Lexie Handley 041024

The Ohio Storm Coaches Corner Podcast is dedicated to sharing stories from coaches, players, and parents involved in competitive softball. The host, Scott Muno, is joined by special guest Lexi Hanley, who has a passion for the sport. Scott and Lexi discuss their connection and how Lexi has been an inspiration to young players. Lexi talks about her journey in softball, starting from a young age and her love for the game. She also mentions her parents' support and how she transitioned into pitching. Lexi's parents found a pitching coach for her, Diana Lynn, who not only taught her the mechanics but also instilled a strong work ethic. Welcome to the Ohio Storm Coaches Corner Podcast. This podcast is dedicated to passive pitch softball where we are committed to sharing authentic and unique stories from coaches, players, and parents. We hope these stories encourage you and shine light on how people from all stages have dealt with the ups and downs of a competitive softball landscape. This podcast is brought to you by Ohio Storm, a premier travel organization from Northeast Ohio, and Cru Sports, a company dedicated to helping student athletes navigate the recruiting process. For more information on Ohio Storm, visit ohiostormpasspitch.com. For more information on Cru Sports, visit crusports.net. Thanks again for joining. We really appreciate it. Now on to the podcast. Hey, thanks everyone for joining us today on the Ohio Storm Coaches Corner Podcast. I'm joined by my wonderful co-host Scott Muno today who leads the Ohio Storm organization. And we are joined today by a very, very special guest, someone who has an incredible journey, an amazing story. And of course, most importantly, is from Northeast Ohio, which is awesome. So we're joined today by the very talented Lexi Hanley. Lexi, thank you so much for joining us today. We're happy to have you. Yeah, super excited to be here. I always love chatting with people from my hometown. And yeah, just super thankful for your time and your guys' part in the game. I know you guys, you and Scott know each other. So I'd love, Scott, for you to kind of give an intro on how you know Lexi, where your paths have crossed, and then we'll get into some of the softball story. Sure. So, well, thanks, Lexi, for joining us. Of course, wanted to say that as well. It's amazing, and we've followed you for quite a while. And of course, anyone from hometown, you're always rooting for them. So we've been behind you, lots of people, and you've been such an ambassador for so many young kids around here. It's been awesome. But thank you for taking some time. So we appreciate that. I just wanted to, you know, obviously we'll just talk about real quick how you and I connected. And you probably don't really remember. Of course I do, because it was kind of unique for me on how this worked out. But back in 2020, when I started my very own Ohio Storm team, we were second year 12U team. Right. And at the time, a mutual friend of ours was working. She was in high school, really good travel ball player in high school, that was working with my daughter and another girl with some hitting stuff, kind of doing the high school hitting lessons for the younger girls type thing. And that girl was Paige Hallowell. Oh my goodness, that's right. I forgot about that. Yes, and so Paige was like, oh man, I'm gonna get a chance to meet with Lexi because somebody put her and you together. And she was, it was awesome because she was such a good ball player, but she was so nervous. It was awesome. You know, because she was like so excited she was gonna get a chance to hook up with you. And then after you guys had done that, I'm like, oh man, that's awesome. I wonder if she'd ever be interested, meaning you, coming around my team, you know, for the girls. And she's like, well, I'll ask her. And I don't even know that you remember that. But long story short is that obviously she did and you said yes and you came to one of our practices. And here's this girl and, you know, meaning you, big college pitcher, you know, I'm not gonna tell your story, but you're there in the summer, not playing, you're home and you take time out of your day for nothing just because of what appears to be the love of the sport. And you come out to the ball field and you hang out with 12 of you girls for the day. And it just put the whole team on cloud nine. And it was amazing. And so, you know, and a quick side story to that was they all wanted to hit against a pitcher that throws 70 miles an hour, right? That's the big thing, right? So if you remember, you said, well, I'll let the catchers catch me, but you girls cannot get in the batter's box and try to hit me. I'm not letting you. So you lined them all up and let them, you know, like time it up down the baseline and then went out and shagged balls. And, you know, when we were doing hitting practice, you were out there shagging balls with them. So that's the quick, you know, hey, that was us getting together. And then we've talked a couple of times since then, and you actually came to another practice. But, and of course, with your real busy life, that was, you know, about the extent of it. But thank you for all of that. You made a huge impression. And that's been kind of, you know, I wanted to tell the story about you and I and just how we got connected. Yes, I love that. For some reason, I thought it was just through my dad, because I know he umpires your games a lot in the summer. So I completely forgot about that Paige story, but you're totally right. And that makes me so happy because she's doing well. And I'm smiling so big right now. That just makes me so happy. Yeah, and that's, you know, that's another girl. I'll probably gonna pick up the phone and give her a call. She's pretty busy, probably. She's still playing, right? She is. This is her senior year down at FEMA. So she's killing it. I follow her very closely. And she's doing great. She's doing great. Yeah, awesome girl, man. She's another great girl. And so when things slow down and we get to the summertime, I'll probably try to hit her up and see how she's doing. But nonetheless, that's kind of the intro thing that I wanted to, you know, story that I wanted to talk about before, you know, Ryan started into some things we wanted to ask, so. Yeah, Scott, I don't know about you, but I don't think ever in my life have I ever wanted to step in the box against a girl who boasts like me, I'm just saying. Well, I'm just gonna tell you, listen, I'm gonna tell you right now, it's fast, dude. It is. Yeah, if I ever did it, I'd want to be in catching gear and I'd want to have no cameras allowed because I don't know what I'd want. And I remember too, they were so like giddy about it. Like it wasn't like they wanted to try to hit, you know how some baseball guys are like, oh, I could take that, you know, 270 the other way. Like they genuinely wanted me to like blow it by them. And I'm like, you guys are so little, like I will break your ribs. You're so skinny, you're so little, like I will hurt you if this ball hits you, like just not happen. So they were so funny, so funny. That's exactly what you said, 100%, dude, because you're like, there's no way if one just kind of gets in a little tight, you're getting out of the way, so I'm not gonna let you swing that bat. Because the one time, the one time I would hit someone, it would be, you know, probably your head, Scott, and I'd be like, oh, there's her career, she's scared of the ball forever. Like, you know, he's gotta go. Yeah, right. That's awesome. Yeah, good times, they're funny. That's awesome. Yeah, Lexi, let's take it back to kind of the beginning, the roots of softball and where it all started for you and what those early days were like of when you picked up the ball and when you knew you loved it and we'll kind of walk through a little bit of your journey all the way through the college and even the international ranks. So