Leah Amico 6-29-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart Radio app. We are coming from
the Donovan and Jorgenson Heat and Coolian studios. You know,
it's gotten really hot, So any issues you're having with
your your air conditioner go to Donovan Jorgensen dot com.
You had a chance to be Chris from Donovane Jordian.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, he did a great job getting our air conditioning going.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's awesome, that's good. They're a great group of people. Again,
largest employee owned HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin.
I am Mike McGivern alongside the head pastor from Brookside
Baptist Church. He is my co host most of the time.
Most of the time the numbers go way up when
he's out of town. I can tell you that he's

(00:44):
Pastor Ben Teller pastor.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
How you been, Oh, Mike, I'm really glad to be
with you. I'm excited about our guest today.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Je.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Can I say something Every once in a while, you
have a guest on and you look at their bio
and you feel like you're reading your own bio. Like
three time Olympic gold medal. It just sounds just like me.
USA softball. Two time World champion, three time NCAA National Champion,
National Softball Hall of Fame inductee, three time First Team

(01:16):
All American, three times first This is the only one
that threw me a little bit. Three time first team
All Academic All Americans that would have been sound like me,
didn't sound like me at all. Is there a church
Softball All American thing?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Because hey, you can't hit a rise ball, cannot you
can get.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
A slow pitch. In fact, James, who's producing the show,
he was on the field the last swing that I
had and for a brookside team, and I swang and missed.
I was twelve or twelve going in and then I
swang and missed. And my wife has not yet this
two years ago, still like, hey, did you really miss that?

(01:53):
Isn't it underhand? Yes? Isn't the softball like this big? Yes, honey,
it's that big. So she's still our special guest for
the entire hour. Not only all the things that I
talked about, three time Olympic gold medalists. I'm going to
put author in this as well, because she is an author,
and we're going to talk about a couple of the
books she's written and one that's just come out. Our

(02:16):
special guest Leah O'Brien, Amico. Leah, how you Ben, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
I'm doing great, So excited to be on with both
of you. Excited to just share a little bit about
all that God's been doing recently.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, I want to thank Tom Roy for the introduction
to for you and I a number of years ago.
But Tom Roy has been such a big piece of
faith in the zone. And I know that he has
been a mentor a little bit to you, and he
has been a guy that you have gone to and
I know that you guys talk quite a bit. We
are such a big fan of Tom Roy and the

(02:49):
great work that he does, and he's always got time
for people, and you feel like you're the most important
person in his life. And I just thank him for
all the work that he does, and you know, as
he said, it's all for the Kingdom, and he just
keeps going. I can tell you this, Lee. A number
of years ago, we had him on when he retired

(03:10):
from UPI, and twenty four hours later he was unretired
and he had started a whole new career kind of
thing as an author and as a coach, and we
just can't thank him enough for the time and the
great context that he's given us for faith in the zone.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, Tom Roy is just one of the most quality
human beings. And it really does come down to the
fact that he loves Jesus so well and because of that,
he loves other people and he lives out of faith
and he's bouled about it. And you know, of course
I obviously share a passion for bat and ballsport and
have that background like he had it in baseball. But
I think just ultimately the passion to say, Okay, God

(03:50):
has given us this platform to share Jesus. There's a
reason he takes us to the people that he does
in these sports a lot of times. And so yes,
I was fortunate to come across meeting him a couple
of years back and over COVID. We were on weekly
calls together, ministry calls, just sharing about things that God
was doing. And you know, I agree with you just

(04:10):
the stuff he's written, really a leader through and through,
and some of that I respect in such a big way.
So I completely agree with everything that you say about
Tom Boy.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Hey, Leah, this is Pastor Ken and I appreciated you
talking and about the platform that you know, God has
given Tom that God has given you and others that
we've had on the program. In fact, when Tony Dungee
was on, that was one big aspect of his message
was God has given me this platform that I can

(04:41):
actually share my faith. And that's really kind of how
Faith in the Zone began. We wanted to get people
that are you know, are you know, proficient in their
sport and also willing to come on and share and
share their life and share their life in Christ. And
so I appreciate your direction there of Hey, this is

(05:02):
God's platform for me, and we're thankful that you're using it.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. And you know, obviously
I was in the Olympics and I have gold medals,
but my name was never the one in lights, you know,
especially when I got to the highest level. But I
was a part of three national or you know, three
national championships in college and then three Olympic teams. And
I feel like my message because the Lord has sent
me out, is that reminder to the importance of every

(05:27):
single person on God's team, every one of us. We
might have a background role, we might not be a
name that people know but God knows it. God sees
you see what we do, how we do it, and
it does matter to him. And really, you know, there
are many rewards waiting for us in heaven, even if
on this earth it you know, you could fall into
that comparison game. So I appreciate you saying that, and
to me, it just it means so much that I'm

(05:48):
just I think it's really that availability and saying Lord,
I will go where you send me. I'll go scared,
I'll go willingly Jesus, because I know wherever you take
me that the Holy Spirit's going to be present and
you'll give me what I need to say.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Hey, guys, as we talk with Leah Amico, if you
want to know more about her, go to Leah Amico
dot com. It's one word l E A H. Leah
Amico A M I C O dot com and you
can take a look at a number of different things,
listen to a couple podcasts that she's done, but you
can learn a lot about her. One of the quotes

