Sharlize Palacios - Sprinkle that Sazón

In this engaging conversation, AUSL Talons, Sharlize Palacios opens up about her journey as a catcher, the powerful influence of her sister, and the meaningful legacy behind wearing number 13. She also reflects on the evolution of her skills, the art of pitch calling, and the vital role team culture plays in achieving success.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iheartwomen'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 world of softball.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Today.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I am joined by four time All Pac twelve member.
She is a part of Team USA. She's currently catch
up for AUSL Talents. It is the one, it is
the only, It is the beautiful Charlie's pelacios.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Thank you for joining me, Queen, You'll thank you for
having me so excited to be here and talking with you. Finally,
I know she's in sunny San Diego and she looks
fantastic for those that cannot see her.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Before we start our discussion, I always like to start
the podcast with an amazing quote that leads into a
fun affirmation, because, as you know, we got to talk
to ourselves a lot in order to maintain confidence, in
order to stay pumped up for whether it's long practice
days or just game days, or just longevity in the
game in general. So a quote I thought about because

(01:15):
you just I never got the chance to play with you,
but watching you. You just seem like such a light
and seem like someone that is always willing to listen
and learn, but also be there for your teammates. So
this is a quote that I thought it was really
cool and applied today, and it says, effective leadership starts
with being coachable, Like in order to be a great leader,

(01:39):
you must first follow and you must first learn. And
I think that if we were trying to drive an
affirmation from effective leadership starts with being coachable, what would
be an affirmation you think we could be compridged into that.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Ooh, I would just say, like being a leader, like
it really shows your passion and like you play with
your heart and your sleeve. I feel like I think
that's probably one of the hardest things did you as
a leader. So I would say, like, I'm passionate, just
because no one wants to play for a leader that
doesn't think of what they love all the time. So

(02:15):
I would say I am passionate. Would be good affirmation.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, So I love to make it into like a
little rhyming stitch, so you have you know, you wake
up in the morning and it's kind of like you're
giving yourself a little wrap. So we say today, I
will listen more than I speak.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Pour out my passion. Every day, I get better. I'm
nowhere near my peak.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Ad that was beautiful. You like that. I love that.
I love that.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
I'm gonna have to like have you text that to me?
And I'm gonna say that every morning.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I'm perfectly perfect, perfect Ya. I'm happy you haven't recorded.
I can just send it to you too.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, okay, So our affirmation for today is today, I
will listen.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
More than I speak, pour out all my passion. I
get better. I'm nowhere near my peak.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
And at least for you, someone that is nowhere near
her peak continues to get better every single year from
college to pro When you first started, that excitement, that
joy that just exudes off you on the field, it's
been a part of you since you were little, and
because you were younger, you were referred to as being
the cheese spa.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Am I saying that correct?

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yes, a little cheese.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
A little cheese spot which I looked up the meaning
of that. It means like wit or sparkle Am I
transling that correct? Yeah, it's like yeah, yeah, she's the spark.
And you were named that like Fernando Tatis her favorite
team San Diego Padres, and so growing up had to
make sure everybody did that one growing up and attending

(03:46):
many Padres games, what did watching Fernando impact how you
play and help.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
You become the chiesepa, the little chispa.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, I think watching Tatis play and just watch like
the Padres play in general, especially in a platform that
a lot of people are able to see it. I
love how they're able to exude like their swag and
their own flavor to it. So in Spanish we call
it our sasson. That's like our little like little sprinkle
of like seasoning, as you will, like, it's like our

(04:17):
little flavor, I guess you could say.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
So.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
I always enjoyed like asking my dad how he would
kind of implement his like little swag and sasson, and
he said that he was very quiet, but also just
like very like exuded confidence. And I felt like my
confidence came from hyping up my teammates. So I felt
like being that spark and kind of like that light
that would kind of be quiet until needed to be

(04:43):
spoken to and just kind of would try to light
up the circle or light up like the dugout, I
feel like that was my swag, So then I kind
of try to weed into that just being a cheese spy.
And then I really felt like that resonated with Tatis
because I felt like every time he hit, it was
like electric and it was like a So I was like,
I need to do that too when I hit, So
anytime I felt like a clutch situation came down, I

(05:05):
was like, you have to be the cheese spy. You
have to like spark it, get the momentum back. So
that's kind of where that came from. And yeah, just
watching the Padres, I feel like they have a lot
of players that are of like Latin descent that give
that sason and that spark.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
So I want to play like that just on the
softball field.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I feel like you need to add to affirmation, pour
out my passion, throw a little sasong.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Sass baby.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, they I get better and spicier. I'm nowhere near
my peak.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, I don't know if it flowed as well, but
we're gonna we're gonna find a way to add that
onto it.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Because we got to add some sassong.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
It might be a little bit longer of an affirmation,
it will be long.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Right right? What's that song can I throw on today?

Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's you know, that's I feel like that's a great
question to ask yourself every day when you wake up.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
It's like, how can I add a little sas song
to the day?

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Exactly?

Speaker 4 (05:55):
You need to spice up your life, just because going
from practice to playing, and especially like in the format
that we had, it was a lot of back to
back games, back to back practice days, so you felt
the monotony of it. So it's like, how can I
make today fun? How can I make my teammates better?
How can I make myself better?

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Like?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
What sess on? Are you gonna sprinkle in to your girls?

Speaker 2 (06:16):
You know, I love it? What's your favorite sessng to
sprinkle in?

Speaker 1 (06:21):
How do you become the spark How does one really
muster up that energy to be the spark plug?

Speaker 3 (06:28):
I think the easiest way.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
I say easiest because it's very easy for me to
do is just making fun of myself or making a
joke and like making everyone laugh and like loosening everything up,
like making everyone realize, like we're on a softball field.
It is so fun to be out here, and it
is fun to just hang with your girls doing things
that you guys are really good at, you know what
I mean. Like, so I think that was probably my

(06:51):
favorite thing. Is I love making my girls laugh. That's
like my biggest thing. I learned that from my sister.
She's so funny. The show is hilarious. So I just
like kind of like keep files of like her jokes
in my head and I'll like throw them out there
with different crowds and be like.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Okay, here here, see where this too? There's this, is
this hits here?

Speaker 1 (07:11):
It's like you need to stand up comic, you se
if this one's what crowd am I working with today?

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Like looking around to seeing like who's laughing, I'll be like.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, and then it's like you gravitate towards them.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
You're you're my target audience.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Come here, you get my hand more. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Well, I hope Alia does a say, and I hope
she thinks I'm hilarious, you know, little sister, big sister.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
She's like, oh my god. Every joke you guys hear
Lia say is probably something I've uttered.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Well, we are carbon copies of our older sisters. That's
just what it is. Fun fact.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I'm just gonna throw this out there just because I
learned it recently and I think it's fascinating. Every So.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm afraid I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Elia hates it.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
So Sasha is the oldest, right, Yeah, so Shelle's the oldest.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So apparently science says that after I've got it, after
when the first child is born, there's still some DNA
from the first born child that then gets transferred to
the next poor child.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
So every every.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Child after has a little bit of their eldest sibling
in them. And so I can like a firmly take
credit for a lot of things.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
I won't do it, but.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm not telling that yet. That is like probably the
coolest thing ever.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
Like if five year old Chair least heard that, she'd
be like, I'm a piece of Sochelle. What, Like I
genuinely think that our hearts were like made the same
exact way, Like we have the same exact heart. So
hearing that as a five year old, but trying to
be like a cool twenty four year old now, I'm like, okay, whatever, whatever,
Like my sister, no, no, I still I try to

(08:57):
be like that girl. She's like, you talk about a
little ray of sunshine that's a shell, like she just
like glows as soon as she wakes up.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm like, dang, you're so happy, Oh my god, Oh
how do you feel like?

