has jokes because I'm a I'm a big collector
of ornaments and that means something to me. And you know,
of course I got one with that picture of that picture,
I'm like, oh, my own family has jokes. That great,
thank you to see that.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Love it viral for softball. But you're also on the Kardashians.
Don't think I didn't see that cameo. I saw that.
I can't remember staying.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Like, oh my goodness, teaching.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
The Kardashians how to play softball. You are, You're making
magic all over the world, whether it is as a
player here at U c l A. But also now
going into the summer when you're gonna be the general
manager in managing how you're able to do so here
as well with pro with the talents. What are you
most looking forward to about this new season, new players,
new opportunities to continue to grow the game.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Really just so excited. I mean, it's it's really a
dream come true. When Kim was asked to be lead it,
and you know, obviously with her experience being in Major
League Baseball, with Jenny Finch and Natasha Wattley, you know,
Jessica Mendoza being a part of it. How could this
not move forward? And you know, to have au and
(36:30):
what they've done in the past and the success that
they've had, to know, the organization, it was something I
had to be a part of. I mean, we have
we have a moment in time that we can really
take this game to the next level. And especially as
a collegiate coach, to see so many athletes who are
so talented and unfortunately have to cut their career short. Yeah,
(36:50):
there's only so many that can you know, that are
fortunate enough to be Olympians that can play in Japan.
But now we actually have something that we can do
here at home. Now you're going to have little girls
and little boys all over the hopefully the world that
are going to be able to watch these phenomenal athletes
compete and display the competitiveness. To have these little girls
(37:12):
and be able to look up to them and go, man,
I can be her one day. And I'm just so
excited to be able to have this opportunity to be
apart to see these athletes that now have a chance
to continue to play this game, and I mean, I
think this is our time and I'm so looking forward
to it.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
What do you think is going to set the talent's
apart from all the other teams in the aus OL
going for that you don't lose at least, So how
are we going to make sure the talents don't lose
and in the inaugural season are able to be staying
tall with that championship trophy.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, at the end of the day, I want them
to play freely, right, I mean, I want them to
just go out there and continue to live the dream.
I mean, for most of them, they never thought they
would have this opportunity to continue to play and be
supported the way that AUSL is doing it, in the
manner that they're doing it. And so it's been a
tremendous honor for me to be a part. You know,
hopefully I'll be able to you know, once again, I
(38:10):
see no different in terms of what I'm willing to
give to these bruins to what I'm willing to give
to the talents. I mean, They'll have me in heartmind, soul, everything,
you know, and to be there because once again I'm
just so proud that they're willing to take the field
and to display those skills that they have in a
fearless manner that would make everybody in the stands proud
and for all those watching TV. You know, I chose
(38:33):
the team that I believe in, that have high character,
that you know, love the game, that play the game,
that are passionate about the game. And really it could
have been anybody within the draft. I mean, these are
incredible athletes that have lived for this game. When you
think of all the teams, you know, the four teams
and the rosters that these four teams are comprised of,
(38:54):
I mean, these are passionate women who believe in this
game and truly love this game. So it's it's going
to be a blast. And I pinched myself that I'm
fortunate that I am coming in. I don't know, God
once again has allowed me to come at the right time.
I've have had doors of opportunity have opened up for
(39:15):
me throughout my career that should I boom.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Oh yeah, yeah wow, time to ask. Yeah, it just opened.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Oh wow, Okay, you know, I never thought I would
get the opportunity to do this, and you know, to
get a phone call, to know the people that are
in place, to know the amount of communication, the amount
of care, the amount of thought that has been put
into the athletes to really make this go. It's they
have left no stone unturned in my opinion, and I'm
(39:45):
so proud to be a part of the AUSL in
this inaugural season. I mean, it's it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
We can count on two hands. We haven't figured out
the exact number yet, but multiple Bruins playing in AUSL.
What do you think it takes to play at the
highest level.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I mean, it really does take that that competitive fearlessness. Yeah,
I mean it takes an innate love of the game
because it does knock you down. And so if you're
in it just for the rewards and for the praise,
that that makes the game tough. But if you love
it for what it is, and that's to truly challenge
yourself and to see how good you can be, and
(40:24):
and really it's crazy. I mean ball players are crazy.
They you know, they love being I mean, no one
loves to get knocked down, but they love getting back
up and being successful. Right, I mean, everybody loves you know,
someone gets a hit on them and then you strike
them out the next one you're like, yeah, I showed you,
you know what I mean. Or you know, you come
up short against a pitcher and then you get a
(40:45):
base hit knock and you're like, yeah, I showed you.
I mean, we love that feeling of accomplishment that we
were able to get it done. And it's crazy because
it is a game of failure. But you know, they're
just a resilient group, you know, and and those are
the people that will continue to play this game for
as long as they can.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
There's more to cover, but first let's take a quick break.
When we talk about going to the no Fly Zone segment,
it's just my favorite segment, you know, making amazing catches.
You whether it's pitching, fielding. When you think of yourself
(41:26):
or even one of your players, is there a play
that you feel like it's just one of your favorites
that you've watched amazing catch.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I mean there's been so many plays that I have witnessed.
I mean I think about is it Odyssey who got
the you know, fielded the bunt and way Yeah, I
mean I dreamt about that play myself, and I'm gonna
I'm gonna say that I made that play myself, but
I did it at third base, Yeah, and getting the
(41:57):
squeeze play and going in there and making the tech
I think, you know, some of the diving catches some
athletes have made. Jayde len Ouchin making one in left
field where she's literally, you know, parallel to the ground
over the shoulders in the outfield, right. I mean, there's
nothing worse than seeing the back of the number of
an outfielder if you're a pitcher, right, I mean, the
ball went deep, you know, And when they're able to
(42:18):
make those plays, I mean, it's it's just impressive. I
think personally, I would probably say it is probably people's surprise.
One of my favorite plays was I was actually base running. Okay,
I was at second base at the Olympics gold medal
game and first inning, and I want to say it
was Kelly Cretchman who gets a base hit up the middle,
(42:41):
and I'm rounding third base and Coach Kindrea holds me
up and I round that. I round hard, and I'm
watching the ball come in and the ball bounces and
hits the catcher and the chest protector and kind of
trinkles five feet away. Into the field to play. I
freaking go first. She's like, do I get the ball?
(43:02):
She goes to get the ball and I slide in
and I was saying, you would have thought I was.
I was like, did I just do this? I just
freaking ran and it's oh, imagine you not even not
even a thought I was gonna be safe. I was.
I was ready. I was ready. I was like, please
(43:23):
bounce off her chest, please bounce.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
I was.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I was ready. Oh my god, I remember that play.
I actually have a picture of it in my duo.
That is by far one of my favorite plays I
think in my career.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Oh, I'm to go back and find it. Well, that'd
be one of your favorite plays. What would you say,
like one of your favorite successes? What would you say,
is probably one of your favorite failures, something that's actually
led you though like you it was a failure in
that moment. In reality, it set you up for so
much success. Yes, she's a hig failure. Sorry, this is
(43:54):
a bad question.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
I've had. Probably one of my most difficult losses would
be at the Olympics. I was on fire and we
went into the international tiebreaker, so we had two outs.
Runner at second base, I struck out. I mean twenty
five of the you know, twenty six players I I
(44:17):
could have faced at that time. Yeah, and girl gets
a home run and we end up losing the game
two to one. We scored in the top half of
the inning of the ninth, and they scored with two strikes.