(06:23):
on that website, for me, it wasn't a quote. It's
more of a paragraph about Lea's journey and says this,
Leah's journey proves that success is more is about more
than talent. It's about mindset, preparation, and resilience. She shares
your experience to help others unlock their full potential and

(06:43):
achieve greatness in their own lives. When you get a
chance to hear from somebody that's done all of the
things that Lee has done in the world of softball,
but think higher than that, you know, this is a
faith based woman who believes that, listen, I'm doing this
these things in my life for a number of reasons,

(07:03):
want to possibly help people become better athletes, better softball players,
but then to weave in the faith side of it
is very important to her, and she's come out with
a new book. It's called gold Standard Softball Journey. What
I didn't know until I started doing more prep for
this is she's written a number of books. And Leah,

(07:25):
if I had asked you when you were a junior
senior in high school, if I had said, look, there's
going to be a day that we have you on
a radio show talking about your faith, talking about all
of these accomplishments, and then say, listen, you're also going
to be an author of three or four books at
that point, what would you have.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Said to me, Oh, I would have said, there's absolutely
no way, that is not even possible. That's for all
the other people out there that are the writers and
the smarter people. In my mind, it's funny because I
never felt like that was even a possibility. And that's
why I love about the Lord is he takes you
step by step and he just helps.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
You create with his spirit in you.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
You know.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
And I again, I just I'm a big supporter and
proponent of sharing with people the importance of just taking
action where God is leading you because look what it's created.
I never feel like equipped. I never feel like I'm capable.
And then I look back and I'm like, wow, Lord,
that was all your hand and me just saying yes
and being willing to step into it. I'll tell you,

(08:29):
the process is hard. There were so many days I
wanted to give up. There were so many days of doubt.
But it would be people like Tom roy a mentor
that I have different people that I would look to
my own family that I would just like be able
to take a breath and say, just keep going. Tomorrow
will be a little better. So yeah, I wouldn't have believed.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
It Hey, Leah, let's go back a little bit if
you could tell us a little bit about, you know,
where you grew up and when was it that you
thought the softball thing was something that was going to
be a passion that, obviously, as we've talked about, has
become now a huge platform for you.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
I loved softball. My parents signed me up when I
was little. I started playing travel ball when I was
thirteen years old, and it was kind of just the
step of being recruited by a team that said, hey,
we want to play nationally. You know, I know we
just playing locally, but we'd love to go play nationally.
But when I was fourteen and our team won Nationals
and I was a winning pitcher and so I out
of fifty two teams in the US, only two from

(09:26):
southern California, where I was from, and we took first place,
I would say that's when the dream for the next level,
which was college. At that time, I thought college was
a means to an end. I loved softball, but I thought, Okay,
it'll help me get to college, It'll help me get
an education. I was the first in my family to
graduate from a four year school, and so just being
able to even have that experience. I thought that was it.

(09:47):
And then God, just when I got to college, not
only got a hold of my heart in such a
deep way through athletes and action the ministry on campus,
I thought I knew God. But it took a teammate
who was full of the Holy Spirit and living for
Jesus fervently and according to the Bible to show me
one she had something I didn't have, and too invited
me to Bible study, and it allowed me to say, Okay, God,

(10:10):
I want to follow you. I had the answer to say,
I asked you in my heart, but there there was
no knowledge of the Word of God. There was no surrender.
I did not make him Lord. I wanted a savior,
of course, but so and I find it. You know,
just the way the Lord works is that it was
the same time that I was surrending my life to
Jesus that I was about to go on to that
international stage with softble. And that's when the USA stuff

(10:32):
opened up. And my freshman year of college, we won
the national championship at Arizona, and I thought, it doesn't
get better than this. This is it is what every
little girl in softball would dream of and then they
said softball is going to be in the Olympics for
the first time ever in three years. This is back
in nineteen ninety six the first time it was in
the Olympic Games, and it was my senior year of
college and I made that team as a twenty one

(10:53):
year old. And so it was just like one step
after another after another. And I feel like that's just
the way the Lord works and moves. He doesn't give
the whole staircase. He just gives you one step at
a time.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
And so really every step you took, it sounds like
you were saying, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Yeah, yeah,
here's another opportunity.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
So hey, Lea, did you get recruited by Oklahoma?