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I mean you not only being able to be close
with your system, of being able to play with her,
you know that. I feel like that's something that some
people don't get the chance to do and to have.
How would you say Sashell has impacted you as a
person and as a player.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, I'm gonna touch on when we played. I mean,
no walk off, no play that I've ever made in
my life, no World series game could have topped. Playing
with Schhelle like that was the coolest experience I've ever
had as a player. It ranks at the top, especially
seeing being on her team and seeing her get her
very last hit in her game. I was a sobbing

(09:43):
mess in the dugout because I was just like wow,
Like I've only grown up knowing my sister playing softball,
and Schelle was always the type. I'm like, a very
fearful person, like I was scared of loud. No, he's
just when I was young girl, scared of the dark.
I was scared of a lot of things, very fear
faith based culture.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
That we have.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
But sosh'all always made me feel comfortable trying things because
she would try it first, so she would do she
would go to college and play softball, she would run
a half marathon. I felt so empowered by her always
because I saw my older sister doing it. So now
seeing how much she's paved the way for me and

(10:22):
seeing her finally like close that chapter something that I
would think, I'm like, oh, I'm so scared to stop
playing softball. Seeing my sister do it in such grace
and with so many people just loving on her, it
empowered me that I'm gonna be okay when I'm done
playing softball. Of course I'm not close to being done,
but like she's just been that person that makes it
so easy for me to think that I can do anything.

(10:43):
Like she genuinely makes me feel like I can be
a superhero because I see her being a superhero.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
My girl, and that's my girl. That's my girl. Oh
what would you say?

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Is probably maybe maybe one thing that sasha Al has
said to you that's really just stuck with you throughout
your whole life and has truly empowered you.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
I think it's more actions. I love like Sochelle's so
well spoken. Schelle just like has the right words to
say when she needs to say it. I feel like
that's just like older sister one on one, Like she
just has that like gift she knows how to like
be calming in a sense, empowering in a sense. But
I think just Tochelle's actions, like every day she wakes
up and she is loyal, she is loving, Like I

(11:27):
don't think I've met anyone that puts people before herself
more than Sechelle, like as a catcher, as an older sister,
like Sochelle is never her first thought and I'm like, girl,
you can take a little something back for yourself, like
let's go get her nails done, do something, But she
always thinks of others, and just like I want to

(11:48):
be like that as a catcher. I've like tried to
really like develop my relationships with my pictures to just
be like loving, supportive, like exactly how my sister was.
So oh, I think that that is something that I
tried to emulate from my sister.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
And you also not only emulating how her actions, but
I mean you were number thirteen in honor of her,
and so being able samely heard every way when you
step on that field. What does it mean to you
to where that to wear number thirteen? Why was that
something that was important for you to do?

Speaker 4 (12:23):
It was super important for me to take on number
thirteen because it felt so safe. Again, my sister has
always been my safe space. And like I tell her,
I'm like we're definitely each other's soulmates, like our souls
were made to like coexist in this life together. And yeah,
just having thirteen, We've like always grown up thinking it
was lucky, Like whenever anyone brought up that it was unlucky,

(12:45):
it was always so lucky for our family. Whenever we
would see at thirteen, something good would happen. Or like
ever since my late grandma passed, she we've seen thirteens
and it's like a little sign that she's here, she's
with us. So it's been a really cool journey. I
think we've been thinking about getting like thirteen tattooed on us.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
We really want to do that, just to like have
that as like a sister tattoo together. But it's super.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Just it's like super meaningful to our family, and I
think it reminds me that like they have my back
because thirteen's like right there behind me, so It's just
a really cool thing. And just seeing how she was
able to carry on her legacy with Mexico, with ASU
and with AU, I was like, I hope she lets
me have thirteen after she's gone, and of course she did.

(13:31):
She was like, you can have it. So what better
way to like carry on the Polosis legacy than wearing
number thirteen?

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Love it? Did you did your dad wear thirteen?

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Speak on baseball, right.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, he played professional baseball, he played eighteen.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
So when I was at Arizona before I transferred to UCLA,
I was able to wear eighteen for two years and
thirteen for two years my literal two hitting coaches. How
crazy is that? Like my lifetime hitting coaches, my dad
and my sister. I got to split time with them,
so I was like, that's pretty cool. And then my
brother ended up wearing eighteen, so we kind of live
in that little family of like eighteen thirteen, eighteen thirteen.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Ooh, I gotta look up what that angel number is, like,
like eighteen thirteen angel numbers.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
I know that might mean something.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, well, I mean, come whether it's eighteen or thirteen.
You both being catchers? What drew you both to being
behind the dish and having so much command on the field.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah, well, you said up perfectly introducing my dad. He
was a professional baseball player. He got drafted, and so
he was a catcher, and all he knew was to
read catchers, like that's probably all he knew how to teach,
and that we literally never went to lessons. We were
just here in the garage, homegrown. So we like to

(14:46):
call our house the Factory of catchers because my little
brother was also a catcher, and so it was just
like in our blood. My dad said that Schelle came
out in a squat, and I don't know how much
I believe that, but of course little sister was always
just going to copy what Michelle did. I saw her
in the gear and I was like, sure, put me
in the gear. I didn't know what doing that was
going to equate to, like all these journeys that I've

(15:08):
had now, but yeah, it's been really cool just being
able to learn from her, ask her questions, like what
better than to have someone in your own household that
can answer those questions for you and just quickly on
the phone. I mean I call them before every single
game and I'm just like, hey, what do you think
I should do here in this situation, and just getting

(15:29):
to learn from them and even just watch them. I
feel like learning my best learning comes from watching. I'm
a very visual learner, so watching my sister play all
those years, I'm really grateful that I got the time
to be able to watch her and also just watch
such an elite player. I think that's what's bettered my
game so much, just being able to watch sashell.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Let's take a quick break to hear a word from
our sponsor. How do you feel like you've evolved as
a catcher but when you first started, when your dad
was in y'all's factory building those very first catchers too.

(16:13):
Now as a professional over all the time, you could
think of maybe one or two things that you feel like,
have you've really been able to evolve and how they
really helped you better into becoming a better catcher.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
What would you say? Those are?