yeah, tell us where it all started for you. Yeah, so I am from Montgomery, Ohio, and I am super thankful, super blessed. I've had two supportive parents, who both were basketball players in college. And so basketball, that's my first love. I started dribbling a ball probably at the same time that I learned how to talk. And so I started, you know, a little cast basketball, a little cast softball. When I was four years old, I started playing tee ball, and my dad was my first coach, and he was my coach up until high school. And I am super thankful for that. I'm sure we'll get into that later, because there's a lot, it's a very interesting dynamic that we had and that we have now. And so I started playing tee ball when I was four, started playing coach pitch, you know, six, seven, eight year old range. And then I remember specifically, I'll never forget this moment. It was one of those turning points in my life. I was eight years old, weird enough, and we were kind of aging out, or maybe I was nine, I don't know, but we were aging out as a coach pitch range. And the coach, the head coach of the team was my best friend at the time, her dad. And he had asked us at the end of one of our last practices, he was like, you know, who wants to pitch? And I had never, ever, ever acknowledged it to my parents before. I was very insecure as a kid, because I was taller, I was a chunkier kid, and I never felt like I fit in anywhere. And for whatever reason, I mean, I do know the reason now, but I raised my hand, literally in the middle of like the circle at nine years old, I raised my hand, and I said, I want to learn how to pitch. And I remember my dad kind of looking at me, and I was really embarrassed at the time, right? Because I, you know, never wanted to let my dad down. My dad and I are best friends. And on the way home, he asked, he was like, is this like something that you actually want to do? And I said, yeah, like, I want to try it. So my parents were superheroes. They made it work. They found a pitching coach who was local. Her name was Diana Lynn. I don't know her married name now, I forget it. But she worked out at the old Pronios in Elliot. And I'm sure, Scott, I'm sure you remember the Pronio days. Best place ever. Coolest place ever. Yes, I miss that place. And so once a week we would go, and my parents made it work. And she taught me the basics. She taught me, you know, the mechanics. She taught me everything that I needed to know from nine to 11 years old. But she also instilled a work factor in me that I don't think I would have gotten by myself. And it wasn't, it never came from a place of pressure. It came from a place of, you know, if you want it, how are you going to get it? And it wasn't, you know, anything that I wasn't up to the challenge for, but it wasn't framed in a way where there was pressure on a 10 year old. And, you know, my parents kind of held me accountable because they were paying for these lessons. And my dad challenged me to get better and better and better. But his big thing was he was never going to ask me to go pitch. Like I was going to always have to be the one that said, hey, dad's going to go throw a ball around. And I admire that from this perspective now at 26, because me as a parent, I would have been absolutely helicoptering and, you know, hey, we're going to go pitch. Hey, we're going to go pitch. Hey, I'm paying for these lessons. Like, come on, you got to go work. What were you working on Matthew? But I think that there was a time when I was little, that all I could think about was being the best softball player. And it was like this massive like realization. I think when I was 10, 11, 12, 13 years old, that I was good at it. Like I was bigger, I was taller. And that insecurity that I had when I was seven, eight, nine turned into something that made me better than other people when I was getting a little bit older. And so I think that's when things started to kind of shift my brain to where I wanted to play. Now, I will say when I was about 13 years old, I was ready to be done with pitching forever because my dad, it was kind of coming to that age where it was like, you have to like actually get better. Like we have to find a different pitching coach. You've learned all the basics. We've gotten every piece of information out from Diana Lynn, but we need to keep progressing forward. I was kind of aging out of her age bracket. And I was like, okay, I'm done. Like I'm done working. I want to go spend the summer with my friends. I want to go to school parties. I want to go to the beach. Like I was missing all these beach vacations that I was invited to because I was playing softball. And for whatever reason, I don't know why, my dad and I, but it has a lot. We argued a lot in the backyard. My mom was a referee. My brother saw a lot of fights prematurely that they shouldn't have had to see. But for whatever reason, like I never, softball never broke me to the end where I was stunned on. And I do think it was because my dad held onto me just enough to where he could kind of pull me through that fire. And thank God for that because I don't think that my life would look anything like it does now or like it has in the past eight years if it hadn't been for my dad saying, no, you're going to do this. You're good at this. So he had a bigger vision than I did. Ended up sticking with it. Got pretty good at it. Realized that that was what I wanted. I wanted basketball for a long time, but then I think I realized that softball was, you know, what I felt the most comfortable in, where I excelled the most and where I wanted most of my energy to be. So took pitching lessons a little bit more seriously and worked a little bit harder. And I ended up going to St. Vincent Mary for high school, a little school in Akron, Ohio. There's this famous guy. I don't know if you guys have heard of him. He's kind of new. He's a Dean Fulbron Dean. Never heard of him. You've never heard of him? I looked him up the other day and he's okay at what he does, I guess. I graduated from there. And during my time playing there, I played for this incredible travel organization called Ohio Extreme. We'll get into that later, too, I'm sure. And ended up going to Akron for a couple of years. That was my only offer out of high school, was to the University of Akron. So super thankful that they took a chance on me. During my sophomore year, I broke my ankle right before the season started and decided to redshirt and made the super, super, super tough choice to transfer. I ended up going to Auburn, graduated from there, finished my career at Ohio State, and then things took off after there. That's a very brief intro of my softball story, but I'm so much more than a softball player. I have two parents who I love dearly. I have triplet brothers who are my absolute heart and soul. My sister-in-law is beautiful and is the best teacher in the world. I have a grandma who I love so much. I get to live with my best friend from college and her dog. And I've seen parts of the world that have changed my viewpoints on people and humanity. And I'm just super thankful that all of this has happened because of the yellow ball. Yeah, that's an amazing, amazing story. Yeah, we'll definitely dig into some of the specifics there. And I think your call out around the, you had the difficult time, 12, 13, 14, where you felt like maybe that was it for you. I've seen that so much with, that's kind of the age bracket where people are in or they're out. You know, like you got the kid who everybody thinks is gonna go and they get to that place and they just kind of, they just slow down, they don't wanna do the work anymore, they don't wanna get the, they don't wanna push through, they don't have the support system to push through. And that's where they fail. Or that's when you see people come kind of out of the, oh, I didn't know they were this good and they really excel and push through. So that's encouraging to hear. It sounds like you had an amazing support system around you. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, let's get into travel ball a little bit and then we'll kind of pick apart some of the story there. So when on that journey did you actually jump into, you said Ohio Extreme, what age was that that you jumped into that? I was a little bit later in the process because travel ball, you know, 10 years ago was a lot different than what it looks like now. It's a jungle now. I salute my hat to you guys. You guys are doing it the right way. I was in eighth grade when I started playing travel ball and I was playing on the 16U Ohio Extreme team. And it's not the Ohio Extreme that's around today. It's not a thing anymore. It was kind of a little local team, but it was one of those, it was like a time frame in my life that I think solely made me believe that people cared about me. I had the best coaches ever. Kurt Jackson, if someone, I get teary eyed when I think of him because he's like such an incredible man and I'm so thankful for his impact that he's had on my life. He's been there for all the big moments and he showed me how to love the game from an organic perspective. And that's something that not a lot of coaches do. They want recognition. They want to be able to say, I helped this girl get to where she wanted to be. He never once wanted to do it for him. He wanted to do it because I wanted to do it. And then my pitching coach for a long time, Ron Rex, those two left footprints in me that I don't think will ever go away. And I think that is a big reason why I came back to coaching and why I went to coach. Yeah. That transition to travel ball, was that sort of a tryout and you got on the team? Was that a difficult transition for you? What did that look like, kind of getting into that level of play? I think my story's a little bit different because basketball was my first love. So I was playing AAU basketball with Kurt Jackson's daughter, Madison. And she was also tall. She was probably 5'11", six foot. So we were pretty much the same height. And I think my dad, I remember, no, I think my mom had picked me to that practice. And Kurt, it was the first time I'd gone to AAU practice. Had made the team, it was super fun. And my mom and all the other parents were socializing. And I remember Kurt said, like, who's the big boy? And my mom said, oh, that's mine. She plays basketball and she plays softball. And he said, does she wanna play on my team this year? Like during a basketball practice. He'd never seen me throw a ball. He'd never seen me do anything. But I was a 6'1 girl who wasn't scared of swatting people and pushing people over and probably swearing a little bit under my breath and things that you do during basketball. And so, yeah, my story is a little bit different than what I think happens traditionally. But no, I never was gonna try out. It was literally like a conversation that happened in the, actually the basketball arena at St. Pete back in the day. So yeah, a little bit unique. Yeah, it's awesome. And I feel like that's, you know, from my perspective of giving that advice to some younger parents who are in this is everybody's journey is so different, right? I mean, everybody's like, even you've told two or three things that were already that may not happen to anybody else. But that's fine. We all have our own, some people it's by the textbook and some people it's like, yeah, I met the right person at the right time or I have the right scenario and it all falls into place, which is awesome. And I think I'm kind of a working product of like athletes are athletes. And I highly, highly, highly encourage athletes to play sports, not to pick their passion young and stick with that because, you know, you're gonna miss out on things. And if I hadn't wanted to play AU basketball just for fun, I would have never ended up playing travel softball. And, you know, this story would look completely different. So, you know, athletes are athletes and I think they should train like athletes, not as, you know, softball players or soccer players or basketball players. We need to train as athletes. Yeah, so talk about that for just a second. When did you make the call that, okay, I'm giving it all to softball. When did that happen and what, do you remember kind of what the thought process is there? Sure, yeah, I mean, I played basketball up through graduation, like I played college basketball or I'm sorry, high school basketball for four years. But I think my freshman year of high school was when I was really like, man, like, yeah, the softball thing is fun. I love the coaches that I'm around. I love the people that I'm around. I love the exhilaration of basketball, but I love like the focus and the preciseness that I have to really give to softball and to pitching. And so I would say probably my freshman year was when I kind of subconsciously realized that, you know, college basketball wasn't gonna be my thing, but college softball was something that I could work towards. Nice, okay. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I'll take it back to travel ball. When you got into travel ball, obviously you were able to play some years there. You know, what are some of the challenges you remember facing just in that rigor of the schedule and the level of play and the challenges that come with that? What are some of the challenges you remember facing in the travel world? Yeah, I remember, especially early on, I was always playing in the older brackets, right? I mean, my teammates were getting their driver's license and scheduling for their AP classes. And I'm here in eighth grade, like, trying to figure out what Air Apostle backpacks I'm gonna take to school the next day. And I think just that divide of like, you know, we were in, and I mean, it was only a three-year age difference, which isn't a big deal now. But at that time, it's like two whole different worlds that I'm living in with these people. But it was so fun because I had to figure out a new way to communicate. And they still loved me, even though I was the little pestering, annoying one. Like, they still gave me an opportunity to hang out with them and be cool with them. So I thought that was like the coolest thing ever. I will say, you know, I was young, but I wasn't little. And so I think that was a big advantage that I had was that I was probably five, nine, five, 10 in eighth grade. And so people thought that I was older than the 16-year bracket. I remember, like, multiple times, people asking for my birth certificate and they had it on file. Like, they had a copy of it because they kept getting asked for it. And those were funny times. But I do think, too, like, I didn't see the end goal still at 13, 14 years old. My parents did, but I didn't see it yet. I just thought it was fun and it was something I was good at. And, you know, like, who doesn't want to have fun with something they're good at? Because then you start winning a lot. But I don't think I took it as such a high pressure, high risk, high reward thing. It was just something that I did because I thought it was fun. So I think, you know, there were some aspects where ignorance was bliss that I didn't know that there was such a big end weight on it. You know, I don't know what conversations my mom and dad had without me. I don't think I wanna know. But whatever they were and whatever belief they had in me, and I'm starting to learn to say thank you a lot more, but also to be intentional with my thank you. And yeah, I'm just very thankful for the conversations that happened without my ears hearing it at 14 years old. Yeah, oh man, that's so important. And harder now with everybody's on their cell phones driving to practice and dealing with the drama with some, you know, whatever's going on with the travel team and it's harder in these days to keep it away from, yeah, keep it away from the ears of the players. And yeah, I think the