Speaker 3 (11:16):
That's so funny, you know, actually talking with them a
number of years ago, Patty Gassa from Oklahoma had me
come and share with her players. But one of the
things they said is when we first played Arizona, we
realized we were a bunch of girls and they were
a bunch of women, and that became our goal. So
her motto to this day is that we get softball
players that are girls and we make them into women.
And they just said they would see what our team did,

(11:38):
and we were that. We were the Oklahoma of our day.
But right before I got to Arizona, Ucla was the
team to beat. They had all the history. And then
when I got to Arizona, theyd won one national championship
and I was a part of three more, and now
they have eight and now Oklahoma is essentially that team
of the last decade and a half.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yew who was the coach at Arizona, then Mike care He.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Was my Olympic coach in my last Olympics. He coached
two Olympic Games two thousand and four and two thousand
and eight. But I was able to finish my career
on Team USA with him as well.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
You know, uh, Leah, I don't know anybody a bigger
softball fan of Oklahoma than Pastor Kim Keller. And for
two and a half two and a half years, he
has told me that he's good. He's going to get
the head coach from from Oklahoma to come on on
Faith in the Zone and I just keep rolling my eyes.
Now he's going to try to contact for her husband

(12:35):
and get him to come on and then maybe show
join him. So, Leah, if you ever talked to her.
Let her know there's a pastor in Milwaukee that's the
coast of faith in the zone that I'm telling you.
If we get her on the show, I don't know,
He's not going to sleep for a week. He'd be
so excited.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Well, Maddy Gasso will come on for you, guys.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
I'm friends with her.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
She will absolutely do Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
And I'll tell you so. My wife and I turned
on again. It was a championship game with Oklahoma against Florida,
and it went seventeen innings and I think Shane Knight
or some yeah. I think Shane hit yeah night and
hit a home run. I looked at my wife, I go,

(13:20):
I'll tell you what. I had no idea this was
on TV. But I am hooked now, Honting. I am
totally in because I love fast pitch softball and Oklahoma
and well yeah, ok of course and Oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Hey our special guests for the entire hour. She is
a Leah a Miko and guys go to Leahmico dot com.
It's a really good website. You get a lot of
information about what Leah is doing. Also, she's written a
number of books. In twenty eighteen, Softball Glory in God's
Story Victorious a year long devotional. You know in most

(13:57):
of these books when you start looking at them, it
is it is a combination of sports and her faith. Now,
the one she just came out with, gold Standard Softball Journey,
I understand there's going to be three more similar to
this for athletes and for parents, and then a faith
based one. But gold Standard Softball Journey is a book
that's now available on Amazon written by Leah Miko. And

(14:21):
if you go on Amazon, you can pick that book
up and I would totally recommend it. Also to go
to that website, Leahmico dot com to know more. To
learn more about her, you can contact her, listen to podcasts.
She does a lot of speaking engagements all over the country.
So if you're a church or a company that that
feel as though this would be a good fit to

(14:43):
have Leah come in and speak to your people, there's
information on that website again, leah Amico dot com. We're
going to get to a break. On this side of
the break, we'll ask Lea to share her testimony with us.
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet
twenty and your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to faith
in the Zone. I'm Fox Sports ninety twenty in your

(15:05):
iHeartRadio app. I'm Mike mcgiver alongside Pastor Ken Keltner from
Brookside Baptist Church, coming from the Donovan jorianson heating and
cooling studios. Our special guest she is Leah O'Brien Amico.
I can just tell you a two time World champion,
three time Olympic gold Medalist, and we could go on

(15:25):
and on, three time first Team Academic All Americans, played
at the University of Arizona. I made a mistake on
the name of her book gold Standard Softball Journal. Gold
Standard Softball Journal, not Journey Journal. And Leah, can we
before we ask you to share your testimony, could you
just kind of give us the reader's digest about the book,

(15:49):
The gold Standard Softball Journal.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yes, I can. I last year I had written a
book called The gold Standard fourteen Ways Live a Life
of Excellence, and I've been speaking all over to all
different groups, and really I feel like there's four categories
that the doors have opened up. Of course, faith based
groups that I've been doing for a lot of years,
and athletic groups that I've been doing. Education, I speak
to schools, I speak to teachers, and then the business

(16:13):
side has opened up the last few years a lot
in a much much bigger way. And so because of that,
I realized, you know, I go into these different areas,
these different groups, I give a lot of I give
my talk. I have a lot of my own content
of just the way the Lord has allowed me to
share my story, and then tying it in with the
values of success in general. But ultimately a lot of
these companies I speak to have these values as you know,

(16:33):
as believers who have these values, and so it's set
up to be something that obviously, like gives you these TIFFs.
What helped me be an Olympian, what's helped me homeschool
my boys for thirteen years and raise these three sons
of mine? What's helped me to be, you know, a
committed follower of Jesus? And and I tied it into
I talked about the map as an outlying mindset action people.