I'd give it a home run in the bottom of
the ninth, and obviously we lost the game. And so I,
you know, I lose the perfect game, I lose the
(44:40):
no hitter, I lose the shutout, I lose the game
all on one pitch oh two count. And I, you know, obviously,
in reflection, probably took it for granted, you know, thinking
that things were just gonna come easy, and you know,
definitely learned that, you know, attention to detail is important
on every pitch you throw.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
And I remember after the game, you know, my coach
is like again again him again. It was Ralph Rayman,
who was an Italian guy, an amazing coach with the
national team. And I was able to throw against him
again and was able to you know, win the gold medal.
And I remember, I don't know, maybe I think I
felt was like in three months later, I got a
(45:17):
postcard in the mail and it was a postcard with
the girl that hit the home run on the shoulders
of her teammates, and the postcard said we'll see you
in Japan. As, oh, no, what is going on in Japan?
How do you have my information right? What is going
on in Japan? And so I look up Japan and
(45:39):
it was the World Championships. Hmmm. I was like, oh, noted, right, noted?
So for the next I don't know, three hundred and
sixty five days times too. I was ready for the
World Championships. And so we ended up facing them at
the World Championships that were in Japan, and it was raining,
(45:59):
and I thought, oh crap, they're gonna call the game
because they always called the game when it rains. Nope,
not in Japan. They got them squeezies. They squeeze that field,
they got them dried it up. We're playing and I
was on fire.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Did you have the post card in like your back pocket?
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Ready to go? Ride? Here? Right here? Right here? I
pitched and oh man, it was crazy. So I think
it was. I think we were home and I was
on the mound and I was pitching and I threw
a curveball and it was on the outside corner, and
then park called it a strike, and I'm like, okay,
(46:40):
I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna throw a little farther
and the unpark called it a strike. I was like,
I'm gonna throw a little farther and the park called
it a strike.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I was like, now, I like, y'all in trouble now,
all right?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Right done? So I come up and I don't know
if it was the bottom half of the inning and
I was batting third on the national team. I freaking
get a pitch man straight center hit a bomb. I'm like, oh,
this is happening. This is happening, right, we score one nothing.
I proceeded to throw I don't know out of eighty
five pitches I threw, I probably threw about seventy five
(47:18):
of them were curveballs, all on that outside corner of
the plate. Yeah, all of them unhittable.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Every now and then I would throw a couple, maybe
just to keep MO honest, and throw a couple inside,
and ended up throwing a no hitter, and you know,
winning one to nothing and hitting the home run.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
And I was like, that's right, You'll see me in Japan.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
So thanks for the post time.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I think that was probably one of the most memorable
losses only because of the entire story. I mean, I've
there are a lot of losses that I remember.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Every failure is really setting you up for the bigger
success and the bigger waha. I think of like failure
as stepping stones. Tell people all the time. Steps like
the one failure, you're just adding a step, adding a stab,
and it's like the higher your success is going to
be once you finally reach it. And then just hopefully
never send her postcard lesson learned, JA, don't do that.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
One actually was sent by Australia.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
They were our biggest opponent. And anyway, back in the
day we didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Have it was Japan. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Because the tournament the World Championships at that time, we're
in Japan. You know. Back in the day, the game
was different, right, we didn't have social media, so you
truly were competitors. I mean it was it was awesome
to be able to play the amount of competitiveness and
intentness and wow, it's just a different level, you know
when you go international. Yeah, you know what I mean.
(48:45):
And it's a little bit different now because people know
each other through social media and so there's not that
unknown like there was back in the day where you
would only see people when you would play them and
they were in the other dugout and it was like,
oh things were different back then. I mean you could
take some out. I mean it was wow. Yeah, it was.
It was crazy. It was man, it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I mean how you're able to bring it to the
to I mean maintain it. I used I woulday bring
it to UCLA, but you've never left, So maintain it
here at UCLA and going on with the talents before
we conclude today, which has been so fun and be
able to sit in this iconic stadium. I do have
to ask you, how was your reality TV moment?
Speaker 2 (49:28):
You know what you're talking about? The Kardashians.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
I was actually impressed, were you? I was. They were
in it. They were in it to win it. I
was thinking, okay, like is this serious? Like do they
really want to learn? Do they really want.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
They called you to help teach them.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Yeah. They were playing a celebrity softball game and it
was actually against the Jackson family, and you know that
was a fundraiser. They had a charity that the money
was going to go towards and really it was like
a competitive game. It was a Kartashians against the Jackson
family and they wanted to win and they wanted to play.
And I was like, this is awesome. I thought it
was gonna.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
Be like, yeah, can't keep your eye on it right our.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Segment it's a wrap and they would all know, they're like,
game's not over. Okay, fine, we'll do the award ceremony,
but we're finishing this game. I was like, you would
have finished the game with the TV turned off?
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Like really?
Speaker 2 (50:22):
One of them got a ground ball, took it in
the chin, put some ice on it. Courtney put some
ice on it, went back out there.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
I'm like, okay, you're serious. I would have been shocked too.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
No, I was impressed. I mean it was it was
cool to be able to see. Yeah, they wanted to
finish the game, even though the cameras were gone. They
wanted to get after it. Yeah, oh you know Corney.
I was impressed with Courtney. She was the one that
took one on the chin. It was a ground ball
and she put a lice on it, ran back out
and I mean got it done. I was like, wow,
(50:53):
you guys are are awesome. You know. Chloe was like,
let's go. Everybody circle up, We're gonna learn how to throw.
We're gonna get this. I was it was cool.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, I mean yeah, Courtney did well. For anyone that
watched the Kardashians, you know how Courtney and Kim they
fought and she took it on the chin. Courtney. Yeah,
she's tough, she can do her thing.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah. Like I said, I was impressed. Yeah, it was.
It was beyond my expectations. I was like, man, this
is a great experience. I have a whole new perception,
you know what I mean of Sometimes you think, man,
are they doing this for the kid? Do they really right?
They really wanted to play.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
I was like, okay, let's do it. Let's go no
full arm circles though, Yeah, you couldn't go far. Yeah no, no, no,
she just showed up what you had though, Just like
this is just so you know, this is what we do.
But thank you so much for joining me on dropping diamonds.
I really appreciated this conversation from your journey high school
(51:48):
college USA coach, and it's really been inspiring to learn
and listen and watch all that you do.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Oh well, thank you for having me. I have a
passion for the game. I just I just love it.
I mean, it's been life changing for me and really
just so blessed and honored to be able to be
in this position and you know, just so fortunate.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
As our opermation today dropping diamonds, I say, the diamond
that we dropped, leave no stone unturned when we come
out to the field and just in life, but also
go out and win ugly rather than lose pretty. Right,
do what you have to do to get it done.
Everything is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
And at the end of the day, this game is
you know, it's a crazy game and so it may
not look pretty, you know. And I've been in some
fortunate situations with the teammates that I've had and the
coaches that I've had that you know, we've bonded together
and you know I couldn't have done it without them obviously,
But for sure, you would rather win ugly than lose pretty.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Thank you so much having me said, I'll see you
guys all next time back at the diamond. Dropping Diamonds
with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports production in
partnership with athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports
(53:08):
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 Do. Listen
to Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews on the iHeartRadio app,
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. Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with Me,
aj Andrews, where we dive headfirst into the game of
(00:22):
softball and today joining me at the iconic Easton Stadium
here at UCLA is someone who is a three time
Olympic goal medalist, two time national champion. She won them
right here in this stadium. She's also a Honda Cup winner, which,
if you don't know, is equivalent to winning a Heisman Trophy.