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Oh great question. I love this.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
So I think we can ask my dad and my
sister and they would both agree that I was not
a very good catcher. I was very I wasn't smooth,
I wasn't quiet back there. I was just kind of
like in Spanish, it's called Thosca, so that means like
very harsh and like rough, and so they just called
me Viinthosca and I was like, oh, like, how do
I not beat Thoska? Yeah, I was getting angry. I

(16:50):
was getting so angry. I was like, damn, just like
want to be smooth. So I feel like once I
got into college and I had to catch elite, I
feel like I just had to like learn and that
was the only way I was going to start is
if I became a good receiver and if I could
throw girls out and just being athletic back there. But

(17:12):
I really noticed a change when I was in my
junior year. That was the year after I transferred to
UCLA catching Megan. I felt like I finally grew into
this confident catcher because I realized the shift.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
When I caught.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
I would always have a little bit of like fear
when I caught, I was like, oh, like I just
don't want a mistake to happen. But then quickly it
became no, I'm the quarterback of this team. And I
think a lot of that confidence came from my dad
and my sister, but also from coach I, who was
a catcher herself, and having a head coach that's a catcher,
they see the value in you. So I think she

(17:48):
never let me walk out of practice without forgetting how
much I meant to the team. So that also played
a huge part in how I saw myself in my position,
because you see a center fielder and a short stopping
the highlight, but people don't see how important a battery
may is for a picture and having the say and

(18:10):
having the pitch calling skills to be able to control
a game. So I think having coach I just be
so awesome with reminding me how important I was to
a team dynamic was something that changed my confidence level.
And then I just started taking so much pride in
being a good catcher. I wanted to minimize running on

(18:30):
the base paths. That's something that I take a lot
of pride in, and being able to keep someone parked
at first space, whether that's blocking, whether that's throwing runners out,
and then just also just being a huge voice and
advocate for the pictures and being a good pitch caller.
I think that comes a lot from my sister just
asking ton of questions of like what does your gut say?

(18:52):
Like do you go with that? Do you go with
what you would go against, what you would do if
you were hitting, and just a lot of those questions.
I think that's one thing that curiosity helped me a
lot in this asking a ton of questions. I was
never afraid to have someone give me like constructive criticism.
So yeah, I would say that that is probably what
made me an elite catcher over just being a catcher

(19:15):
and a game changer. So I think it's taking pride
in being that quarterback behind the plate.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
Taking pride in being the quarterback behind the plate, and
just like a quarterback, whether it's calling the plays or
you calling the pitches, what is your process? What does
that look like to knowing which pitch to call in
which moment in order to have the perfect pitch call it.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
I think a lot of that has to do with
knowing your pictures. I think at times I really try
to dive deep into getting to know my pictures.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
I want to know everything about them.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
I want to know their coffee order, I want to
know I want to know everything. I want to know
them like the back of their hand, you know. And
so I take pride in getting to build that relationship
because it's kind of a hard place to be in
alone in that circle and feeling like you don't have
someone to balance you out, or just feel like they

(20:09):
have your back or they know you very well.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
I think that's step one.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Also knowing their pitches, not just knowing the pitchers, but
knowing their pitches and what they do and what they
look like and how they spin and the accuracy. There's
a lot of different things that go into that, but
just knowing how they are on a certain day. If
you know their pitches, you know how they're going to
come out, you know how sometimes where their mistakes hit.
So putting that onto consideration. But I always think my gut.

(20:37):
I am like always going with what my gut tells me.
I never second guess myself because if I second guess myself,
that's when it gets hit. I've always I realized that
now in the pro and this was my second year
of pro. Whenever I second guess it, it gets hit.
And I'm like, that's teaching you not to second guess yourself.
So I have to realize that my gut feeling is

(20:57):
always right, and that like go with it, you know
what you want, and just don't overthink it. Like I
think that one thing that I take pride in is
trying to give my picture the best possible combination or
sequence that I see. But they're always going to go
with their guts. So you go with your gut, you
know what I mean. So there's never a wrong pitch call.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
So that was what I.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Grew to learn with that, always go with your gut
when you are creating the perfect sequence. Is it to
your point based on the picture or do you base
it a lot on the batter and maybe previous at
bats or what you've seen from them.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
I feel like depending on what point and seizing you
are and how many times they've seen a picture, I
think you can kind of base it off of different things.
I think first, first at bats are always go to
your picture strength. You never want to get b on
their B or C pitch. You always want to go
at them with your A pitches. So I think that's

(21:53):
important to just make sure your picture feels confident what
they're putting out there. But then later in to see
and especially this season, playing teams more than five times,
the pitchers are going to have more than fifteen at
bats off of a picture, You're going to see their
spin a lot more so, they'll be able to track it.

(22:13):
So you also want to keep kind of account of
what or what pitches have been hit by some of
the hitters.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
So I had a little notebook.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
I was always writing down what happened, what sequences happen,
and just kind of keeping track of that, making sure
that we're not making the same mistake twice, especially late
in a game. I feel like I would rather make
a mistake earlier in a game and learn something from
a hitter earlier in a game than late.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
In the game.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
So I was making sure I was taking care of that.
But also one thing that you can't be too predictable,
not just with the same hitters, but throughout the lineup.
Like there was times where I would go change up
first pitch and then be like, Okay, this next girl,
we cannot give her a change up first pitch because
she might sit it, you know what I mean, And
you just don't want to leave something there for them.
So I feel like being as unpredictable as you can

(22:59):
without just during randomness out there, but having a purpose
behind what you call I think is what sequencing to
me meant, like just making sure that each pitch had
its own intention, whether it was a setup, whether it
was a strike strike pitch or whether it was like
a pitcher's pitch. I think each one had to have
its own intention behind.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
It, purposely unpredictable, not to be purposely unpredictable when you
are a catcher in order to create the sequence. What
would you say if you were to give someone a
cheat sheet because you kind of you mentioned it a
little bit earlier.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Of wanting to be smooth or wanting to be quick?
What was the word were you like, I don't want
to be this anymore.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
I don't want to be Thoska. You want to be.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
What would you say is maybe like the cheat sheet
of things that.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Every great pitcher has, whether there's smooth, there quicks the ball,
What does that look like in order to be an
elite catcher?