(16:55):
In my athletic book, I talk about progress for the pe,
but I really feel like it's the people along the journey,
and I feel like through that it's taken our thoughts captive.
How do we use our thoughts in a way that's
going to bring about our full potential and be able
to allow us to be who we're created to be. Right,
the action that you take that piece, I talk about
ten steps to just what actions consistent. I try to

(17:16):
simplify it. Really, I think we have so much information
that so many times we can overanalyze. It can cause
us to be paralyzed, right and to not take action,
or we second guess, we doubt, and so the action
piece is really really big. And then the last part,
like I said, I talk about progress in this goal
standard softball journal, and then I talk about team. It's

(17:37):
just set up to say, hey, here's some quick pointers
to be reminded, simple things to say. I can apply
this every day. It's really simple. It's not overwhelming. And
then the questions to say, well what because I realized,
you know, we can share a lot of information, but
it's when we have those aha moments ourselves and especially
with the Lord. Right, I've never forgotten certain things God's

(17:58):
put on my heart, no matter how many I've heard,
it's usually those Aha moments that I've had to answer
the question for myself, and so I figure these this
is my softball journal, but I'm going to do a
faith based one, a leadership one, and then one for
all athletes because I feel like they can then question
themselves and come up with the answers God's put on
their heart.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Hey, Leah, I love the fact that you're going to
be coming up with three more. I have to tell you,
by looking at the table of contents of gold Standard
Softball Journal, there's something in this for everybody. As a
former basketball coach, when you're talking about relationships that build
champions or build the culture, be the difference, I just

(18:38):
think there's something in these for everybody. And I love
the fact that that this is called the gold Standard
Softball Journal. But I feel as though if you're an athlete,
if you're a parent, a grandparent, a coach, there's going
to be something in this journal that you can get
and you will help you be a better coach, a
better parent, a better coach, but I certainly a better athlete,

(19:01):
and so I would highly recommend that anybody that's involved
in sports from from you know, little league baseball all
the way up through college take a look, or even
professional for that matter, gold Standard Softball Journal. You're going
to get something on a daily basis that's going to
help you become a better coach, a better a better parent,
a better player. And take a look at go to

(19:24):
Amazon or go to her website Leah Amico dot com
to get more information on that journal.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
And Leah, we're we're excited to you know, everyone that
comes on the program and every believer even listening possibly
to the broadcast, all have a journey of how we
came to Christ. So we love to hear how God
was at work and you knew of God, but you
didn't have that personal relationship. So if you could just

(19:53):
share with us your testimony of how you came to
know Christ personally.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yes. So my parents had been married pretty young and
they had a friend of theirs actually lead them to
Christ and share the message of salvation with them. And
I was born. I was prayed over to be born.
I was the first born in my family. My parents
wanted to get pregnant and weren't able to at first,
and so you know, later on I would hear from
my cousin who was ten years old when they laid

(20:19):
hands on me as a baby, and just prayed that
the Lord may use me to glorify him as a
reminder now that we're so powerful. But so I grew
up hearing about Jesus and being told, you know, if
you ask him in your heart, you know and trust
right that he got in the cross for your sins,
and you're a sinner and received his free gifts of
salvation that he offered through his death and resurrection, and

(20:40):
you will be saved right. And the Bible talks about
confessing with your mouth and believing your heart that Jesus
Christ was raised and the dead and understanding who he is.
And so I, as a little girl, of course, I
was like, yes, I want Jesus. And as I got
into high school, I really think the reality was just
that I just didn't have any grounding in the Word
of God, and my parents had been hurt by a church,

(21:00):
and the enemy likes to use that because then we
got isolated and separated and we never really got plugged
back in, and sports became what we did. But I
always considered myself a Christian. I prayed, I believed that
Jesus did die in the cross and race and the dead.
But as I got into college, you know, a lot
of my value systems they had holes because Jesus and
the Word of God was not my foundation. I didn't have, right,

(21:23):
I just became what I had made up in my
mind as my belief system. And so a lot of
that came to comparison. I saw other kids who went
to church all the time and I never did, and they,
in my head, were doing worse things than me. Right,
And God doesn't judge like that. He judges according to
his word. And so my junior year of college, I
had a teammate who was full of the Holy Spirit.

(21:44):
She loved Jesus with all her heart, and she knew
God's word, and so she came on to our team.
We had two national championships the years prior. She was
a freshman, and I remember just seeing this confidence in her,
and she invited me to a Bible study, and I remember,
you know, saying yes to it. As I was going
into that Bible say that night, all of a sudden,
for the first time, I had this like, WHOA, I

(22:07):
hope they don't ask me about anything in the Bible,
because I really it was this revelation. I just don't
know anything. And so as I sat there and they
opened God's Word and they were talking about it. And
this is why I love the Bible says that God's
word is living right and it speaks right, and God's
word never returns void. Because I didn't know what they
were talking about. But as they were reading God's word,

(22:29):
my heart was quickened, and the Lord was speaking to
me in my head and saying, you don't really know me.
And so that day I said God. Just to myself,
I said God, and to God, I said, I want
to follow you. And I believe that was the day
I was born again and stilled with the Holy Spirit.
I didn't know John three. I didn't know about Jesus

(22:50):
saying you have to be born again in order to
enter the Kingdom of God. And that sounded weird to
me before I knew God's word. And so that just
began a journey of being hungry to learn about who
Jesus was. And this youth that I always said I followed,
I now wanted to like have right, have a foundation,
and and just immediately there were some things God was
like just showing me right off the bat, of just

(23:12):
not using God's name in vain and and you know,
being filled up with truth and instead of just whatever
I saw around me. And so that began a journey,
and eventually through that I was I started going to
My friend Julie took me to church, went to different
churches until we found one, and uh that we felt
like we were being fed and learning God's word in
a way that we could understand. We would discuss the