She's associate head coach here at UCLA, and she's also
(00:45):
now going to be stepping into her summer job, which
is being the general manager of the AUSL Talents. Without
further ado, that was a long resume, Lisa Fernandez.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Wow, you you're good at your job, giant.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
That was a lot to remember, that resume and it
keeps growing, it keeps going. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, it's just a pleasure to be here. I'm just
so proud of you and just continuing to grow the
game and spread the game, and you know, thank you
for doing what you do.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, when we talk about growing the game, keep growing
it with that buysor and lucky fabulous. She wanted me
to let everybody know she straight out of practice. How
fabulous does she look? Straight out of practice? Not many
people can do it? Not many people can do it well.
When we talk about dropping diamonds, I love to really
start off, you know how starting off on the game.
It really is impactful that first inning, that first a
B to start off right. And so when I think
(01:33):
of trying to stop and drop diamonds, I always like
to start with a quote. And one of my favorite
quotes when it comes to a championship, how to win
them left and right. One of my favorite quotes is
being a champion isn't so much as a title as
it is a mindset.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
For you, when you think of a quote or an
affirmation that you really feel like has resonated with you
throughout your extensive career as a player as well as
a coach, what's something that really sticks out?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Probably the quote that kind of has catapulted my career
from the jump is to never be satisfied. I always
felt like, you know, every year, there was something I
could always be better at. I could always improve on.
I could always work on. And you know, sometimes we
learn the greatest lessons through games that we have lost.
And it was a goal of mine never to have
(02:21):
to lose a game to learn a lesson, so I.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Would know what that felt like.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, no, no, no, God. I wanted I got the
message right. I wanted to make sure that, you know,
whatever the message that needed to be learned in a
ball game, I could do it winning, you know what
I mean, so, you know, really being able to evaluate
my performances, you know, win or lose, hopefully I won
more than I lost, and being able to look to improve,
making sure I earned the wins and wasn't lucky at
(02:46):
getting them. It was important to me and realizing that
no matter how how well you play, there's always something
that can be done to elevate your game. And so
for me, it was really to never be satisfied, to
continue to look within yourself to be able to see,
you know, what you can achieve. I think each individual
you know truly sets their own ceiling, and I wanted
(03:07):
to make sure I never did that to myself because
that would be limiting my capabilities and that, you know,
to me it's about honoring you know, God who gave
me this opportunity in my family and you know, ultimately
as an Olympian, you know, my country. And so it
was just about to see just how good I could be.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Talk about never being satisfied and not wanting to have
a ceiling. When you looked at your career and your
success from the moment you started playing softball, did you
always envision the things that you would achieve would be possible.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, to be honest with you, I mean when I
grew up, it was about playing slow pit softball. Yeah,
so I really never thought I would have these opportunities.
I grew up with a mindset though, however, you know,
people always asked me, was I born you know, with
the mindset that I had, and I probably one of
the earliest stories I can remember was playing ping pong
with my mom and she would you know, put little
(03:59):
stripe on the table, you know, so that the side
that she had to score on was you know, narrower
than the one that I had, and so it would
kind of even out the game and so forth, and
I just remember wanting to try to beat her, you know,
just competitive competitive, but probably in terms of the work ethic.
It was even going back to kickball. I remember there
was this kid that I used to play kickball with
(04:20):
and he was phenomenal at dodging the ball when he
was running the bases. And I was like, man, I
want to do the move that he makes, you know.
So I got in my backyard had a neighbor throw
balls at me over and over until I could master
the move. And you know, before I knew it, I
was you know, hitting inside the park, home runs, you know,
and kickball. So I was like, let's go. So I
learned early, you know, work ethic can get you a
long way, and really being able to if someone else
(04:42):
can do it, why not you.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Someone else can do it, why not you. My dad
always told me growing up, Aga there will always be
someone better at some point, so there better never be
someone that works harder. Yeah, And I feel like that
just was ingrained in me. And playing at LSU, I
would go to bed at night after practice and I
would lay there and just think, Man, someone in California
is two more hours than me. I was like, that'sid.
(05:06):
I'm going back to the field just one more hour.
I'm just gonna get one more hour in and it's
led me. I watched a video of you and you
discussed how you never wanted to leave your overprepared, never
wanted to leave saying what if when it came to
going all out and never having to have that what
if mentality? Was there something that really started that, a
moment or a feeling that said, I don't want to
(05:27):
feel like this again, and I will never allow myself
to say what if.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
One thing throughout my career. I think I've learned some
pretty valuable lessons. And the circumstance that you were talking about.
I was in high school and we had won a
CIF championship my freshman year, and I remember coming back
in year two and I was like, hey, I'm older,
gonna be stronger, naturally, gonna be better. You know, we
were returning I think eight of our nine starters. I'm like,
(05:52):
we've got this. I mean, there's no way we're not repeating.
And I do. I remember, you know, not maybe going
to his pitching workouts as I did the year before,
and I remember maybe not being as you know, determined
in the preparation that I did the year before. And
so we're doing great. We're still ranked number one we
(06:13):
get all the way to you know, we win league,
and some thinking everything is awesome, good, Yeah, I'm good
to go. And then we get to the CIF first
round and I'm playing Cypress High School and first inning,
two outs, two two count on a batter and I
think I throw to strike three, and of course my
opinion doesn't matter. It's the umpires, so he calls it ball.
(06:35):
So I'm like, darn it, three two count. Throw the
next pitch, girl swings at it, hits a line drive
down the left field line. My left fielder dives for it.
There's no fence, and so they end up scoring one run,
you know, two innings go by, we don't score three,
four or five. By the time of the game ended,
we had lost one to nothing. And I remember walking
off that field and I thought, you know, what if
I would have thrown one more day a week in
(06:58):
you know, one more pitching workout, if I would have
gone to the batting cage, you know, one more day
a week. What if I would have just hit a
few more balls. And it was just a bunch of
what ifs that ran through my mind, and it was
the worst feeling as an athlete to have given everything
that you did, although it was not your very best,
but to walk away going what if? And I vowed
at that moment in my sophomore year in high school
(07:19):
that would never be a feeling I would ever have.
And so I think from that point forward, you know,
another motto for me is leave no stone unturned, Like,
if there's something that I can be doing, don't leave
what you can do today for tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
How do you feel like you're able to instill that?
Leave no opportunity to have to say what if? Into
the amazing women that you get to coach.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I have a fortunate opportunity to be able to hopefully
pass on information. You know, there's a lot of people
that you know what's the secret sauce, There's no secret.
It's really a discipline and a decision to decide how
do you want to perform at the end of the game.
What do you want to be able to say about
what you did? I gave it everything I could. Then
he whether the ball lands fair or lands foul, that's
(08:03):
not in your hands. All that you can control is
the effort that you put forth. Then were you present
in that moment? And so for me, it's it's really
just a constant reminder, and it's modeling. You know, I
plan the practices. I you know, lead with instruction, I
lead with motivation. I communicate with them. You know, guys,
we're not going to leave any stone unturned. What do
(08:24):
you need from me to help you be the best
version of you, regardless of outcome, because outcome is not
within our control. Like we can scorch balls and someone
might be right there and then we may hit like
a duck fart and we're.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like, no one there, Yeah, I got a double thing,
you know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So it's like this game is tough. It's not for
the weak hearted. It's not for the you know, for
people who are you know, lack confidence because it's it's
a tough game. And so you know, we talk about that.