challenge you called out is another learning that we've had, and especially in high school ball, is they go in, you know, you're a freshman, you come in, you're playing with seniors, you know, they're not only driving, but they're about to go to college. And the, yeah, there's a big difference between a freshman and a, you know, an 18 year old woman who's, you know, playing on the team and it's like, and there's just, there's different conversations, different challenges, different, it's a whole, it's a different, you know, the age bracket can be challenging. I just called that out. Absolutely, and you know, like high school girls are a different animal, and I can say that because I was a high school girl. You guys can't say that because you don't understand, but high school's hard for girls. And if there's a high school girl here listening to this right now, I encourage you to not make someone else's life harder because life is already hard when you're 15, 16, 17 years old. There's a lot of changes that are happening at one time, and you don't need to be another variable that makes someone else's life harder. You should make it your day-to-day mission, it should be to bring light to faces that are dark. And I think once you start to live by that, it becomes more natural. And when you start to bring light to other people, you're going to see more light around you, and things aren't gonna be as hard. So if there's high school years listening to this, please do not make high school harder for other people. Make it easier, make it something that is worthwhile, not something that people dread. Yeah, I feel like we need to edit that out, Scott, and just post that one. That one goes to the world, you know, just let everybody hear it, let everybody hear it. Yeah. It's not worth it, like, people, I mean, that's the end of people's, you know, playing careers, or the end of their band careers, or the end of their running careers. So many things end in high school. So why should we, as humans, make it harder for those ends to happen? Like, it doesn't make sense. I don't know why people are mean to people, I don't think it's fun, I don't think it's cool, I don't think the whole mean girl situation is cool. It's cool to be nice, it's cool to be kind to people, it's cool to learn people's stories, that's what's cool. Yeah. And I'm 26 now, and I was guilty in high school. I was a mean girl, I thought I was better, you know, I was the athlete, I was fine, I, you know, I did all the fun things, but I knew when to stop, and I never made it a point to make people miserable. Was I perfect? No, absolutely not. But I just see such a bigger realm of it now, and, you know, obviously with age, you start to learn more things about yourself, and it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth trying to make myself seem cooler, just, you know, just to do it. Like, you don't need other people's reassurance. Like, you have to get to the point where you're comfortable in yourself, and that shouldn't come at the cost of other people, so. End of mom rant there. Yeah. Great advice. Yeah, I love that, and definitely needed more of that for everybody to hear. Yeah. That's good. Okay, great, and let's, before we get out of the travel ball, let's talk a little bit about the coaches. You mentioned, you know, how great of experience you had as you transitioned over, sounds like you're surrounded by some great coaches. As you think about that, can you kind of get underneath, you know, what are some of the qualities, characteristics, you know, character components that stood out that you could say, coaches that look like this, you know, were really helpful to you? Yeah, so circling back to two that left the biggest impressions on me were Kurt Jackson and Ron Wex. And I think the common denominator of both of those, and they actually were coworkers. So Kurt introduced me to Ron, and Ron was my pitching coach up through high school. And I set high school records, like I set records in college, so he knew what he was doing, and he did it the right way. And so I believe that the common denominator of both of them was that they led from a place of love. They didn't lead from a place of like, these, of she or these people needs to be great, so that way I look good as a coach. I truly, truly, truly believe that then and now, like their ambitions were only there because they had a group of girls who wanted to do it. And it wasn't from a selfish perspective. I mean, they were, I don't think they walked away with any money. Ron wouldn't ever charge my parents for these lessons. And I'm not saying that, you know, this is always a factor because things are different now. But they did it truly because they loved the game and they wanted to, you know, leave that imprint on other people. And so I think as coaches, and I can also say that, this is like the coolest stage of my life because I have so many different lenses and I can speak on all of them, but just kind of have like a toe in and not be all the way in. So I can say that, you know, from the coaching lens too, like, what are our actual ambitions? Do we want to send people to college so I can put on my, you know, team Instagram, I have, you know, 25 vision months in the last 30 years, or do I want to send people to colleges because that's going to help their family out and they can afford it now for that kid. And so I just think that there's so, there's so many avenues to do it the right way. That there's really no excuse from the coaching perspective. Like we could find the right way to do something. And Kurt and Ron checked off all the boxes. They didn't do it because they wanted to do it. They did it because I wanted to do it. They poured their heart and soul into it and they made time, you know, individual time to help me become better. I ended up being one of the only girls on that squad to play college sports. A couple other girls played college basketball. Some were good enough. They just, you know, wanted to go do the college thing, but that never took any attention away from them. Like I might've gotten some extra love, extra support because they knew I wanted it seriously, but they never isolated me from the rest of the pack. And I think that's also very important because their ambitions were just as important as my ambitions. That's so encouraging. And I think it's obviously the coach, the coaches can, as you mentioned earlier, like make a whole journey or experience harder or they can make it better or they have such an influence, I know. And Scott's living it out, you know, in his own life right now and is getting that opportunity. What, I know with pitching specifically, there's a lot of communication between the head coach and the, or the coaches and the pitcher and what, you know, what's working, what's not, how I'm feeling today. Can you talk just a minute about, you know, how did that, how that relationship work, just almost in game or in a tournament? Like, how did you, how did you communicate to them where you were at, how you were feeling, you know, what you wanted to make change or like, what was that back and forth like? Yeah, I was, I mean, Kurt and I had a very open relationship and open communication. Normally there was nothing that was ever off the table and I was really good friends with his daughter. So that made it really easy. I mean, I spent summers at, you know, bonfires at his house and sleepovers at his house and his daughter was always at my house. So we had a very good, like, almost like a father-daughter relationship there for a long time. And so, you know, I think it was just, I don't really know if there was a communication method when I was, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old, but, you know, at the time I was scoring harder than other people and, you know, he knew enough about me and about my pitching to where he knew when I was 15, so when I was hurting, but there weren't a lot of times that I would