Speaker 4 (23:55):
I think being an elite catcher is like I always
say this, and I am not even or if people
understand it, but like I want people not to notice
me back there. I want it to be so fluid
that people don't even really realize that I'm even catching
the ball. Like I think that one thing that I
take a lot of pride in that we were able
to steal a lot of strikes this year is presenting

(24:17):
it well to the umpire behind me. So I didn't
really care how it looked. As far as it looked,
I wanted it to look good to the umpire and
give him a clear vision behind me. And a lot
of the pitches that we got called that were chalk
got called because I presented them well to to the umpire.
So I think that's one thing, just being fluid enough

(24:39):
that you're able to present it and you don't want
to like trick the umpire like he's going to have
his own judgment anyways, but being smooth continuously and consistently
throughout a game is going to cause him to think, oh,
she's constantly hitting the strike and the catcher's constantly hit
catching it this way, it kind of has to be
a strike, so kind of towards the end they get
a little more lenient on that, I believe. So I

(25:01):
think that just being as fluid as you can in
your movements, knowing when to stop yourself and be strong
in a position with your wrist and with your glove,
but also not having too much harsh movement within your
shoulders and your body, if that makes sense, because you
don't want it to be a harsh frame. You want
it to kind of look like a baseball frame. So

(25:23):
a lot of I try to watch a lot of catchers.
I loved watching YACHTI and just being able to watch
how they are able to move up on the ball.
I know that softball is a lot different because we
have a rise ball component component to it, so there's
a lot of different moving pitches, so you can't always
just go up on a ball. But using that philosophy
of just bringing it back and being able to stick it,

(25:45):
I think is the biggest thing.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
I mean, there's nothing cooler than like the perfect frame.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Anytime I, you know, go out there and pretend I
got a catcher and I'm just trying to catch somebody.
I'm so I good finish and post like I'm trying
to get it right. Yeah, go it right into you.
But y'all make it look so pretty, so pretty another
thing you make look pretty. But as a speed player
absolutely hate are throwing runners out.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
There has to be a method to the madness.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
And when you're do you like just see do you
just know when a runner is gonna go or do
you just automatically It's just kind of one of those
things where you just have to have a quick response.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
I think I like having a quick response.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
If I know she's going, I feel like you almost
second guess yourself, like, oh, is she going. I'm a
very reaction based player. I don't like to think a lot.
I like to just let my body kind of be
on its own and like almost act like my mind
is behind me. I do anticipate things like, oh, this
would be a good time for her to run, or
they know maybe, especially with like change up pictures, it's

(26:51):
a better time for them to run on a later
account because they know I'll probably throw a change up.
I love throwing chin ups later in counts, but so
having that kind of preconceived notion that oh, they could
be going here, but not setting my mind to being like, oh,
you're throwing and then being like double pumping. So I
think just trusting my eyes and my reaction, and I

(27:12):
like I'm able to like see the entire field, so
I feel like I see a quick movement and I
know that they're going. So then I really worked on
my transfer and my arm care this year. I did
show up to the start of season with a little
bit of a hurting arm.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
And I was like, dang, my throws aren't getting there.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
I wasn't as quick, and I just felt like I
was at my peak of that like arm care that
I should have been at before I got there. So
I was like, dang, Like how am I able? So
I had to really be in rehab. I really had
to be taking care of this arm. And as soon
as I gave my arm some love, it was giving
me love back. And it was like it kind of
set it up perfectly because at the beginning it seemed

(27:51):
like my thros just weren't reaching. So I feel like
everyone was like, we can't run on sharp, But then
quickly I was like, Nope, this is not happening.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
We're taking care. Yeah. I was like, as if I
played y'all.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, well yeah, definitely to end you throughout eight runners
this season, I believe throughout eight runners this season, which
in retrospect, runners are not running as much as you
run in college. Also, seasons are not long, so that
is quite a few runners that share throughout. When you
think about being able to throw out so many runners
and being able to be smooth and fluid through it,

(28:25):
what would you say is probably the number one thing
to focus on is it the good transfer, quick, the
reaction time or the actual throw what is probably the
number one thing you need to make sure is perfect.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
I think no, not.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
I think I believe because I know that having a
quick transfer is the game changer of how you get
that ball out as fast as you can, especially players
at this level.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
I mean you, your sister.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
Everyone at the pro level is so fast, so you
do not have a second despair, not even a millisecond,
like you cannot take a second off when you are
doing your transfer. So being able to I throw mostly
from my feet, but I can throw from my knees.
But I just feel like I am very consistent on

(29:18):
my feet and I'm very quick on my feet, so
I love to go to it because I know I've
trained it very well. It's comfortable for me, and no
matter what position the ball takes me, my feet always
go back to the same position. And I'm very like
perpendicular to second base, so I'm straight on I'm going

(29:39):
towards second base, my shoulders pointed there, so I really
do trust my feet. But it's the transfer of knowing
that I can't frame, I can't stick it. As soon
as I recognize that she's going. I am like quick
in and out, and I think arm strength has always
been there for me, and I had to start taking
pride in where I placed the ball, especially with depending

(30:02):
what shortstop I had. So some shortstops will really need
you to lead them there, or some shortstops will kind
of overrun second base to try to cut them off.
So knowing exactly where you want to like thread the
needle and put the ball through is really important, especially
with knowing your runner. Some runners will try to hook slide,
some runners will go straight in, so you do have

(30:23):
to kind of manipulate where the ball is going to go.
I always like to err on the side of like
hitting the front of the base and low so that
that tag can be right there. But if I see
that someone is like kind of gaining up speed and
we want to cut them off, I really do have
to lead them into the runner in a sense, and
it just like leads them straight into the tag. So
I think ball placement that's something that during collegiate practices,

(30:47):
during practices that I have a full field and a
full team, that's what I would work on. But I
think that working by yourself and that time, just by
yourself is transfer has to be on your a game
at all points in time.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
And you say you transfer on your feet, say your
feet not going to your knees most of the time.

Speaker 4 (31:04):
Yeah, So I think going to my knees is mostly
with balls in the dirt. Like if I get a
block and I see someone's going, I'm gonna do that,
or if the ball's low, if I know I have
a drop off picture, just because I do drop a
knee to frame, I will go for my knees there.
And I kind of tell myself prior to the game,
I'm like, okay, you're going to go from your knees.
But other than that, when my reaction just tells me
to go, it's be.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Well.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
It worked for you this your second season in the
AUSL throwing out eight runners. When you reflect on your
time from your rookie season to your second year, you
quoted and you said, every year feels more and more
significant the older I get, because I feel like I
learn more lessons, learn more about myself, and grow deeper

(31:47):
in faith the longer I stick around.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
That little yellow ball.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
What would you say were some of the lessons that
you learned in your second year as professional.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Ooh, I like this question.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
I I think I learned from being on a team
atmosphere with coaches that are coaching you, and I just
realized that culture is such an important part of the game.
Something that I think other sports at times don't relate
to is there is like a key portion of baseball

(32:23):
and softball that relies on vibe, relies on a team's momentum,
on just that I don't know how to explain it.
It's that aura that you get when you're with a team,
and when you're playing with people that you love, it
really does elevate the play of everyone else. It's funny
because softball has a lot of individual moments, like you're

(32:47):
at times the only one with the ball in your hands.
You're I mean, at all times you're the only one
with the ball in your hands. There's only one ball,
so you're like you like you're hitting against the picture.
You're kind of alone up there. But that teen synergy
is what makes teams go far. And I really felt
that this year, and I hadn't felt that. I had

(33:07):
felt it in a few actually, when sshow was my captain.
I had felt that feeling of like a team camaraderie.
It felt like college. It was like, it's different to
emulate college because you're lifting together, you do team bonding,
you're with each other twenty four to seven. So to
emulate that is very hard, and I feel like the
AOSL was able to do that this season, and it

(33:28):
was just really fun to feel like a part of
a team and realize that really good teams have great players.
I feel like at this stage in our career, everyone's
really really good. But also having a team that respects
one another, loves one another, wants each other to win,
does really well as well, Like that is a factor