I'll be standing behind them. They'll be in VPM, like literally,
you scorch that ball one defender and you're out and
they're like, oh, coach, I'm like, hey, all we can
control is the fact that you sweared it at so
(09:02):
for that man points to you. So it's just constant conversation,
giving them perspective, you know, supporting them and loving them
because this game is hard, especially with social media and
some of the things that I didn't have to endure
that I'm proud of these guys, you know, to see
them to continue the fight to take the arena. I mean,
there's a quote by Teddy Roosevelt, you know, man in
(09:24):
the Arena. I strongly suggest everybody read it because it
truly does signify like what it means to be the
warrior that takes the field.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You think about talk about the frustrating moments we have
on this field that we cannot control, the failure that
is inevitable when it talk about coming back from those moments,
or staying the course and not allowing it to get
you down, which it can easily do when to your point,
you're hitting it so hard and it's just getting hint
to everyone and you just feel like, I don't know
what else I can do. What do you tell your
(09:51):
team in those moments, we.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Say break up with Adam, Okay, you got the atoms today,
break up with that guy, you know what I mean,
or you know whatever, because and that's true, that's part
of the game. I mean, it's almost like the game
tests you. How long will you keep your resolve? How
long will you continue to fight when everything is up
against you, and you know, then there's times when literally
you can't get out, you know, and it's crazy how
(10:14):
the game works. It's very you know, it's cyclical. You know,
you're on the top of the world. You literally think
you can do no wrong, and then all of a
sudden you're like, uh uh, but can you fight your
way out of it now? The difference is is, you know, mentality,
the harder you are on yourself, the more negativity you think,
the longer you're going to stay. Yeah, you know, you've
got to be able to find the reasons why you're
coming out of it. And to me, that's you're almost there.
(10:38):
You're one swing away. You know you're making solid contact,
Keep squaring up the ball, keep fighting. You know you'll
break out of it. You know. To be probably that's
the biggest thing is having that mental mindset that know
that you can overcome anything.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
When you're realizing knowing you can overcome anything in order
to win as much as you have, You've had to
overcome so much. You've been a champion in high school,
you've been two time champion. In college, you've been a
champion three times. You just kept going up the Ladder
three time for a Team USA. When you think of
characteristics that make someone a champion, that made you a champion,
(11:10):
what do you see?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I think that there's just a belief that there isn't
anything that you can't figure out. And I think that's
that's the answer for me. You know, no matter the circumstances,
it's about Okay, what am I going to do to
beat this situation. It's not even necessarily this picture this
it's this situation. How am I going to win this situation?
Is it strategic? Is it technical? Is it mentality? Is it?
(11:36):
What is it? What are the answers? And you know
another story. You know, I was running on the track
and I wanted to be fast, and you know, this
guy saw me running and he's like, hey, what do
you you know, what are you doing your softball player?
Why are you running on the track. I'm like, I
want to be fast and he's like, well, come train
with me. I'm like, true, okay, let's go. And at
(11:57):
the time he was actually training another athlete, Iron Scott,
and I'm like, dang, that's a laquery, right, And I
was like, Sweitch, yeah, I'm in I'm gonna get fast, right,
and he's like, hey, Lisa, go, you know, go out
two hundred meters and Byron's gonna dribble a basketball and
he's going to try to race you to the finish line.
Now he's at four hnometers. I'm at two hunimeters. I'm like, okay,
(12:20):
so the bow's whistle. I'm running and I see this
guy catching me. I'm like, heck, no, he ain't catching me.
I am running. So I'm running, running, running, running, running, runing,
and I beat him, right, and I'm like, whoa, I
was a good race, Thank you. I'm done. Oh no,
we're going again. I'm like, oh again.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I just know I had that one before we start.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Nop, go again, go again, go again. I don't even
know how many times we went, but all I know
is I didn't lose once. Right. So finally we're done,
and I'm like, thank god. I need to drink and
go to the drinking fountain and you know, lost my
stuff right because I'm not feeling well right, so I'm
I'm like, wow, I got to go to the training room, right.
So I'm like, okay, thank you guys for training. I'm
(13:00):
great workout, you know, but I thank you. I appreciate her.
I know we're done. He's like, oh no, no, we're
not done. I'm like, oh, oh no, no, no, we're
not done. He's like, oh no, we're not done' This
was great, but we're not done. And I'm like, I
think I got to go to the training room and
they're like what happened? And I'm like, well, I just
kind of got sick. And they're like, whoa, You're ready
(13:20):
to world? Now you're ready?
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, you ready?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Walk into the club and I was like, you people
are crazy. They're like, let's get you some gatorade, let's
get in shade. Fifteen minutes later, I was back on
that track and I was running and I was like, Wow,
how powerful is the mind? And I think that's when
I realized that there really is more that I even
thought I could do when I thought I was down
(13:44):
and out, Nope, you can take a minute, you can recoup,
and you can do more. And I think that really
shaped if I had to pick like a situation that
I can remember. That truly shaped the mentality that I
have and the way that I have the resolve to
be able to handle difficult situations. I think that was
a test that I was able to pass that. I
was Wow, that made a difference in my career.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So we should I'll go try and run again.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I would not advise it. That's why when I tell
the story, I'm like, I don't advise that happening, but
I want you to know that if it did, you'd
be on another level. So you know, hey, don't do it.
To know you can be on another way. I'm telling
you you can get to another.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Level thinking about knowing that there's so much more in
your tank, and you don't really realize that until you're
forced to do it and watching again, watching another video
you watched and you said, if it's easy, it's probably
not the right way. Can you elaborate on that the
right way to get better, the right way to excel,
or the right way to even challenge yourself and see
(14:40):
how far you could truly go?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, I think it's an eight that we all kind
of do what we're comfortable with. And you know, to me,
you're only as you know, depending on how good you
want to want to get, you're only as good as
your weaknesses. And so another mentality that I have is
to make my weaknesses my strengths and my strengths stronger,
and if I can do that, I'm going to be
pretty dark good. And so sometimes that's getting out of
(15:02):
your comfort zone, which is why I told you I
wanted to be fast save some point in one of
my strengths, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So you said, I don't know, did our time to
first get down a lot more like a full second?
In my head all accounts is like I've booked it
the first. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's called you know, having some instinctual you know, opportunities
to be able to prepare and you know, look for
the mistake, you know, not react to the mistake. So
uh but yeah, I mean that's just something that you know,
as part of my thought process is you know, continue
to build on those weaknesses. And usually those are things
that probably aren't the funnest things to do. You know,
(15:44):
we're we're very we're very good at at wanting to
do the things innately that we're really good at. You know,
people that can hit really well tend to hit. You know,
people that are fast tend to run, and it's like,
I don't know, maybe you should work on some defense,
you know what I mean. Or you know, people that
love to hit the inside pitch man, they'll hit it
all day long. I don't know, Maybe I want to
(16:05):
think about the outside, you know, and so it's just
being well rounded, but a team of nature and it's
you know, we have a thought process that you know,
you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and ultimately that's
how you can improve.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
I think of the saying with that a good better best,
make your good better, and your better best absolutely then
add your weaknesses, make your weaknesses great. Yeah, we talk
about taking risks, being getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. You
have made Ucla your home. You're since nineteen ninety. You're
(16:42):
not getting out of not gonnat math yeh, don't do
any math. All I'm saying is that she has been
a Bruin for a very long time. There's one person
knows the Brewin way. It would be you. If you
were to describe the Brewin way making sure you get better, best,
getting better, working hard on those weaknesses to make them
what you can be to be successful, what would you
(17:05):
say is a Bruin way.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Really it's the fearlessness. And I think here at UCLA
there is just so much family to it that you
have the ability to be free to fall, to fail,
and know that you will be picked up and you
will recover and you will be supported through you know,
through thick and thin. You know, here we we embrace that.