kind of let him get away with making that excuse or, you know, pulling me for that. I would get really angry at the time. But I do think, like, he and my dad were really close too. And my dad, you know, obviously was there for me in the day-to-day. And so I know they would have conversations between games, but it wasn't, my dad never overstepped boundaries with my coaches and I applaud him for that. But they had very authentic conversations, not like trying to make Lexi better, but just like, hey, she's not being honest with me, tell me where she's at. So, again, I think there were more conversations that happened than I know about, but definitely not, you know, the helicopter parent, the one who wants to know everything and know every, you know, brain cell of a coach's head because coaches do deal with a lot. So I think a lot more happened on the back side of it. Awesome. Any, we're gonna get into some recruiting stuff here in just a second, but before we do that, any other kind of great memories or specific memories that stick out to your travel ball experience that you want to share, I think would be useful for people to hear? Yes, only because I know who listened to this eventually. So, her, I think it was in my last year playing with them because eventually, you know, the older girls aged out and I kind of had to find a friend to apply. But it was a Father's Day tournament and it was Father's Day Sunday, obviously Championship Sunday. And we, I think we had to play like the silly, you know, 8.30 in the morning game or whatever it is. And so on the Sunday, right, Championship Sunday bracket play is happening. I think it was double, yeah, it was double elimination. So we lose the first game. And you guys know, as soon as you get to lose this bracket, it's bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. Mind you, it's the middle of June. Like, it's hot, it's hot, I'm tired. And I'm sure the coaches were tired. Even on Father's Day, like how awful is that to just come and lose that day in the morning? So anyway, we get sent straight to a loser's bracket and we played like six or seven games back, to back, to back, to back, to back. And I think I pitched in like 95% of those innings. My dad has some, I was crazy. So we get to the championship game. Somehow we make it all the way through the loser's bracket. We get to the championship game against DCM Bowen's Ice Team. And at that time, I believe, I'm trying to think of who the pitcher was. She ended up doing really well with Max, but it might have been the girl from Walsh Jesuit who played at Ohio, Maddie McCready. She might have been the pitcher for the Ice Team that we were playing. Anyway, very good. And again, I'm a couple years younger. Like, had really no business, you know, being there. I was just bigger and, you know, could hold my own. I mean, we were, I think we were in high school at this time, but still younger. Anyways, so we get to this last game and, you know, the whole day has gotten pushed back and it's like 10.30 start time, okay? We get out there and the game's going. I think we ended up playing eight innings because we just could not get it done. It was tied one-one. I was dealing, the other pitcher was dealing. Like, I think there were maybe combined like four hits all game. And I have, honest to goodness, I think two of the hits were mine and two of the hits were the other pitcher's. Like, it was literally like one versus one because everything just happened like perfectly. Like, it was ground out, fly out, strike out. You know what I mean? Everything was perfect. And I remember, like, I believe it was our short stop. I ended up getting the game winning run, game, you know, walk-off double, whatever. And I just remember, like, Kurt was so happy. He had never won a Father's Day tournament in his whole coaching career. He had coached, he has three daughters who all play softball. So he had been coaching for a really long time, travel ball especially. And again, he poured his heart and soul into it. So that was just a really cool moment. And he still talks about that frequently. Whenever I see it, he'll say, do you remember that Father's Day? And I'm like, Kurt, I remember it. It was so much fun. It was, you know, 12 o'clock in the morning by the time we stopped playing, but just a lot of joy. And, you know, you look back now and it's not a big deal now, but, you know, at that time it was like, that was so cool. That was so fun. And that was so worth it. Yeah, oh my gosh, that's awesome. That's a great memory for sure. I love it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, yeah, so let's pivot to recruiting a little bit. I mean, I know, again, everybody's journey is different and things have changed a lot, you know, in the last few, maybe five to 10 years on how this goes down. But let, kind of walk us through, you know, that sort of early, yeah, I'm gonna go play college ball. Maybe the first contact or the first realization that, hey, this might be a thing for you. When, what, and who, you know, who was reaching out? And you mentioned Akron, love to know kind of what those conversations were like and your journey figuring out, hey, this is where I want to go. Yeah, I do. It's crazy how fast things change. Things are, it's a whole different animal now. But again, I don't think that goes until my sophomore year. I went to a couple camps during my freshman year, I will say. My dream school, and you guys are gonna laugh at this, but I don't know if you know this about me. My dream school was the University of Michigan. That was my absolute dream school. Loved the Mesa Blue more than anything because my dad is from Michigan. So anything that my dad loved, I loved. Did not know that. Yeah, it's funny enough, right? So I went to a couple camps there. Didn't really get the time of day from school. And again, I was from a small organization. I wasn't playing the major PGS schedules that a lot of my former teammates and now my friends played when they were my age. So yeah, I went to some local camps. I went to the Akron camp. I went to a couple cat camps. And I don't, camp never gave me the time of day. And it's funny now because I was a volunteer assistant under Coach Oakley for a little bit there. And I would rag on him at least once a week. I would say, do you remember when you kind of like stood me up at the camp? Like nothing ever, like he didn't even look at me in my eyes. And so it's funny now. And he was a great guy and I love him and he's doing great things over at Columbia in New York. But yeah, Akron was my only offer. And they offered me the lease right after my freshman year and didn't really know what I wanted. Didn't really know, I mean, I knew where I wanted to go but I didn't know if that was feasible anymore. And so I didn't end up committing until my junior year. And yeah, my story is so different because I just believe that like my recruiting team wouldn't dig because I didn't find a big job most of the time. And you know, as crazy as that is to say, like it worked out perfectly for me. I think at 18, I needed to be 10 minutes from my parents' house. I don't think I could have handled anything else. I didn't really know who I was a lot in college but that was something that I needed. I needed to be close. I had a couple of Division II basketball offers. Again, you know, Mr. LeBron James, I don't know if you know him. He has a pretty big basketball sense at Navy. No, but I did love basketball as well. But yeah, my recruiting story, like I hate to say this. I don't really have much of one. Like I went to a couple of camps. I went to an after camp. I did very well there and the coach came right away and I mean, put the offer on the table. And you know, I held it off for about a year and a half and then that's where I ended up going. Nice. Was it, yeah, so I think, yeah, again, I know a lot has changed just in how this even plays out and there's a lot tighter rules today, I