(33:51):
that comes in that elevates everyone else.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
There's more to cover, but first let's take a quick break.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
There was not much more elevation that needed to be
had with the talents going out and winning the very
first championship in AUSL history. And you talk about the
vibe and the energy that it takes in order to
be on a great team and to have great chemistry camaraderie.
What would you say was the energy of the talents

(34:27):
this year that allowed you guys to have so much success.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Why don't think a lot of people realized that the
first weekend we did not have a good showing.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
We got run rolled.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
We were like, what's going on, Like it was like
it was not looking good for the talents, Like what's happening.
But I think the cool part was that we knew
we had more in us and we wanted to see
what we could do. I think we were really excited
about the staff we had. I mean, having coach Lisa

(34:58):
as our GM is amazing because she just injects energy
hearing her talk. She is so infectious, and I think
everyone just bought into having Coach Lisa and having that
aura of like, we're gonna win this thing. So I
think quickly at the beginning of the season, we knew
what we wanted to be. It just it took a

(35:19):
little bit of time to like mesh together, and we
had some players that had to come in that we
didn't have our entire team yet, so it was just
a lot of like meshing trying to figure out. We
did a lot of bonding moments. We had a lot
of time together to get to know each other and
to like love each other past the chalk lines, you
know what I mean. So I think that was really cool.

(35:41):
But towards the end of season, I think we were
playing with a sense of like, we don't want to
stop playing with each other, so we have to keep
playing well so we can play in this championship series.
And then when it got to champs series, we're like, well,
we have to win this thing. We have two girls
that are gonna retire. We have to win this thing
for them, and for our coaches and for each other.

(36:04):
I don't think like the singular thought of us individually
raising the trophy was there. I think it was like
the celebration of all of us winning together. It had
to be done because we just enjoyed playing with each
other so much.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
It's there was.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Never a game that I felt like anyone was like, oh,
we have to play today, Like it was just like, no,
we get to play together today. And it was always
someone knew that was going to come through for the team,
which was really cool.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
I love that you said that that was kind of
the motto my senior year in college of you don't
have to play, you get to play today, Like especially
as it's like leaning towards the end of your collegiate career,
it's like, oh no, this is really this is really
coming to an end. I get to play it. You
get a new found of gratefulness and energy to play

(36:49):
when you have that mentality.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Do the talents have a motto as you guys were
moving through the season or something that you guys frequently
said that kept the energy and the vibes high.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
He really bought into the cause, like we would caw
and throw up our talent, and we were like corah everywhere,
Like even when we were passing by each other in
the hotel, we'd be cawing. We like would say, you're
the flog protect the nest. Like I think when we
went to Utah, we had visited Coach Amy's house because
obviously Hannah's in alum and we went to her house

(37:23):
and she had this like thrifted painting that said bless
this nest. And I went up to Amy and I
was like, can I have this? Like this would be
awesome for our dugout. So we grabbed it and we
took it along with us, Like Coach Kirk, he took
it with him and he's like, Yep, we're gonna take it.
And I think everyone was just really bought into creating
a culture for our team that it never felt goofy.

(37:47):
It never felt weird. I think those are the things
that a team kind of like buys into and seeing
everyone buy into it in the same extent that you
do makes you like love it. So I loved like
throwing up my claws and like cawing. Even in the
Champs Cup, we were doing the same thing. When we'd
see each other in obviously different teams, we'd be like

(38:08):
ah and instantly you'd like look over and this like no,
it was your teammates. So I think that was really fun.
That was something that we all bought into and no
one was shy about it. Like we loved repping the
talents to call.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
I gotta say, did you guys have any cheers? I mean,
any original cheers that popped up with these with this
car and all the protect.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
The nests, Yeah, protect the nests, Bless this nest. No,
there was a few cheers.

Speaker 4 (38:35):
I feel like we kind of went back to like
our roots and like youth baw and like reck bawn
stuff like that. We would do like a lot of
like goofy cheers, and I feel like everyone had cheers
from like different parts of their softball career that they
would just throw out, like I really have to shout
out Nadia Taylor because she is like the dugout like

(38:56):
vibe that everyone like emulated and we kept bringing up.
We're like, dang, Nadia would do this cheer and she
was just such a funny teammate and such a cool
like we were talking about culture, like Nadia Taylor breeds culture.
She breeds people to like gravitate towards her. So we
used a lot of her cheers that she would do
during au prior And yeah, I feel like everyone would

(39:20):
just bring out cheers that they remembered from their times before,
and everyone would just buy into be like, hey, how
did you do this cheer? And I mean it was
just really fun, Like everyone was very lighthearted when we
did stuff like that, and it wasn't judgmental at all,
Like everyone would just do their thing, buy into it,
and continue on with it.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Oh, Nadia, Well the freaking going up and you guys
take the champ series in two? What led to that
those victories and ultimately becoming the champions on top of
the vibe, on top of being able to be there

(40:01):
for one another in the tears when it comes down
to the actual game play and being able to step
up to the play. What do you really feel like
was paramount for the talents that led you guys to victory.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
Like I said before, I feel like the talents never
relied on one player to win the game. I feel
like it was collectively. We all played the game and
each person came up clutch, like it was down to
the wire who was going to come up clutch, And
it was every single game that we felt like was
the championship game in regular season, someone different would come

(40:33):
up and be clutched like it was so cool because
we would talk about it at the end of the game.
We had like a debrief and we would talk about, Oh,
she did this good to set up her to finish
it in the seventh or she did this good, and
we would just give each other a lot of praises
and recognize the good stuff that happened throughout the game.

(40:54):
That we realized at the end of the season that
everyone had gotten a shout out. At that point, we're like, dude,
everyone had one or two games that they came up
big for the team, and I just I have to
shout out the staff, like our pitching staff.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
I'm happy I did not have to hit off of them.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
They were nasty, nasty, like you had Georgie with that
wicked change up.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Like that change up is humbling, to say the least.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
And then you get Megan turning into Megatron and just
like she is the type of player that when the
game is on the line, you want her on the mountain,
Like she just turns it up a notch and she
knows when to turnaround. She's like literally like Kobe, It's
like so cool. It's like she just like gets this
mentality that almost like her mind quiets more when the

(41:48):
stakes are higher. I remember us being in Oklahoma against
the Volts and it was like bases loaded. It was
like she came in in like a pinch situation and
she like delivered for us. And like I've seen that
so many times as a Bruin, but seeing it in
the talent's uniform, it like kind of resurrected something in me.
My collegiate self came back out and I was like

(42:09):
that was so cool. Like I get to be Megan's
number one fan.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
How cool.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
And then Montana obviously is like this was the first
time I really got to like work with her and
like be her battery mate, and she is just on
another level.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
She just knows what she wants to throw.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
And when she gets in that mode, it's like I
even kind of want to move out the way. I'm
like ooh, like I'm not gonna mess with her. And
then we had Raylan who was our rookie that was
like no one knew what they were gonna get with
this little girl, that little grunt, and she would come
out and shove shove, shove, shuhs. She had so many