You know, we want you to take the risk, you know, fail,
(17:27):
fail early so we can learn quickly and move forward.
And that's to us is important, you know, not just
on the field, but really just as a person, you know,
developing you outside of just who you are innately and
really trying to broaden that so that you can be
prepared for the next phase of life. I mean we're
a stepping stone here and you know part of those
(17:50):
steps it can get kind of scary, you know, learning
how to speak in front of people, learning how to present,
you know, or learning how to be you know, fearless
in those times when there might be some insecurity or
some doubt that that comes into your mind. But know
that we're there to help you guide, you model, you know.
I think Kelly, who's our head coach, Kelly and Away Perez,
(18:13):
you know, really wants her staff to be able to
role model what it takes you know, to be great,
not only in success, but in failure and how we recover,
how we can separate. We're all going to run into
situations where insecurities are going to play a part, and
how we're able to overcome that, acknowledge, recognize, and truly
(18:34):
how to manage. And I think that's probably one of
the secrets is you know, everybody runs into some difficult situations.
But how you learn how to manage, how you learn
how to separate, how you learn how to really figure out,
how to to be insightful and answers of how to
figure out, you know, situations, and more importantly, you've got
alumni to current to future. You know that that's there
(18:58):
to help. I mean, a bruin is is always a
bruin and we understand the rigors of not only what
it takes to compete here athletically, but also academically and
to be in the environment that we're in. You know,
those those are the people that we admire, you know,
the ones that are willing to take the risk and
do more than anybody thought they could.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Taking the risk. As someone who's played here, now coach
is here, is there something that you took from as
a player that you utilize as a coach that you've learned.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I am continuing to evolve. Yeah. I mean, I will
tell you this, the player that I was is nowhere
near the coach that I am, and I think that's
something that I had to learn. You know, there were
things that I did as a player that I might
have taken for granted or thought were you know, not simple,
(19:48):
but just like they made sense to me that maybe
not everybody completely understands or sees. I've been blessed with
some skills to be able to do some things that,
you know, as I continue to teach the game, it's
very rewarding to be able to kind of share those secrets. Yeah,
so it's continuing to be a learning opportunity. I'm continue
to grow. I'm so fortunate that I've had the athletes
(20:09):
that I've been able to coach that I'm like, man,
I know, sometimes it's terrible that it got a crazy coach,
you know, talking to you right now, because they're like, coach,
you're talking too fast. So I'm like, okay, got it.
I'll slow it down a little bit, you know, because
I just get so excited, so fun.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And you just the same excitement you've had playing it
still resides today.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's crazy. I know, it's great. I don't get it.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I just love it. It's just now I live, you know,
through them. I'm just so proud of them.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
All right, we have more diamonds to drop after these messages.
We talk about leaving everything on the line from all
the Olympics that you've been able to compete in, and
in the Sydney Olympics you set the record for strikeouts
at that point with twenty five. You work with the
(21:00):
pictures here, you throw arm circles all day to day
to them for practice. When you think about developing a
great picture, what does it take to do so?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It definitely takes an attention to detail. And I think
that's probably the biggest thing. I probably was known more so.
I had a really good change up, for sure, but
I was really consistent, you know. I think that was probably,
you know, just being really consistent. I always talk about
you're only as good as your misses, So as long
as you don't miss over the plate, you're gonna have
(21:29):
a good chance to win. And you know, for me,
it was being able to master that there has to
be an attention to detail. I kind of think of
pitching like golf, right, it's a repetitive motion that you
completely have control over, which is shocking for people to
think about, but I'm like, it's true. If you have
the attention to detail, if you do everything that's necessary,
step where you need to step, body position where it
(21:50):
needs to be, release where it needs to be, snap
where it needs to be, you should be able to
reproduce the same pitch over and over again. And so
the more attention to detail that you have, the more
successful you will be in terms of long term right right,
anybody can be phenomenal on anigan day there, Man, I
just felt really good, and then all of a sudden
you'll have a picture that goes, well, I kind of
lost the feel. Well, how do you get that back?
(22:12):
You know, you get that back by being able to
know what it takes to develop and to actually throw
that pitch. And so to me, it's kind of locking
into that.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
When you are recruiting the next great picture, are you
looking for finished product? The attention to detail? What do
you look for?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Definitely you look with someone that's got resolved, right, someone
that's got a short term memory, someone that doesn't matter
how many times you knock me down, I'm gonna come
back up. Right. I mean at the end of the day,
that's you know, especially in this game with the way
that you know, video is used, way technology is being used,
the kids are now training at another different you know,
at a higher level offensively, So you have to have
(22:52):
a picture that definitely has an ability to recover and
to recover quickly, right, to have a short term memory.
Who wants to you know, I I'm a big believer
in being able to reinvent yourself, you know, And and
you know that was something that was big for me,
you know, to have a a look one year, you know,
maybe have a rise ball one year that you dominated
the circuit with, and now I'm gonna add in a drop,
(23:13):
you know, or now I'm gonna add in an off speed,
or now I'm gonna add in this, so that you know,
you're con you're kind of staying one step ahead of
the competition. To me, that was a big thing, you know,
even at the even at the ripe old age of
my later career in the thirties, I was continuing to
try to reinvent myself as I went from you know,
one Olympics to the next. Cause I never wanted the
opponent to to ever have an advantage on me.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
When you think about having resolve and being able to
compete on the field, is there a comeback story, whether
it's your own or one of your players, that has
really resonated with you for someone that has been able
to push through with that resolve.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think probably.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
A story was my senior year at UCLA. Had literally
wanted to do everything possible to go out as a
national champion. And I remember setting some lofty goals and
I've always set goals at the beginning of the year
of the season of things that I wanted to accomplish,
and you know, kind of strategized how I was going
to do it, the things that were going to have
to be done to get it done. And I was
(24:10):
killing it. I mean I was doing it. I was like,
this is what I'm going to commit to this. I'm
training here doing this and was kicking butt in the fall,
got into season and I'm like, I'm very goal orient oriented.
I want to I want to try to win the
Pac twelve. You know, at this time, the PAC ten,
you know, Pitcher of the Week and Player of the
Week in the same week. You know, people that I
couldn't do it I'm like, you just watch, I'm gonna
(24:32):
come there. Wait a minute. Yeah, if I go ten
for ten and then through a perfect game, you're trying
to say, I can't do both. So game on, you know,
was able to do it. Wanted to have the lowest
d ray and the highest batting average my senior year.
Was able to do it. And you know, we get
to the World Series and wanted to end the season
as a national champion. Who doesn't right want to finish?
(24:53):
And I remember pitching against Arizona. Gave up a girl
got first, girl got on base, next girl, I think
Bunnett rover. Two outs, Next girl hits a change up,
groundball up the middle, play at the play girl safe.
You know, third inning that we don't score, We don't score.
They end up winning the game one nothing, And I
remember walking off the field and I remember going, you
(25:13):
know what, I gave it everything I could, like it
just wasn't our day. And I remember going to the
interview room afterwards and a reporter said, hey, Lisa, you've
had an illustrious career. You've won all these you know awards.