think than there ever has been. But was that, when you say the offer, was that like, they literally walked over to you at the camp and said, hey, we like you, want you to come here? Did they call your travel codes? Did they call your parents? Like, what was that like? Did they, when you knew, like, yes, they want me. This is what they want. Yeah, no, I had gone to, and my dad sends it to me every year when it pops up on his Facebook memories, the goofball. I went to, it was like a January pitching camp. You know, one of those big ones that happens right after Christmas time. Did well there, and the coach, you know, you can't really have conversations there, but you can only have conversations when you, the student athlete, comes to campus. So she had invited me to come back. She, Coach Jones at the time, had invited me to come back to like an unofficial visit and tour the campus and kind of like see the facilities and all that. So I scheduled that for, I don't know, maybe a couple weeks later. I don't remember the exact timeline. And that's when my dad took me, and I think my mom was there too, and we actually like walked around the buildings, and that was the first time I'd ever really seen a college campus and saw the facilities. And then we went up to her office, my parents and the coach and I, and we sat down, and that was when, you know, she told me she wouldn't expect me to do this, and kind of told me what she had to offer me. That's awesome. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, great to hear kind of your perspective and what, you know, what you experienced there. Was there any, like, were you, through that process, was there frustration, was there concern? Like, you're like, no, I don't know if I'm gonna get a chance, or did you see that maybe in some of your teammates where they were so, they felt so pressured to, you know, to get that big offer or to, you know, get multiple offers or whatever the case may be? Is there anything you saw through all of that that you're like, no, no, I wish I would've, wish I would've known that, or wish I would've thought about that differently? Yeah, I think it was more of like, I was seeing girls get these big offers from, you know, Ohio State and Michigan and Michigan State and just other Mac schools. And it was like, am I not doing something right? Like, am I not good enough, right? Because you automatically assume that because the school's bigger, that means they're better, right? And that's not necessarily the case at all. But it was one of those, like, what is it called, imposter syndrome? Where even though I was good at what I was doing, I would hear, you know, chitchat that, oh, this girl's from the Ohio State, or, oh, this girl's from the Youngstown State, or, oh, this girl is, you know, going to Michigan State or wherever, that automatically I was not as good as her. And, you know, our stories are so different. So, yeah, I think that's what I think to me was the whole conservative thing. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I think that's real and definitely still applies today. So, as you get out, so I really know there's a lot of me here in the college piece, as you use your college journey and play in some big programs and the journey you've been on. Let's start with, so you kind of get to Akron, you know, that jump, we talked about the challenge of eighth grade, ninth grade playing with older girls and high school transition, and there's a lot going on. I think the same obviously applies for anybody going to college period, whether you're an athlete or not, but especially for athletes, is they make that jump, you know, from high school travel ball to collegiate athletics. What were some of the biggest challenges or maybe things you did not foresee and you're like, oh my gosh, this would have been nice to know this, you know, what does that transition look like for you, just stepping it up to the next level? Yeah, I think there's so many variables, obviously, when you go to college. You're living on your own for the first time, you have a roommate that you don't know, you know, you're trying to re-figure out, you know, even the simple like, what food am I eating today? Where am I gonna do my laundry? Like figuring out things that you never had to do before because mom always had dinner ready and, you know, mom did my laundry for me and all that silly stuff. And so I think I really struggled because I was very sheltered when I was growing up, which is a good thing and a bad thing. My parents, you know, never, ever wanted me to struggle, but, you know, I had to figure out how to do things by myself and mom couldn't do my laundry anymore. Actually, fun fact, my brother did my laundry for a while because my brother is my best friend. And so I think like adding those variables into now figuring out a brand new team and being the absolute bottom of the totem pole and just having like the more rigorous schedule that you hear about, but you don't really realize how it is going to affect you until you are doing it day to day. You know, the 6 a.m. list, the class, you know, from 8 a.m. spread apart until, you know, 6 p.m. and then trying to figure out when to eat, when to do homework, when to go to tutoring, when to get your study hall hours in. You know, you're thrown into the fire, really, when you get to campus. And, you know, everyone's probably a little bit different, but there are, you know, a lot of them have the same, right, there's early mornings, there's hard practices, there's class all day, there's study tables, there's sleep, that's about it. And then, you know, there's other, you know, you wanna have fun, you wanna enjoy yourself, you wanna meet the new people, you want to figure out who you are and what you believe and, you know, you don't wanna be consumed by college softball. But yeah, I will say I struggled a lot because I didn't know who I was, I didn't know exactly how to get there. And the guy I was dating at the time, he, like, never, we had never experienced anything other than what we knew. So, like, seeing people outside of, like, a small circle that I had, like, I hung out with him all the time, and I feel like I missed out on a lot of life, you know, conversations and experiences with other people because I just wanted everything to be the same. And so, you know, things change in college and things happen. And yeah, I think that all those variables together kind of add in, and they affect, you know, your softball performance. You're with a new coach who, you know, you work with on a day-to-day basis now. And, you know, there's supposed to be more structured bullpens and more structured hitting progressions and all the things, you know, the focus increases, the focal points are bigger and they're much more important because that's someone's career now, right? Somebody's making money coaching the softball team. And I just think there's a whole different level of passion that you have to have and integration that you don't really realize until you get there. And I struggled with that for a while, but, you know, as soon as I started to kind of soak it up and be where my feet were, things started to change and I started to get progressively better and more confident and kind of grew my own self with the people who I was around. Yeah, yeah, that is, when I got, we got the call from my daughter to get to the offer that she received. And they asked me, like, dad, is there any question you'd like to ask again? Like, I'm not, I couldn't ask, you know, well, what's your philosophy on, you know, whatever. I couldn't, it was like softball specifics, but I did want to know, like, what's the biggest thing that, that if you think about girls who came and were at that level and then didn't make it, just couldn't do it, what is it that we can help, you know, to make sure our daughter doesn't end up one of those? And that, what you're talking about is exactly what she said. She said