(42:47):
tools in her arsenal that I was just out there
with my PitchCom I was like playing around with all
of that.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
I was just like, let's see what this looks like. Here,
let's see.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
It was so fun to call for her, and she
was just so bought into whatever you want her, whatever
you want. And I was like, come here, my little
sweet baby, ray I love you. And then we had
our crafty lefty in Mariah Lopez that in college she
was a feared picture, but she got here and was
able to come into her own and I think playing

(43:16):
at her alma mater really just set her back into like, yeah,
I really know who I am, and sometimes you just
need that little reminder of who you are and not
like who you were and I loved seeing her develop
and our friendship be able to develop, and seeing her
get the success that she deserved. And sometimes it's not

(43:36):
a glorious path all the way throughout a season. That's
not realistic. But she was able to really create something
for herself that I think she could say she's really
proud of and I'm really really proud of her. But
she was like so nasty. She was at times hard
to catch because of how much spin she produced.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
To the way you.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Describe it, there's a way you guys were not going
to win. You you hyped everybody up. Everybody. I loved it.
You get a shout up, you get a shout out,
you get a shout up. But that really proves to
the point of just how stacked you were.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
And you talk about vibes, and you talk about being
able to really celebrate your teammates and any moment could
be anybody's moment. It really sounds like you guys, no
matter who it was, was prepared for that moment. You
also being prepared for every single moment. You were a
three time game MVP in your pro debut season. This season,
you've had walk off home runs that help win the games,

(44:32):
you being a big pivotal portion to the talents winning
the championship. Now that you've been able to say that
you are you've been a history maker. You are a
champion in the first inaugural season of AUSL.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
When you hear those words and they sink into.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Who you are and who you're going to be for
the rest of your life as a professional athlete, what
does what does that feel like to know that you won?

Speaker 2 (44:56):
And in those moments when you did win, how did
it feel?

Speaker 4 (45:00):
I mean winning and being able to lift up the
trophy and have like the champagne showers. It was like
everything that I've dreamed of, Like I wanted to like
know what it was like to be in that team
room after a win.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Like when I would watch the World Series.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
For baseball, I'd be like, Wow, that is like so cool,
Like I want to experience that one day. And I
always felt like I was like, dang, like I never
got that chance after the Women's College World Series to
do that. Like we kind of got that feeling after
Supers when we moved on, Like there was a lot
of like like that ecstatic feeling of like, oh my gosh,

(45:35):
we did it. We made it, but being able to
finish off a season and just enjoy with people that
you genuinely care for and like you didn't want it
to end. It was like something that like I wanted
like those days to like go on forever, Like I
wanted to parade in Tuscaloosa for us so we could
walk out, like I just wanted it to never end.

(45:55):
And just being able to say that I'm the inaugural
season champion is so special because I feel like seeing
what everyone has gone through for softball prior to me,
Like that's talking about Sichelle, that's talking about Lisa Fernandez,
that's talking about everyone that came before us to kind

(46:16):
of like leave the sport better than they found it.
I felt like it was raising up not just the talents,
but raising up softball, Like to get that type of
recognition on ESPN, be able to have Sephora like invest
in us, like having people see us and elevate us
the way that I feel like softball players should have
always been elevated is so so cool. Just having that

(46:39):
moment for softball in general, I think was bigger than
just like history made for the AUSL was history made
for softball itself, so I think that's something that was
really special.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
History starts now, it's started with the talents. Its going
to continue to.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Move forward, and right now we're gonna move forward into
the no fly zone segment. You as a catcher, you
are very responsible for helping turn the field into a
no fly zone, whether it be the sequence calling or
you laying out and making those catches yourself.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
What would you say is probably your favorite play that
you've made in your career?

Speaker 3 (47:24):
Ooh, that is a tough one. Okay, So I love
tagging out runners at home plate.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
Like I think that that is like so cool, just
because like a lot of the times I have to
like dive towards them because they want to be sneaking
come around the plate and I'm like, girl, this is
my dish, Like baby, no, you can't touch it. But
I think also one play that is like really underrated
it like kind of flies under the radar or the

(47:54):
dropping to a block blocking seeing there going in and
having to throw them out. That happened once my senior
year in the twelve tournament against my old team actually Arizona,
And I think it was so hard because as a
catcher to have that all happen within a matter of seconds,
Like a runner gets to second base within three seconds.
So have all having all those drills that you practice

(48:17):
individually come together in one moment, in one play in
under three seconds is kind of insane, and you kind
of think to yourself, like, how did I just do that?
How did I just throw that accurately and get up
and throw the ball from being in a drop like
a dropping a block position like that is insane to me.
So I think those two are like tied. Like maybe

(48:37):
having like a throw and like diving to like stop
the runner from touching home play and dropping to a
block and throwing out a runner at second base, they're
like tied.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
The ones where they're like it's the close call at
the plate where you have the tag, you know, everyone's
just holding their breath is like recently when we watched
was it the Yankees the other day when that it
was a close play at the play anyway, Yeah, when
you're just watching those games, just just and as someone
that's ran for those moments to try to make those

(49:07):
close plays, it's like, Okay, you're like anticipating as a runner,
I'm anticipating where you're gonna be I'm like watching your
body movements to anticipate where the because you can't see
the ball being thrown, right, so I'm like anticipating, Okay,
she's moving this way a little bitil oh no, she
made that one step, the ball is probably gonna come here.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
So like I'm analyzing where it is. I have to
go to the play.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
And it's so interesting listening to you because you're probably
doing the same exact thing, like Okay, she's gonna go
this way.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
And like to go and make that to make that play.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
It's it's I wish we could just be like miked
up and you just hear our thoughts, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
As those plays are our babes played out.

Speaker 4 (49:42):
It is so hard because one these runners are fast, girl,
Like they'll touch third pace and they're already halfway to me,
and I'm like, oh my god, like slow down, babe,
slow down, like give me a second, give me.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
A second to breathe.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
But it's that and it is like such a skill
that I don't think I'll ever get in my facet
of like playing. But like fly, like these slides are insane,
like people do swim moves they like I can never
do ahead slide like these swim moves. I'm like, I
wish I could like do that and like look good

(50:15):
and like not get hurt, but like I don't think
I would ever be able to do that. But like
also just like when people dive head first, I'm like,
more props to you, because I think I would be
so afraid diving into like a wall like me, like
that's also diving at you.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
I would be very afraid.

Speaker 4 (50:33):
But it's like it's really an art of like being
able to slide into like a base, and like trying
to avoid a tag that is like in itself is
really really hard. I'm happy I get to just tag,
not like try to slide in and like dive and
like do all these things.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Are you pissed whenever they do? Like the obstruction stuff, Oh.