(23:33):
sermon at the end. And I was like just a
newborn baby, right, I just I just was learning and growing.
I learned to play softball for Jesus and I realized, Lord,
I just want my whole entire life to be for you.
But then three years after coming to know Jesus and
starting to follow him and going to the Olympics and
winning to go a medal and then finishing my last year,

(23:54):
so i've I'm I'm about to graduate. I have three goal,
three national championships, the gold medal. I get a phone
call from a friend that my teammate Julie, who invited
me to the Bible study, had passed away, and unexpectedly
she had had some health complications since the little girl
she had had diabetes. She had some different things going on.
She had some ups and downs through college with her health,

(24:17):
and none of us knew. She did not know that
she was going to go to sleep that night and
wake up face to face with Jesus. But as I
went to her funeral, and of course I was just
broken and grieving, the Lord just showed me that she
was with him and his word is truth, and that
I still have time to make it known. And there

(24:37):
were a lot of our teammates that did not say
yes to Jesus yet, but that Julie was with him,
And because of course I was like, why would you
take her? And not that it was an answer to that,
but it was this reminder of that none of us
know our days are numbered, we don't know when our
last breath will be. And so that I was twenty
two years old, and from that day forward I said, God,

(24:57):
I want to make a difference in this world for
your key them. I want it to be all about
you and only you, Jesus. So wherever you allow me,
I will share your truth. Because Julie had only twenty
one years on this earth, and she had three of
them with me, and she was all about Jesus. And
so that now God has taken me around the world.
That's the most unbelievable thing that I could say about

(25:18):
it is I never would have dreamt from that twenty
two year old me losing Julie but saying, God, I'm
about you and I want to go wherever you'll take
me to share Jesus Christ, He's taken me around the world.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Our special guest. First of all, what a powerful, powerful testimony.
Our special guest is Leah and Miko. Again, she is
a big time softball player. But when you listen to
what she just said, the Lord has brought her all
over the world to talk softball. But I think everybody

(25:51):
on this call right now knows exactly why the Lord's
got her going all over the world, and that is
to spread the word. And Pastor, we both look at
each other, what a powerful testimony, she hasked.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, and uh, I couldn't help but think of as
you were talking about Julie and and her testimony, you know,
and then you attended her funeral. What's interesting is what
we read in Ecclesiastes seven. Uh. The Solomon, under the
direction of God's spirit, wrote the day of death is

(26:23):
better than the day of one's birth.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
And at the end he says, for the living, we'll
take it to heart and all of us, you know,
when we go to a funeral, we're all thinking about
man that could be me. And yet, Julie, you said
that her faith became sight that night, that she drifted
off to sleep and then was in the arms of
the Lord h The whole thing was moving that that

(26:49):
she was willing to take that step to invite you
and and and then for you to come to Christ
and now to see how God is using you. And well,
it was just powerful that she came into your life.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Do you know for me, pastor, when when a freshman
comes down of a team that just won a national
championship and she's fold enough in her faith to go
up to one of the starters and the stars of
the team and invite her and say, hey, listen, let
me talk to you about what where I'm at, what
my beliefs are. I think I give her so much credit,

(27:26):
and I would love I wish she was still on
this earth so we could invite her on faith in
His zone, because I'd love to know where she got
that kind of confidence. A lot of people that we
have on faith in His zone always. You know, we
used to ask that question, was it easy to walk
worthy in the in the locker room or outside of
the locker room. And there are a lot of guys
that said, listen, I never wanted to be known as

(27:47):
a Bible thumper. I don't think Julie cared. I don't
think she I don't think. I don't know her at all,
but I don't think she cared if anybody thought she
was a Bible thumper, because she felt like, look, I
need to tell my friends. I need to tell my teammates.
I need to get them involved so that they understand
what this is, why my faith is so strong, and

(28:09):
I want them to give their life over to Jesus Christ.
And I got to tell you, Lea, I always think
you die twice, once when you die, and once when
people stop stop saying your name and you keep telling
people about Julie place. Because that put tears in my
eyes that a twenty one year old kid, or a
twenty year old kid, or an eighteen she was a freshman,

(28:32):
was bold enough in her faith to walk into a
locker room that the year before won a national championship
and say, hey, let me tell you a little bit
more about me, not only my good softball player, but
let me talk about my life outside of the locker room.
And I give her just a whole bunch of credit.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Well, the Lord just gave her that passion and boldness,
and she knew God's words. She would get in discussions
with a teammate of ours who I love dearly as well,
who is Mormon, and she would you would have the
Bible truth to say, hey, here's why we don't believe
the same thing. And I was just intrigued, like, how
does she even know all of this? And she and
it really was an example, like you said, although she

(29:11):
was younger all this she was. I remember thinking, there's
no way my freshman year, are you kidding? I was like,
all right, what do I have to do? What are
the leaders saying? And so I was just so amazed.
But then because of that, I immediately went on to the
USA team. I had already been in the Olympics, but
it changed my perspective on the team to be more bold,
to be an example, to be outspoken. And I just