it's not understanding the level of commitment, like the rigorous schedule, you're in the gym early, or, you know, all these things. Like, it's not, it's a totally different world you've ever been on. But also not having a solid support system, just like parents or friends or loved ones or mentors or somebody you can call up and go, hey, this is really bad. I don't know if I can do this. You know, then kind of walk you through it. And that, I thought that was great advice and a good reminder for me, you know, as I, as we go on this journey, it's like, how do we, how do we, how do we, again, as you mentioned earlier, like a lot of change going on, a lot happening. How do we, how do we navigate through that? So, that's the story. Yeah, and I think, I have to say, my parents are super honest, and they've told me before, they're like, you know, this is our first time parenting. Like, we don't always get it right. And so I think that that was a really good thing, tidbit that, you know, I started to kind of apply to my life, is that this is my first time living too. And so, like, you're not going to get everything right the first time, and that's okay. And, you know, I would encourage parents, you know, you and other parents who are, you know, going to see their, their pride and joys, you know, go experience a whole new life. Like, it's okay to not know all the answers for your kids, because you're learning too. And like, that's not, that's not a space that we talk about a lot, but like, you don't know what they're going to experience because their college experience is so much different. You know, if you went to college, it's so much different than what yours was. And if you didn't, like, it's a whole new world. So yeah, I think parents need to give themselves some grace too, because your kids are going to figure it out. You know, you just have to be there. You kind of have to be the punching bag. I told my dad, he's the best punching bag ever. And he was like, you know what, I will take that and I will run with that. So yeah, I just encourage parents to give their kids space and to, you know, encourage them to be open-minded and to, this is going to sound brutal, but they can make mistakes, it's okay. Like, it's okay. And I think the less scared they are of being perfect for mom and dad, the more that they're going to be able to make those decisions that are going to impact them, like, in a positive way, they're going to feel so much more comfortable making those big decisions. Yes, yeah, huge, huge and great, great advice. All right, let's get into the injury a little bit that you had at Akron. Tell us a little bit about what happened there and kind of the decision to move on after that. Yeah, so I was coming off a really great freshman season. I was the 2017 freshman of the year. I had kind of started to kind of be on track to break some records at Akron. And a few days before Christmas, I broke my ankle ice skating. Funny enough, I was with my roommates at the time and broke it and knew right away I wasn't going to comply. And so, you know, sitting out for that year and watching from the sidelines for the first time, truthfully, in my career, I've been very, very fortunate, very blessed to have had a pretty healthy athletic career. But I realized kind of sitting out that it wasn't the space for me anymore and that wasn't where, Akron wasn't where I needed to be to become the best version of myself. So it was a really hard decision, but thankfully I had some really awesome people in my corner, my family, some people beyond who believed that I could do things that were different. And so, you know, that was pre-transfer portal days. So I actually had to go in and ask for my name to be sent to a specific institution. And I ended up choosing to go to Auburn. Yeah, okay, awesome. Oh yeah, so let's talk about the transfer. So you decide, yeah, you're gonna send to certain institutions. How did you kind of make that decision? Or how did that even play out? Did you get to choose or is that something you had to, they choose you, I wasn't even sure how that worked at that time. Yeah, so back in the day, pre-transfer portal, you have to have a list of schools that you want your name to be sent to. So literally, like I went in with a list of all the ACC schools, all the SEC schools, and I think some SOCOM schools. My goal was to get as far away from Ohio as possible. That was just what I needed at the time, that was what I wanted. And there were a couple of schools that were kind of blacked off the list, meaning I wasn't allowed to contact them. Ohio State being one, Pitt being one, I'm trying to think where else, because we had, there were players from Akron who had transferred to those schools, so the coaches took away the ability to contact them. And so, yeah, that was kind of the reason, and I went on a couple visits and ended up choosing Auburn. All right, awesome. And what was that transition like? So you kind of got your taste of college, called sports and athletics, and now you're moving to a completely different state, you've got a whole new program. What was that transition like for you? Yeah, it was hard. I mean, I struggled a lot my first year. I had a lot of performance anxiety. I had a lot of, I think, lack of trust with coaches because of what I had seen and dealt with at my time in Akron. And so I struggled not only from the softball standpoint, but also from the perspective of not knowing who I was and not knowing who I could trust and who I could become during that process. So it was hard. I mean, it wasn't all glitz and glamour, and yes, there are a lot of pros to SEC softball, right? We got treated like queens, we got the best equipment, we got the best food. I mean, our travel experiences were second to none, but it's hard. There's a lot of pressure on athletes in those high institutions and in those high-caliber conferences to perform, and you almost lose your sense of worth when you don't because there's this expectation that because you have so much, it should always be, quote, unquote, the best thing ever. And I struggled balancing that, and I lost my faith a little bit. I had to really kind of revamp who I was as a person, and thank goodness I had a great group of humans down there who supported me and who helped me walk through those hard times. That was honestly, that's where I found therapy. I was very depressed, I was very anxious, and that was a big turning point in my life where I had to figure out who Lexie Hindley was, and that's where I met Lexie Hindley, the pop-up wire. Yeah, yeah, that's good. And then you, yeah, so you wrap up there, so you were there for two years, is that right? How long were you there, Althea? I was there for three years. I was there in 2019, the 2020 season, camped out because of COVID, and then the 21 season. Yeah, so talk about that just real quickly because I know that is something that I've heard some stories on, but dealing with the COVID season and everybody maybe had different, when that happened as far as their season and what they were allowed to do and what they weren't, but yeah, what was that like for you just dealing with a crazy pandemic, nobody knew what was going on, and you're trying to balance potential changes in your collegiate schedule, what was that like for you? Yeah, so it was crazy because obviously no one had answers, right? So I remember we had played a weekend series at Florida, and we came home on the bus, and there was starting to be some chatter. I remember, this is funny, I remember I went to get my nails done, and we were watching the news in the nail salon, and it was the day that the NBA canceled, and I believe the Ivy League canceled the same day as the NBA on the rest of their spring season. And I remember thinking, this is crazy, this is dumb, what's going on? I wasn't very aware of any situations that were happening, but lo and behold, they canceled our, we were supposed to play Missouri