How does it feel to end your career as a loser?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh my god, and I thought, wow.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And that's when I learned. I go, you know, although
we lost, we gave everything we could. And that's when
I really truly learned, you know, how it is to
be able to have that resolve because there's only certain
things that I can control. And to me, it's it's
really three things. You know. It's are you dedicated, are
you committed to what it is you're doing, and fully
(25:53):
invested in present? You know the work ethic, of course
you know what I mean. And are you making the
sacrifices that are necessary? And at the end of the day,
the sacrifices that you think truly are not sacrifices, because
I would never change one thing. But you're going to
have to make some choices, you know, and some of
those choices are going to be for the benefit of
you as an individual to perform at the level that
(26:15):
you need to perform, but making the right choices that
keep you geared towards what it is that you want
to do. And if you do those three things, you
cannot lose. And so you know, for me, that's how
I continue to come back. You know, no matter what
game I played, no matter what situation I'm in, how
did I go about it? Did I give it everything
I could? Was I you know, dedicated or did I prepare?
(26:38):
You know, did I make the choices right? Did I
get enough rest? And if I can commit to those
three things, then man, I'm good to go. And that
to me is the most important thing.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Do you see that or try to resonate that also
with the people you coach.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
One hundred percent? Yeah, I mean, and we talk about that.
You know, are you recovering, are you getting enough rest?
Are you truly putting in you know, intentional work? You know,
are you are you working on all aspects of your game?
And that's part of the relationships that you build with
your athletes, y, you know, to have those those talks.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Coming up and talking about all the things that you
can control. Going into a regional where you have to
face three different teams hopefully not as many, but you
have three in the regional, preparing for every single team,
controlling what you can control. How do you create a
practice plan for when you're just going to a season game,
(27:34):
in season game where you just one opponent versus regionals
postseason where you have multiple.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah, I mean, hopefully you've trained for that all year right.
I mean, you know throughout the season, that's what it's
all about. Is really the season is just kind of
practice test for the true test that you're going to
face at the end. So throughout the season we've faced
people that have been rise ball throwers, that have been
changed up throwers that have thrown drops. So it's really
just being able to refresh their memory as far as is, hey,
(28:01):
this is what she likes to throw, this is what
she likes to do, this is what you're prepared for.
Have conversations, right. I mean they've had ample tests to
be able to prepare themselves and some tests we have failed.
Some tests we have been very successful at. But that's
how we talk about it, right. These are just single
moments in time to see if you are ready for
(28:23):
the moment.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I remember during my four years at LSU, we went
the World Series twice. My freshman year. There's no reason
we only got there because of pitching. There's no chance
that definitely has my god, that was like on a whib.
My senior year, we definitely had the talent to make it.
But I remember thinking my sophomore were better than my
freshman year and we didn't make it. We lost in
(28:46):
regionals and thinking about UCLA the dynasty that it is,
twelve national championships, thirty six I believe we're in the
college World Series appearances. What does it take to get
to that edge when you do have that good enough team,
because sometimes it takes more than than just having a
good team on the field. What do you think is
really that extra push that's allowed UCLA to be so
dominant for so long.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, it's not. It's not the best talent. It's the
best talent that plays together. And you know, otherwise we
all know, some professional teams with the highest payroll and
the you know, most notable names would be winning World
Series and you know NBA Championships every year. But at
the end of the day, it's it's the team that
has the drive, that has the clarity and has the
(29:27):
fearlessness to put it all out on the line, you know,
regardless of outcome, is to just be able to simply say,
I just gave it my best. And you know, for us,
that's what we promote, that's what we believe in. We
believe that there is a bond within us that you know,
if we're going to go down, we're going to go
down simply believing that we are the best team in
the country and and that we have what it takes
(29:49):
to be able to do it. You know, it's about
getting hot, you know, and and a team can get hot,
and when that happens, we've all seen it. And part
of that is that inner belief. You know that you
have an abdominal personality and perseverance that you will figure
this out.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I like that everything is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
One of my life quotes, everything AJ is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
It is we got it you just I mean, you
might have to think outside the box. Yeah, but if
you want it bad enough, you will be creative in
the attempts of what it is that you need to
get done. And so you know, to me, that's that's
the belief. We're gonna get it done. I don't know how,
I don't know how long it's gonna take, but we
are going to get this done.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We talk about getting it done and being out of
the box. One of the memories that I feel like
you've been viral. Obviously you're an amazing player, obviously an
amazing coach, but then also you're amazing at telling the
umpire when they should take a hike and getting a jet.
I'm so curious. What are the things that you say
when you're just that fired up and it's like, no,
(30:56):
that's it, I'm going in, Like when is your time? Like, now,
that's it, I'm going in.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You know, it's it's just uh, you know first, it's
it's really a defense of the players. Yeah. I mean
when I think about you know, I I don't real
I don't know that people realize how much of a
mental game this is. And you know, we work so
hard at something, and we train something so much, and
(31:21):
you know, something is what you're calling that that was
a strike, like coach, that ball was in the other
batter's box, and I'm I'm like, who am I going
to believe? Right, I'm gonna believe my player? Especially when
I see the catcher going along, you know, reaching across
the body, I'm like, come on now, and and really
the toll right, And sometimes I have to tell my players, hey,
(31:43):
that umpire is calling two hundred and something pitches they
can miss once or twice. Yeah, right, it doesn't have
to change. And so that's something that you know, we've
really have. It's been a part of working on It's
not making up a story like no, staying true to yourself. Right,
you don't have to worry about that pitch until you
got two strikes. Yeah, no one said you had to
swing at it when you're one one, you know what
(32:04):
I mean. You may have to swing at it if
you got two. But so it's that mental, right, I mean,
there's just so much of this game that's mental. And
so you know, I don't talk to the umpires that much,
but when it happens, it usually isn't defense of a player.
And you know, at the end of the day, I
will I will fight for my players. I will defend
my players because I know, I know what it's like
(32:26):
to be out there. I know what it's like to
put yourself out on the line. I know what I
know what they've done to get to this point, the hours,
the strain, the emotional you know part of it, you know,
being fearful of failure. Right, everybody has grown up differently.
Not everybody's family situation is the same, not, not everybody's
cultural environmental situation is the same. And we have to
(32:49):
manage all of these girls, and so we you know,
we manage them individually, and so to know their stories Wow,
that is just that is just something else. That's just
being incredible to be able to see somebody, you know, persevere,
you know when when they thought they couldn't or they
didn't believe they could, and to see them, you know,
take that step, and so I will fight for them
(33:11):
to the very end.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
My favorite moment is the twenty seventeen World Series against
Texas A and M. It was definitely obstruction. Definitely.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So we'll talk about how it started. It started with
the opening game against the team called LSU and our
play at the play that was called obstruction. It was mean,
It wasn't mean I'm just saying I'm just saying no.
(33:44):
I mean I think, yeah, I mean, that's it's just
it's part of the game. You know. Now there's just
a lot of things that are being done to the
game in order to you know, prevent player injury and
so forth like that. So yeah, I mean, you're always
going to be able to defend your player.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Do you remember what you said, especially after they threw
you out, because you know, once they like all right,
you're gone, it's like, all right, well now I have
no reason to stop.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I did. I was like, well, well, first of all,
I got that hot feeling because I'm actually very much
s a rule follower, and so you know, it was
they were gonna they threatened to throw out our head coach,
and I was like, I am not letting that happen,
So now I'm gonna defend my head coach. I tripped.
I was tripped. There was no contact at that area
(34:31):
that I intended to have happened. And when I got
thrown out, I you know that hot feeling you get
when you're like, oh man, I screwed.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Up, but right here now I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I was like, why are you so close to me?