(29:32):
got to share one quick story about my last game.
I had come back with the fall of my freshman
year from being home over Thanksgiving and trying to pray
out loud. She always prayed out loud, and I would
listen to her and be like, I want to be
able to pray out loud like you. I don't know
how to do it, and I so I worked at
the courage. Didn't do it until the very last game
at the Women's College World Series. We win the national championship,

(29:53):
and we gather around home played at same field now,
and we gather around and I say the first payer
I've ever prayed out loud, just crying, and it was
the Holy Spirit, and it just felt so good because
I love Jesus and one on one I could tell people,
but I wanted to glorify and groups prayer that way. Well,
Julie passed away. That was, you know, one of the
last days I saw her. And at the funeral a

(30:14):
month later, her brother came up to me and said, hey,
I just need to tell you. Julie called me after
the game and she had asked if we had watched
you guys, and I was joking and said no, but
I said, of course I did, and she said, well,
did you see us? He said, yes, you guys won,
and she said.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
No, did you see us?

Speaker 3 (30:29):
After the game? Leah prayed. He said, I don't know
what that means. I don't even know what it means,
he said, I just need you to know she was
so proud of you that she ran And this is
back in the day we didn't have cell phone. She
ran to a phone and called him. And I have
kept that with me the rest of my life, that
Julie was not only a sister in Christ, not only
an example and a mentor, but my biggest cheerleader, saying,

(30:53):
go go with God, be outspoken, be bold, And before
you know she passed away told her brother this and
that was the message at her funeral that I bought.
And I remember thinking, Lord, if I can only give
that same confidence and encouragement to those around me, I've
done my job on this earth.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
She is Leah Amiko. Man, what a great segment this
has been. We need to get to a break other
side of the break will continue our conversation with her.
You can go to Leah Amico dot com. The newest
book is called gold Standard Softball Journal. Gold Standard Softball Journal.
But if you go on Amazon and google Leamko, she's

(31:32):
written a number of books and all very very interesting
to me. And take a look at some of the
things that she offers. And again on that website, if
there's a number of podcasts you can listen to her.
There's a bunch of information on her and then contact
information if you're a church in this area or anywhere
throughout the country that would like to hire her to

(31:53):
bring her in to speak. There's information on that website
as well. Again Leah Amico dot com. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
I Hurt Radio app. Walk back to Faith in the
Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app.
Wish people could hear what happens during the break here.

(32:14):
I mean talking smack to a gold medal if she
ever comes to town. At least I know that if
we play horse, I got a chance to beat her.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Now, if she's able to get here to Brookside, we're
gonna actually set up the home plate and let her
pitch to you and see what you did.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
She's not a pitcher. She pitched. You better bring a
bucket of balls, and we better not be in the
back parking lot because there's feel back there. We'll never
find the balls. I'll be hitting them so oh yeah,
just digging. Yeah, yeah, you better bring your ace stuff.
Our special guest for the entire hour and this has

(32:50):
been phenomenal. Her testimony just brought tears to my eyes.
It was so strong. And I want to thank Julie,
her friend who is no longer with us, that had
the courage to bring her to Bible study when she
was a freshman. Julie was a freshman on a national
championship team and had enough guts to invite Leah to

(33:11):
come to Bible study and really helped her in that journey.
Leah Amiko. You can go to her website Leahmico dot
com and take a look at all the information some
of the great things that she is doing. Leah. One
of the things coming up in your life is you're
coaching that the Israel softball team. Is that correct? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (33:32):
I coached the junior so I coached twenty two and under,
an eighteen and under, and so this summer actually is
a tournament in Spain with the age and under the
European Championships, and I also have a tournament I'll be
coaching Team Israel that was nineteen under in Vancouver next
month as well.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
So in the world we're in right now. Any nervousness
for coaching Team Israel and these kids are you is
there anything that you have to do as their coach,
or is there security that you have to be briefed
on the things that you have to do differently this
year than you've done in the past.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
There is always security, and I am interested to see
if it just continues to get more and more. I
was a little bit used to it back in the
day when I played on Team USA as Americans, it
was US in Israel.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
What were the two.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Teams that had secret service that would travel with us?
But it's a little different and it is hard to
get out of my mindset right and we have a
mix of Israeli players as well as Jewish American players
that compete on these teams. Last summer, we actually were
in Poland for the twenty two and under and so
we actually had some Polish Secret Service agents that were

(34:45):
with us at all times. They were in our vans,
they had somebody who watched the hotel while we slept.
So it is definitely different. I think after the October
seventh attack, they have ramped it up a little bit
because in the past we would just knew where security was,
but it wasn't with us all the time, and so
I do you know, I feel like I just pray
about it, Like, Lord, I know you're with me. I
was able to even talk to our Poolish security guards