Speaker 4 (50:52):
My god, do not, even if you want to ruin
my day, bring up the obstruction role. But I had
obviously I brought her up.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Coach.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
I a coach that was like, the game is not
gonna end with an obstruction rule. So we're gonna we're
gonna go against it. We're we're gonna train against it,
and we're gonna prepare you so that they don't even
have a choice. So I prepared a lot against the
obstruction rule. But I'm telling you that obstruction rule be
pissing me off because sometimes when I see that arm
go up, I'm like, I know you couldn't see that play,

(51:21):
so you just threw the arm up, you know what
I mean, Like it was just like sometimes it does
get me angry, But I have learned and taught myself
to make sure that I rule that out of an
umpire's mind.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Give them no reason to even think to throw that
arm out.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Don't even let their thought.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Yeah, it's like you want to pause, quick pause? Do
you see how much space she I'm giving her? Okay,
so don't even think about calling it. Here we go play.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Yeah, it's continue.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
Yeah, literally, like look as the balls hit, look back
at him, be like yeah right, okay, wherever this.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Ball goes, I have to catch it, okay, like you.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
No, I love my umpires like I always I try
to create a relationship with them too, because they have
a hard job too, So I'm always wanting to like
talk back and fork with them throughout the game and
just like get feedback from them. I mean, I told
you I'm a sponge. I always want to ask questions
and get the most amount of feedback.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
So I get it.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
I'm like, but I just don't want to even give
them a thought. I don't want a thought to be
created in their minds that an obstruction can come up
with me, Like, don't you worry, babe, I got this.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
I got this.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Oh That's how I feel whenever they call slappers out.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
I'm like, you did not see that. You didn't see
Why are you watching my foot? There's no way.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
Yeah, so there's no way you saw that. I we're
watching this ball was a striker, not anyway. I digress.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
I like, there's some things that just stick with you,
you know, Like I don't care how the rules change
or develop or the game develops. There's some things that
just stick with you and just like instantly, if someone
brings it up, it just pokes at you, like just
that's my trigger point.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
It's it's like, how much time you got you're sure
you want to we want to revisit this question because
I can talk about it. Lord, thanks for stacking us
from first to second base. We'll be robbing third after
the breaks. Well, in this game, when it comes to failures.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
We have all experienced it.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Whether it is somebody calling the obstruction call, whether it's
being called out for stepping on the line and slapping
or what have you, or just going out and trying
to be successful and ultimately we met with failure before
you can reach that success when it comes to failure, though,
we know that it's a part of the game. For you, Sharp,

(53:49):
what would you say is maybe your favorite failure that
has ultimately led to some of your biggest successes.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
Oh, that is you are coming with the amazing questions.
Like I love getting in a read by you because
you really make me dig deep. I love this like
idea because you're able to like look back around your
career and not just see it as like a highlight reel.
Like really, I think the most beautiful part of softball
is that I think the most exciting moments come.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Right after failure.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Like I feel like the game really truly does know
who's batting, oh for three, who's having a bad attitude?
Who's I genuinely believe that, Like maybe that's just me
because I believe in like karma's gonna like find its
way like to you, I don't know, maybe that's my
thought process. But even at UCLA, their biggest model was
it's not what you do, it's what you do next,

(54:39):
It's how you approach the next opportunity. And I'm so
lucky that I've always gotten the next opportunity. I've always
been able to try again and like dust myself off
and try again.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
And I remember.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
In my season that my senior season for UCLA, we
had a lot of comeback wins, and it was like
I saw it, like early in the game we'd get
punched in the mouth and just feel like we're getting
over here, plummeted, and then we never gave up. That
was like such a cool part of like being a
part of a team that we had so much fight

(55:16):
and we had no ounces in us that we're gonna
give up until the very last bitch. And it was
so cool because even in my senior season or my
senior day, we were down a deficit of like seven
to zero and like we were about to get run rolled.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
On my senior day at home, I was like, this
is not how they were writing in the movies, babe,
Like this is not how this is supposed to go.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Can't go?

Speaker 4 (55:40):
Like this can't go like this, and it's like that's
when the best stories are written. Like all of us
could have been just like, okay, fine, run roll us
on our senior day, whatever, get it over with.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
But all of us were.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
Like, no, we are not getting run rolled on our
senior day. And it was a lot of seniors that
we had all played together on travel ball. We were like, no,
this is not gonna happen. So we like dug deep
and strung long hits. I like, it was just so cool.
I was able to get a grand slam to tie
the game up and continue on. And in that last

(56:14):
inning that we played, every single senior on that team
got to hit that last inning to score a run.
It was like, how do you even know?

Speaker 3 (56:25):
How do you even come up with this storyline? Softball?

Speaker 4 (56:27):
Like softball is like a producer and a director for
like Hollywood, Like I'm telling you, like they love the plots,
they love the drama. Loves the drama. Like it's like
what's gonna be the most team right now?

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Like what is? What is? What are we gonna get
out of this?

Speaker 4 (56:44):
And it was like so cool because even if I
try to write it out, I don't think I could
write it any better. It was like so cool to
see how that all came together. And it was just
like even after that, you don't even believe that you
are a part of that. You're like, wow, I was
lucky enough to be a part of a tea that
had that type of like game, that history that I

(57:04):
feel like we even bring it up to this day
when I go back and Coach I will bring it up,
Coach Lisa will bring it up. That was just like
a really cool moment that you remember those games, you.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Know, Softball, Cinderella Story.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
You're just so poetic a j like you are, Like
everything you say is like a mic drop.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Thanks. I can't Mike, I can't drop this retire get pissed.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
But I would though, And it like, how far is
UCLA from the San Fernando Valley?

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Oh, I don't know. I actually this is gonna sound
really bad. I don't know where the Sand Fernando Valley is.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Well, you know when people are like, oh, I live
in LA, I'm like, oh, you live in LA, like
the valley.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
I think it's.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Oh the valley. Okay, so the valley, So we live
Like right now, I'm with you. Now I'm lotin.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
I could be very wrong, but I think.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
So right behind UCLA is like bel Air, like literally
the gates to get into like this beautiful neighborhood that
like like Kylie Jenner probably like lives in there. Like
we'll make jokes like hit it to Stormy, Like that
was our joke our senior year, like hit it to Stormy,
So we would like it was always really cool because

(58:15):
I feel like at times you would always see people
either at like Century City Mall, which is like right
next to school, or like even just driving into bel Air,
like I saw Angelina Jolie one time and I was like,
wait game. I was like, please, you'll love women's soft Yeah,
I promise, But it was like you you really were

(58:36):
in the heart of La and we were just a
little piece of it. But our like life in that
little piece at Eastern Stadium was like we thought we
were like the hottest hot girls in LA.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
We're like, oh yeah, like this is.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
This We are the real deal baby, as we have
like people that are like shooting movies and stuff like that.
It was really cool. Like, but I'm actually not sure
how far it is from the valley. I know it's
only two hours from So my family was at every game. Baby,
they were there. The Plasios crew was, they were together.
We ran deep. Especially my senior day. I was like

(59:10):
I felt like I was hugging people for hours after
the game, like hours. But it was so cool that
that weekend was really really fun.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
In the San Fernanda Valley And you've seen the movie
Cinderella Story, right, yes, okay, right, well there she like
is in the wherever the San Fernando Valley is, That's
where she is. So I was like, god, yeah, So
I was like, oh, maybe it genuinely is, you know,
like it rains and it's all magical. I'm like, oh yeah,
it really was a stop ball Cinderella Story near the send.