When I remember you were on the other side of
the batter's box, So I don't know how you even
got close to me that I actually touched you, you know,
or bumped you or whatever it was called. So at
that part I was thrown out and I was like, man,
I might as well get my money, right, you know,
And I get it the wow, how could you make
(35:05):
this call? And you know the worst part about it,
the whole country is gonna see it.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
How bad this call is your viral sensation?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Trust me, I am so many thing.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Isn't it so cool? You're a viral sensation for so
many different aspects of life.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, as it pops up every now and then on
my social media, and I will say, my my family
even has jokes because I'm a I'm a big collector
of ornaments and that means something to me. And you know,
of course I got one with that picture of that picture,
I'm like, oh, my own family has jokes. That great,
thank you to see that.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Love it viral for softball. But you're also on the Kardashians.
Don't think I didn't see that cameo. I saw that.
I can't remember staying.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Like, oh my goodness, teaching.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
The Kardashians how to play softball. You are, You're making
magic all over the world, whether it is as a
player here at U c l A. But also now
going into the summer when you're gonna be the general
manager in managing how you're able to do so here
as well with pro with the talents. What are you
most looking forward to about this new season, new players,
new opportunities to continue to grow the game.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Really just so excited. I mean, it's it's really a
dream come true. When Kim was asked to be lead it,
and you know, obviously with her experience being in Major
League Baseball, with Jenny Finch and Natasha Wattley, you know,
Jessica Mendoza being a part of it. How could this
not move forward? And you know, to have au and
(36:30):
what they've done in the past and the success that
they've had, to know, the organization, it was something I
had to be a part of. I mean, we have
we have a moment in time that we can really
take this game to the next level. And especially as
a collegiate coach, to see so many athletes who are
so talented and unfortunately have to cut their career short. Yeah,
(36:50):
there's only so many that can you know, that are
fortunate enough to be Olympians that can play in Japan.
But now we actually have something that we can do
here at home. Now you're going to have little girls
and little boys all over the hopefully the world that
are going to be able to watch these phenomenal athletes
compete and display the competitiveness. To have these little girls
(37:12):
and be able to look up to them and go, man,
I can be her one day. And I'm just so
excited to be able to have this opportunity to be
apart to see these athletes that now have a chance
to continue to play this game, and I mean, I
think this is our time and I'm so looking forward
to it.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
What do you think is going to set the talent's
apart from all the other teams in the aus OL
going for that you don't lose at least, So how
are we going to make sure the talents don't lose
and in the inaugural season are able to be staying
tall with that championship trophy.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yeah, at the end of the day, I want them
to play freely, right, I mean, I want them to
just go out there and continue to live the dream.
I mean, for most of them, they never thought they
would have this opportunity to continue to play and be
supported the way that AUSL is doing it, in the
manner that they're doing it. And so it's been a
tremendous honor for me to be a part. You know,
hopefully I'll be able to you know, once again, I
(38:10):
see no different in terms of what I'm willing to
give to these bruins to what I'm willing to give
to the talents. I mean, They'll have me in heartmind, soul, everything,
you know, and to be there because once again I'm
just so proud that they're willing to take the field
and to display those skills that they have in a
fearless manner that would make everybody in the stands proud
and for all those watching TV. You know, I chose
(38:33):
the team that I believe in, that have high character,
that you know, love the game, that play the game,
that are passionate about the game. And really it could
have been anybody within the draft. I mean, these are
incredible athletes that have lived for this game. When you
think of all the teams, you know, the four teams
and the rosters that these four teams are comprised of,
(38:54):
I mean, these are passionate women who believe in this
game and truly love this game. So it's it's going
to be a blast. And I pinched myself that I'm
fortunate that I am coming in. I don't know, God
once again has allowed me to come at the right time.
I've have had doors of opportunity have opened up for
(39:15):
me throughout my career that should I boom.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Oh yeah, yeah wow, time to ask. Yeah, it just opened.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Oh wow, Okay, you know, I never thought I would
get the opportunity to do this, and you know, to
get a phone call, to know the people that are
in place, to know the amount of communication, the amount
of care, the amount of thought that has been put
into the athletes to really make this go. It's they
have left no stone unturned in my opinion, and I'm
(39:45):
so proud to be a part of the AUSL in
this inaugural season. I mean, it's it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
We can count on two hands. We haven't figured out
the exact number yet, but multiple Bruins playing in AUSL.
What do you think it takes to play at the
highest level.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I mean, it really does take that that competitive fearlessness. Yeah,
I mean it takes an innate love of the game
because it does knock you down. And so if you're
in it just for the rewards and for the praise,
that that makes the game tough. But if you love
it for what it is, and that's to truly challenge
yourself and to see how good you can be, and
(40:24):
and really it's crazy. I mean ball players are crazy.
They you know, they love being I mean, no one
loves to get knocked down, but they love getting back
up and being successful. Right, I mean, everybody loves you know,
someone gets a hit on them and then you strike
them out the next one you're like, yeah, I showed you,
you know what I mean. Or you know, you come
up short against a pitcher and then you get a
(40:45):
base hit knock and you're like, yeah, I showed you.
I mean, we love that feeling of accomplishment that we
were able to get it done. And it's crazy because
it is a game of failure. But you know, they're
just a resilient group, you know, and and those are
the people that will continue to play this game for
as long as they can.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
There's more to cover, but first let's take a quick break.
When we talk about going to the no Fly Zone segment,
it's just my favorite segment, you know, making amazing catches.
You whether it's pitching, fielding. When you think of yourself
(41:26):
or even one of your players, is there a play
that you feel like it's just one of your favorites
that you've watched amazing catch.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I mean there's been so many plays that I have witnessed.
I mean I think about is it Odyssey who got
the you know, fielded the bunt and way Yeah, I
mean I dreamt about that play myself, and I'm gonna
I'm gonna say that I made that play myself, but
I did it at third base, Yeah, and getting the
(41:57):
squeeze play and going in there and making the tech
I think, you know, some of the diving catches some
athletes have made. Jayde len Ouchin making one in left
field where she's literally, you know, parallel to the ground
over the shoulders in the outfield, right. I mean, there's
nothing worse than seeing the back of the number of
an outfielder if you're a pitcher, right, I mean, the
ball went deep, you know, And when they're able to
(42:18):
make those plays, I mean, it's it's just impressive. I
think personally, I would probably say it is probably people's surprise.
One of my favorite plays was I was actually base running. Okay,
I was at second base at the Olympics gold medal
game and first inning, and I want to say it
was Kelly Cretchman who gets a base hit up the middle,
(42:41):
and I'm rounding third base and Coach Kindrea holds me
up and I round that. I round hard, and I'm
watching the ball come in and the ball bounces and
hits the catcher and the chest protector and kind of
trinkles five feet away. Into the field to play. I
freaking go first. She's like, do I get the ball?
(43:02):
She goes to get the ball and I slide in
and I was saying, you would have thought I was.
I was like, did I just do this? I just
freaking ran and it's oh, imagine you not even not
even a thought I was gonna be safe. I was.
I was ready. I was ready. I was like, please
(43:23):
bounce off her chest, please bounce.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
I was.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I was ready. Oh my god, I remember that play.
I actually have a picture of it in my duo.
That is by far one of my favorite plays I
think in my career.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Oh, I'm to go back and find it. Well, that'd
be one of your favorite plays. What would you say,
like one of your favorite successes? What would you say,
is probably one of your favorite failures, something that's actually
led you though like you it was a failure in
that moment. In reality, it set you up for so
much success. Yes, she's a hig failure. Sorry, this is
(43:54):
a bad question.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
I've had. Probably one of my most difficult losses would
be at the Olympics. I was on fire and we
went into the international tiebreaker, so we had two outs.