(35:09):
about Jesus last year. So I just I try to take,
you know, the opportunity to say, Okay, if God has
me going, I'm trusting.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
So I do.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
I do pray that he'll give me, you know something,
if there's is there something I need to be aware
of or you know, worried about that, the Lord will
just prompt my spirit. But I right now have a
complete piece about it.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Amen, you know the Lord will take care of you,
that's for sure. Hey, are there any girls that you've
been coaching there in Israel that have opportunities to come
to the States and play on some of the of
the college teams here.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
No, that hasn't been the case over in Israel. There's
not many opportunities to play. So that's what's been fun
about joining with these teams and coaching them the last
few years is you see that they're elevating and these
and it's being passed down a little bit more to
the younger athletes. And so you can tell. I talked
to one of the coaches from Israel that will coach
with me, and he was telling me that this is
the best six players that they've had at this age

(36:06):
group from a couple of years ago when I coached them,
and so he said, these athletes are they're just getting
better and better, and so they're not at this point,
but that would be an amazing opportunity one day. I
know that the six players that are playing in the
tournament in Spain are supposed to fly out to Pittsburgh
to go to the Mattin Macattie Games in Pittsburgh right

(36:26):
after we finish in Spain. So I just think that
they can continue to see it more that one day
maybe that would be a goal.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Hey, Leah, a former guest on Faith in his Zone
years ago, and we're going to try to reach back
out here. During the break, you had told us about
a phenomenal story surrounding Dot Richardson and the baptism that
she had had performed I think at Liberty University. Can
you talk a little bit about that story.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, My Olympic teammate doct register and one of the
best ever. She has two gold medals and she's been
the head coach of Liberty Writing for teen years or
so now. And she I had seen it on social
media first because it started going viral a couple like
about a month ago. And then I talked to her
and was like, you got to give me the details.
So how did this happen? And it was a total

(37:14):
god thing. They were at conference tournaments in Kentucky. Actually
they were not at home, but she coaches Liberty and
so she was approached by a player from LA Tech
who said, Hey, I want to get baptized, and I
didn't know who to ask, would you do that while
we're here? And Dot was like, well, sure, if you
want to, absolutely, and so she thought it wasn't going
to happen because the girl didn't call her back that
same day and there was only really the next night

(37:35):
before play started. But by the next day some of
Dot's own teammates team players said hey, coach, we heard
that you're going to do that. We want to get
baptized as well. So it started out being four athletes.
That was a plan. There was a pastor from Western
Kentucky who's a chaplain and that's where the tournament was
being hosted. And he shows up and introduces himself to
Dot and says, hey, I'm just here to watch some

(37:55):
of our players want to come support some of the
other team that was getting baptized. Well, so while they
were doing this together and the few were being baptized,
Dot actually said, at first she wanted to share the
gospel and let people know what baptism was, because she said, there,
all of a sudden were about sixty to seventy people
they're watching in this pool at a hotel, and she
wanted to make sure they knew what was actually taking
place and why it was for Jesus to follow in

(38:18):
what he did and showed us the way. And so
she explained the gospel shared, they did the baptism of
the few players, and then all of a sudden, in
a closing prayer, well they thought it was a closing
prayer that passed her parade, and he said, I feel
led to say, is there anyone else wanting to get baptized.
By the time they were done, one after one after
one started coming, there were twenty six people that got baptized.

(38:41):
It was a complete move of the Holy Spirit. It
was just not planned. In fact, Dot had a coach
who was on that protein that I coached last year
and God's coaching this year. The Florida Vibe. Who who
chose to? Who didn't want to? But because she wanted
her family there when she was going to get baptized,
and she couldn't hold back. She said, this was pulling me.
She had a player that had another player at the Superstar,

(39:03):
Rachel Rupe, all American, say the same exact thing. She
didn't want to she want to wait for family, and
she said I had to do it. So the Holy
Spirit that night moved in such a powerful way. I
know people will never forget it.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Unbelievable. She was such a good guest. We had heard
her husband on together, and they were such good guests
on Faith in the Zone. And I believe I'm going
to reach out to her again soon and I'd love
to get her side of the twenty six people getting baptized,
which I think is just incredible. Pastor, And you know
you had talked about earlier in the show that it

(39:38):
seems like there are more and more women in the
world of softball that are at least comfortable talking about
this part of their life and talking about their faith,
and it's very encouraging to me.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, I think what really cut my attention as you
were telling that story Leah is that she wanted people
to know first of all about Christ. And you know,
it wasn't just the baptism saving these people. It was
Christ is the Savior, and the baptism I always say,
is like the identification, you know, with Christ. I always say,

(40:12):
it's like my wedding ring. It identifies me. And I
thought when you mentioned that, that was powerful. And then
you know this year, I mean they were very successful
in taking down Texas A and M and coming all
so close to getting into the to the College World Series.
But every time they would interview her, she would always

(40:33):
have something to say right at the end about Jesus yep, yeah,
and great testimony. So I was excited for her and
her team this year.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Yes, it's so exciting. And I just I love like
we feed them off of one another, and we did
that on the field. I just looked up to her
so much. She was thirteen years older than me when
she was our shortstop, lead off hitter led us to
the gold medal with getting the winning home run in
the championship game. You know, the gold medal game, my
first Olympics, but I even more so now just the
way God has mended us together, and our faith has

(41:04):
been the most beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
She is Leah Miko and years ago front cover of
Sports Illustrated her team softball the real dream Team. That's
what Sports Illustrated said about that softball team, the real
dream Team. We'll get to a break. Other side of
the break, we'll ask her that question that we ask
every one of our guests at the end of the show.
All the uniforms she's ever put on, and she's put

(41:27):
on a number of them, what uniform does she pick
out to get one more game? Pastor?