Speaker 4 (59:39):
You really bring that out of like a deep part
of my brain. The Cinderella Story. I me and my
sister loved that movie. But it was like just like
thinking of it, like it opens up with the San
Fernando Valley.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
That's so funny.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Well, Cinderella Story. Favorite failures being able to be Sharplasio's
and making the history that you are no matter what
it is. During your player.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Spotlight, Nil Hispanic pro quoted you saying it is more
than stats.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
It's who you are when the game ends. You are
nowhere near the end. But shar who is Charlie's palasios.

Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
I would love to say that Shirley's philastios is a
chie spat She's energetic, she just loves what she does.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
I love to get to.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Call myself a professional softball player as my job occupation.
Like that is the coolest thing to me. That's what
I wanted to do since I was younger. I love
this game. I love the people that it allows me
to meet, the places that I get to go, the
experiences I get to do, all these like all these
really cool moments, I like really savor them. So I

(01:00:49):
want to say that I was very grateful, like I
have really been intentional with like I said, with my faith,
but also like practicing gratitude. I think it's something that
has made my life so much sweeter, Like I'm seeing
everything from such a more beautiful lens because I get
to look at everything from looking at it from like
the behind and being like, Wow, I'm so grateful and

(01:01:10):
so lucky that this is what my life is. So
I think that I would always want to be remembered
as grateful as energetic and fun and funny, and just
whenever anyone saw me doing what I love, that it
truly looked like I loved it and that I like
poured myself into it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Some days it's hard. Some days it's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:27):
Gonna be like, dang, I really just want to hit
that little yellow ball. But like at the end of
the day, like going out to eat with my friends afterwards,
or like being able to hang out with my family
after a game, like that's the most important part. I
feel like this game has brought together so many a
plus people that I think that's what I'm going to
remember at Like, it's the in between moments that I'm

(01:01:47):
going to remember.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
It's like when you trying to figure out where we're
gonna hit as players, it's like, okay, I always find
find the in between, find the hole and for it.
It's bringing it back to how poetic softball in life is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
It really is all.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
About all the things in between, whether you're on the
field or off that that makes soft all fun.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Yeah, it's I feel like it's everything that everyone remembers too,
Like people can bring up I mean, obviously the big
games will remember, but like certain games that we played
in the middle of the week, in the middle of nowhere,
we're like, oh, yeah, what even happened that game? But
if we bring up a joke that was a running joke,
oh my god, like everyone will play off.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
Of it and be like, you know, but you look
like this or you said.

Speaker 4 (01:02:32):
This, and everyone remembers every part of like a car
ride or like where we went to go eat that
one place, or like something happened at a nail salon
on our off day. Like those in between moments of
like in between when you're actually playing, I feel are
like the funniest, the most memorable parts of the year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
My favorite are the the insanely quiet rides after a
loss and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Like don't you dare laugh And like I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Good in situations like that, like situation wh I'm not
supposed to laugh?

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
I find hilarious. I don't know why. Anyway, those are like.

Speaker 4 (01:03:14):
It's like a really it's a curse because even like
something will happen here in my house and like someone
will get hurt, and my first instinct is to like laugh,
and I'm like, wait, are you okay? It's it's bad,
It's really bad. So I was like, dang, am I
like a bad person? Like no, it's just I think
my immediate response is to like make it like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
Light light of the situation.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
That's how we Yeah, so those quiet bus rides, you
know you have that one teammate that you just like
cannot look at it. You almost have to close your
eyes and just be like like not right now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Oh man, what a time well from your career, from
when you first started to being that spark plug that
she SPA to Arizona UCLA professional softball player Talents AUSL champion,
you have truly thrown all the SaaS song we can

(01:04:09):
think of possible to make everything more fun and exciting.
And as we talked about earlier, you really looking up
to your otest sister Saschelle will we say Olympics is
maybe on the path as well.

Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
You know what, I just saw something that said, like
you have not because you have not asked. So I
am praying that that is in my path. And if
it's in my path, then it's God's will and it'll
happen and I'll be happy either way, because you know what,
God has really blessed me in this life. If it's
for me, my name's already written on it by him,
So I'm just letting what he thinks is going to

(01:04:45):
happen play out, And obviously that's always the goal.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Like I think I have.

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
Prided myself on saying that I'll know when I'm done playing,
and the game will tell me. So I'm just like
waiting on when it's gonna tell me. I'm waiting on
that little whisper like, hey girl, maybe this is your
last year, maybe it's time to just hang up the cleats.
So I'm I'm really striving for that. That's what I'm
training for every single day, like is being able to

(01:05:12):
do that and join Team USA in that journey. But
if it's also not, I all, one of my other
goals is to just enjoy every day that I get
to lace up my cleats.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
That's like my biggest thing.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
So I'm excited for what's to come, and i know
that I'm confident that I'll know exactly when it's my
time to hang it up to do certain things. And
I'm lucky that I have teammates that also are really
deep in their faith that can remind you of that too.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
It's already written and as you go back to our
affirmation today I will listen more than I speak poor
passion and stas song.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
Every day I get better. I am nowhere near my peak.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
I'm so excited to watch you continue to climb those
mountains to get to that peak. Thank you so much
for joining me shar on dropping diamonds.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
Thank you Ada.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
You were literally the best in the game at this,
like what you were so good? Like I get to
meet your sister, and I just love the way she's taught.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
I told I literally told the Leah this.

Speaker 4 (01:06:17):
I was like, I can listen to you talk for
like ages, like you could be like my green noise
at night, like it's so soothing. But just you and
her are like, oh my god, you guys speak so well.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
You guys are so.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
Like, oh my god, you guys are just like so
good at what you guys do, Like, oh, it's actually incredible.
Like I don't think I've gotten the chance to really
get to know you like this, but wow, you are
just like ugh, like a breath of fresh air, Like
this was the easiest convers I think the only easier
conversation would be like with Sash, like genuinely, like.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
That means so much to me.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
They know like that means so much, like thank you, No,
like what a gift you have? Like what gift from God?
That's awesome? Oh sure, no need no, like can we
virtual hunt right now?

Speaker 4 (01:07:08):
No? I just love seeing like God's gifts for other people,
Like how cool is that that he gave each of
us these like beautiful little things that we get to
like showcase, like, wow, you were just so good at this,
Like every question I was like very like my first
instinct was like, whoa, that was a very good question.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
I think I said it like five times of this,
like my God.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Okay, So Shar I's gonna come back for another episode
because I just want to be a firm like that again.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
But until then, thank you so much, Shar and thank
you guys all so much for listening today's episode.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Make sure you continue to listen and learn on.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Instagram at Dropping Diamonds pod, and remember to listen wherever
you get your podcasts. I will meet you all back
here next week, back on the diamond Bye for now,
don't forget add a little sasong to your day.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Bye.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with athletes Unlimited Softball Link and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. I'm your host, AJ Andrews. Our
executive producer is Jesse Katz. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer,
and this episode was mixed and mastered by Mary Do.
Listen to Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app,

(01:08:30):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.