Runner at second base, I struck out. I mean twenty
five of the you know, twenty six players I I
(44:17):
could have faced at that time. Yeah, and girl gets
a home run and we end up losing the game
two to one. We scored in the top half of
the inning of the ninth, and they scored with two strikes.
I'd give it a home run in the bottom of
the ninth, and obviously we lost the game. And so I,
you know, I lose the perfect game, I lose the
(44:40):
no hitter, I lose the shutout, I lose the game
all on one pitch oh two count. And I, you know, obviously,
in reflection, probably took it for granted, you know, thinking
that things were just gonna come easy, and you know,
definitely learned that, you know, attention to detail is important
on every pitch you throw.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
And I remember after the game, you know, my coach
is like again again him again. It was Ralph Rayman,
who was an Italian guy, an amazing coach with the
national team. And I was able to throw against him
again and was able to you know, win the gold medal.
And I remember, I don't know, maybe I think I
felt was like in three months later, I got a
(45:17):
postcard in the mail and it was a postcard with
the girl that hit the home run on the shoulders
of her teammates, and the postcard said we'll see you
in Japan. As, oh, no, what is going on in Japan?
How do you have my information right? What is going
on in Japan? And so I look up Japan and
(45:39):
it was the World Championships. Hmmm. I was like, oh, noted, right, noted?
So for the next I don't know, three hundred and
sixty five days times too. I was ready for the
World Championships. And so we ended up facing them at
the World Championships that were in Japan, and it was raining,
(45:59):
and I thought, oh crap, they're gonna call the game
because they always called the game when it rains. Nope,
not in Japan. They got them squeezies. They squeeze that field,
they got them dried it up. We're playing and I
was on fire.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Did you have the post card in like your back pocket?
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Ready to go? Ride? Here? Right here? Right here? I
pitched and oh man, it was crazy. So I think
it was. I think we were home and I was
on the mound and I was pitching and I threw
a curveball and it was on the outside corner, and
then park called it a strike, and I'm like, okay,
(46:40):
I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna throw a little farther
and the unpark called it a strike. I was like,
I'm gonna throw a little farther and the park called
it a strike.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I was like, now, I like, y'all in trouble now,
all right?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Right done? So I come up and I don't know
if it was the bottom half of the inning and
I was batting third on the national team. I freaking
get a pitch man straight center hit a bomb. I'm like, oh,
this is happening. This is happening, right, we score one nothing.
I proceeded to throw I don't know out of eighty
five pitches I threw, I probably threw about seventy five
(47:18):
of them were curveballs, all on that outside corner of
the plate. Yeah, all of them unhittable.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Every now and then I would throw a couple, maybe
just to keep MO honest, and throw a couple inside,
and ended up throwing a no hitter, and you know,
winning one to nothing and hitting the home run.
Speaker 2 (47:35):
And I was like, that's right, You'll see me in Japan.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
So thanks for the post time.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
I think that was probably one of the most memorable
losses only because of the entire story. I mean, I've
there are a lot of losses that I remember.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
Every failure is really setting you up for the bigger
success and the bigger waha. I think of like failure
as stepping stones. Tell people all the time. Steps like
the one failure, you're just adding a step, adding a stab,
and it's like the higher your success is going to
be once you finally reach it. And then just hopefully
never send her postcard lesson learned, JA, don't do that.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
One actually was sent by Australia.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
They were our biggest opponent. And anyway, back in the
day we didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Have it was Japan. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Because the tournament the World Championships at that time, we're
in Japan. You know. Back in the day, the game
was different, right, we didn't have social media, so you
truly were competitors. I mean it was it was awesome
to be able to play the amount of competitiveness and
intentness and wow, it's just a different level, you know
when you go international. Yeah, you know what I mean.
(48:45):
And it's a little bit different now because people know
each other through social media and so there's not that
unknown like there was back in the day where you
would only see people when you would play them and
they were in the other dugout and it was like,
oh things were different back then. I mean you could
take some out. I mean it was wow. Yeah, it was.
It was crazy. It was man, it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I mean how you're able to bring it to the
to I mean maintain it. I used I woulday bring
it to UCLA, but you've never left, So maintain it
here at UCLA and going on with the talents before
we conclude today, which has been so fun and be
able to sit in this iconic stadium. I do have
to ask you, how was your reality TV moment?
Speaker 2 (49:28):
You know what you're talking about? The Kardashians.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
I was actually impressed, were you? I was. They were
in it. They were in it to win it. I
was thinking, okay, like is this serious? Like do they
really want to learn? Do they really want.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
They called you to help teach them.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Yeah. They were playing a celebrity softball game and it
was actually against the Jackson family, and you know that
was a fundraiser. They had a charity that the money
was going to go towards and really it was like
a competitive game. It was a Kartashians against the Jackson
family and they wanted to win and they wanted to play.
And I was like, this is awesome. I thought it
was gonna.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
Be like, yeah, can't keep your eye on it right our.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Segment it's a wrap and they would all know, they're like,
game's not over. Okay, fine, we'll do the award ceremony,
but we're finishing this game. I was like, you would
have finished the game with the TV turned off?
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Like really?
Speaker 2 (50:22):
One of them got a ground ball, took it in
the chin, put some ice on it. Courtney put some
ice on it, went back out there.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
I'm like, okay, you're serious. I would have been shocked too.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
No, I was impressed. I mean it was it was
cool to be able to see. Yeah, they wanted to
finish the game, even though the cameras were gone. They
wanted to get after it. Yeah, oh you know Corney.
I was impressed with Courtney. She was the one that
took one on the chin. It was a ground ball
and she put a lice on it, ran back out
and I mean got it done. I was like, wow,
(50:53):
you guys are are awesome. You know. Chloe was like,
let's go. Everybody circle up, We're gonna learn how to throw.
We're gonna get this. I was it was cool.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, I mean yeah, Courtney did well. For anyone that
watched the Kardashians, you know how Courtney and Kim they
fought and she took it on the chin. Courtney. Yeah,
she's tough, she can do her thing.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah. Like I said, I was impressed. Yeah, it was.
It was beyond my expectations. I was like, man, this
is a great experience. I have a whole new perception,
you know what I mean of Sometimes you think, man,
are they doing this for the kid? Do they really right?
They really wanted to play.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
I was like, okay, let's do it. Let's go no
full arm circles though, Yeah, you couldn't go far. Yeah no, no, no,
she just showed up what you had though, Just like
this is just so you know, this is what we do.
But thank you so much for joining me on dropping diamonds.
I really appreciated this conversation from your journey high school
(51:48):
college USA coach, and it's really been inspiring to learn
and listen and watch all that you do.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Oh well, thank you for having me. I have a
passion for the game. I just I just love it.
I mean, it's been life changing for me and really
just so blessed and honored to be able to be
in this position and you know, just so fortunate.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
As our opermation today dropping diamonds, I say, the diamond
that we dropped, leave no stone unturned when we come
out to the field and just in life, but also
go out and win ugly rather than lose pretty. Right,
do what you have to do to get it done.
Everything is figure outable.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
And at the end of the day, this game is
you know, it's a crazy game and so it may
not look pretty, you know. And I've been in some
fortunate situations with the teammates that I've had and the
coaches that I've had that you know, we've bonded together
and you know I couldn't have done it without them obviously,
But for sure, you would rather win ugly than lose pretty.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
Thank you so much having me said, I'll see you
guys all next time back at the diamond. Dropping Diamonds
with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports production in
partnership with athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports
(53:08):
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 Do. Listen
to Dropping Diamonds with Aj Andrews on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.