Speaker 2 (41:31):
And it's not going to be basketball. I already know
that it's not going to be basketball, all right, you
know that.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
I know.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I'm pretty sure. I'm going yeah, yeah. You know why
you're so smart Since she told us she was a
horrible basketball player, that's why player and horse, because maybe
there's a sport I could beat her at. That's great again.
Going to Liamico dot com to get more information on Leah.
This is Faith in his Own on Fox Sports side
twenty in your I Hurt Radio App. Welcome back to

(42:01):
Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in
your iHeartRadio app. Coming from the Donovana Jorganson, Heat and
Coolien Studios. Our special guest, Leah O'Brien Amico, go to
Leah amico dot com and when you when you look
at her background, got a pretty good feeling that she
it's going to be a softball uniform. I don't know.
Three time Olympic, two time World champion, three time NCAA

(42:25):
national champion at the University Arizona. But we're gonna find out, Pastor.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
It could be it could be soccer.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
It could be soccer, yeah, could be, could be bad.
Maybe she played in fifth grade basketball. I don't know,
who knows, Leah. I love this last question is a
throwaway question a number of years ago, and the answers
are always really fun for us. If we take every
uniform you've ever put on from the time you were
five years old until you you stopped playing any sport,

(42:52):
and maybe it'll be pick a ball next time we
get around. Who knows, but we put them all in
the closet and you get to pick one unil form
out to get one more game with that team. What
uniform do you pick? Who do you play against? And why?

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Well?

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Okay, I mean I think you guys, I have to
I have to say USA, Are you kidding me?

Speaker 3 (43:12):
It's like it was the greatest honor of my life,
like the best moments, and to representative even even to
be considered to be on that team and to be
chosen really was the biggest blessing ever. So I have
to say Team USA. And then I'm going to say,
you know what, I'm going to pick Japan because I
only played them in one goal medal game and they

(43:33):
were undefeated when we lost three games and we came
back to win the gold medal and the Sydney Olympics.
But I would pick Japan because guess what, Japan has
won the last two Olympics and we have got I
think we're going to get it back in twenty twenty eight,
Padagas though from Oklahoma's head coach. But I would say,
you got to beat the best to be the best,
and to me, that was the other team in the world.

(43:54):
And you know what I'm gonna tell you. I didn't
like to tend to nothing games. I love the games
that were down to the wire. I ever know who's
gonna do it, and he comes up with that one
one moment that changes everything, and so I have to
stay Tmusa against Japan because I want us to stay
on top.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Well, yeah, can you remember you probably can a great
play either in the field or at the bad or
on the basis that you had in that game.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
Again, you know, my final game against Australia, my last one,
so my very last game that I ever wore the uniform.
I would say it was I was hitting two in
the lineup. The first hitter got out and then I
got to hit up the middle, and I had been
struggling offensively, and then our next hitter hit a home
run and we went ahead in the first inning tune nothing.
And I remember jogging around the bases first of all,
so thankful that I got a hit because I had

(44:42):
been struggling, and remember thinking this is going to be
a fun game. We went on to win five to one,
and so for me, I feel like I was leaving
it on the field. I was leaving my career. I
bawled on that got podium more than ever before, just
knowing that an era was coming to an end for me,
like really a life change. But I had given everything
I had to the sport. So that's the one that

(45:03):
stands out to me the most is that hit in
the last game and then catching the last out as
well at first base.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Oh that's huge. Hey, guys, we talked to Leah during
one of the breaks. We have about four more pages
of questions that we didn't have time to get to,
so we have pleaded with her. Can we call you
back in a month? So this is our show with
Leah Amico Part one, and in a month or so,
maybe when you know, after you get done coaching Israel,

(45:29):
we'll have a conversation. But we'd love to invite you back.
We have just so many more questions for you. Make
sure that you go to Amazon this new book and
it's a journal that she put out. There's three more coming,
but this one is now available gold Standard Softball Journal,
and please look at it. I think there's something in

(45:50):
this for everybody. I really do, and I think you
will as well. If you want to get a hold
of Leah, you go to Leah Amico dot com. One
word Leah Amico, a M. I C O. Leah. Thank
you so good to catch up again. I will love
to make sure I send this show directly to Tom
Roy and uh if you talk to him, let him
know that we say hello. I have not talked to

(46:12):
him in a month or so, and I need to
reach back out to him. So thank you so much
for a couple of minutes your time, James, great job today,
Pastor's good to see you.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Always, good to see you. And Leah. Yeah, Leah, thank
you tremendous.

Speaker 4 (46:25):
Yes, thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
It's so wonderful talking.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
With you all. Thank you. This is Faith in the
Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart radio app.