at home, that was gonna be our home series opener that following weekend. We get a message, probably, so Monday was getting my nails done, Tuesday, they are texting us saying, hey, I don't think we're gonna play this weekend, but we had a midweek game that Tuesday, so we played Tuesday, we won, and then we find out that we're just gonna push back that weekend series, we're gonna push back a couple days, and we're gonna let things settle down, everything's fine, everything's under control. And then, obviously, within 48 hours, I'm sure that nobody slept, no administrators, no coaches, no one from the Auburn level, SEC level, NCAA level, I mean, I don't know how things happened so quickly, they did it, it's amazing the way that everything happened. And by Thursday, I was back in Ohio, my parents drove to Alabama to help me pack up the house that I was living in and get everything that I needed, and we all drove back, my mom, dad, and my brother, to Ohio before that weekend that should have been the Missouri series. So, at that time, we have no clue what the timeframe looks like, we don't know if it's a couple weeks, a couple months, so there was that kind of weird in-between of, well, I can't go to the gym because no gyms are open, I can't go shopping because there's no stores open, like, what am I supposed to do with my time? So I think, I mean, that's when I really started working out a lot more outside, I gave a lot of lessons that summer, that was something that was super fun, and that was kind of where, I was taking some classes online as well, the Zoom era, oh my goodness, the Zoom era. And, you know, that was such a crazy time of life because no one had answers, and I think that was some of the first time that you had to live without any expectations, you just kind of had to be every day. So, yeah, I ended up going back to school that fall, things were completely different, I mean, we had COVID testing three times a week, we had to wear masks everywhere, we had to, you know, any sense of cough, they would test you, there was TRL everywhere, things were so much different, we had different list groups, some people looked at 5.30 in the morning, some people looked at 6.30 in the morning, practices were separate, everything was so chaotic, and I'm telling you guys, it was a whole different, it was like a movie, it was something that I've never experienced before, and I hope to never experience again, but in fact, I am very grateful to have experienced it because it was so unique. Yeah, for sure, and I, yeah, I feel like that's the, and we probably still don't understand the impact that all had on the self-help world and on people's lives that were going through that, because I know they're, yeah, I remember thinking, it's only gonna be two weeks, two weeks we'll be getting the results of TRL, and then now I feel like it's, it wrinkled through impacting people's eligibility, and then like even schools lost money because of it, and then that obviously impacts the self-help program, like just this trickling effect that I feel like just now we're getting, it may be back to some normal patterns of recruiting and what money is available and things like that. So yeah, huge, huge piece of the story that we will all read about in the history books. Absolutely, absolutely crazy, but everything worked out in the way that it needed to, so I'm grateful for that. Great, great perspective. All right, so you wrap up at Auburn, and then what, talk a little bit about the decision, the process of taking that last year and going to Ohio State. Sure, so I graduated with my bachelor's in May of 2021, and the COVID season did not count against our year's eligibility, so it was like a free token, and I knew in the back of my heart that I still had a little bit left. I didn't have the best senior year, I was very anxious again, really dealing with a lot of things internally that proved to leak into my performances, and I just knew there was something left. I wasn't happy with how I finished, and I wanted something more, and so because I had already graduated, there were no markings off. I could have gone anywhere that I wanted to. A lot of times, you can't transfer in conference, or you might lose your season eligibility, but that was not the case, and so I had some school free time, and I'd actually gotten the transfer quota about half way through my senior year at Auburn, just to kind of get the ball rolling, and I had some immediate interest from schools, and I was really stressed out about it, but I knew that something was gonna come about that I needed and that I wanted, so Ohio State called me, I remember this day too, I was finishing up, I think I was revamping my resume, just for jobs that we have to get one day when we're real grown ups, and I was sitting at the Artisan Coffee Shop in Uniontown, Ohio, and my phone starts buzzing, and it's a 614 number, and I was like, oh, it's a 614, that's cool, but what the heck, and it was Coach Kelly from Ohio State calling me just to chat, to kind of figure out where I was, and see where my head was and everything, so I remember sitting in the Artisan, I had a mint latte in my hand, and chatting with the Ohio State head coach, so that was pretty cool. We chit-chatted for a little bit, and I think I was down on a visit the next week, and met the staff, it was a different staff that was there then, it was Coach Jen McIntyre, who's now with Maroochie Sports, and with B1 America, and Coach Jordan Clark as well, who is the head coach at FAU, and is absolutely rewriting the history books there, so the staff was a little bit different back then, but I'm very grateful for those women who took a chance on me. Yeah, that's an amazing opportunity for sure, and again, just another example of, everybody has their own story, everybody has their own path, different connections and things fall into place the way they're supposed to. Absolutely, and I would have never thought, I've always been a wanderer, I've always been an adventure bug, and I would have never thought in a million years that I would end up at a school two hours from my house, like that's out of my brain for me. So, but it was awesome, I mean, it was awesome to be able to represent my state, and to kind of fall in love with Ohio in a different way, and I am very proud to be an Ohio girl, so kind of a Cinderella ending to that part of my story. Yeah, for sure. Lexi, if you could share, sorry Ryan, I just had a quick question, before we move off of the Ohio State experience, it was, and it seemed to be truly, a Cinderella ending for your college career, and we want you to take this opportunity just to, we know you're a humble person, but it's okay to talk about some really awesome accomplishments, and we know that you did that at Ohio State for their program, and so please take this time just to tell us how great you were that season. I know it's not in you, but we're asking you to do it. You're killing me Scott, you're killing me Scott, no, it was a lot of fun, and you know, I will say, I set some records, but I had a lot of fun doing it. I broke the single season strikeout record that had stood for 15 years, I broke the single season wins record, oh no, I'm sorry, I think I tied for second in that. I broke the single season complete games record, complete games pitch record, but the one that I'm most proud of though, is that we won so many games that we weren't supposed to. We won the Friday game at Michigan for the first time ever, I'm sorry, the Friday game at the team of North. We beat Kentucky, we shut out Kentucky, who was number eight in the nation at the time. We took two of three from a very, very, very good South Florida team, and again, I found myself again, and I couldn't have done that without the coaches, and without the lemon who I was around every day. So, Ohio State will always have such a big part of my heart, and I'm always rooting for the Buckeyes to be the best that they can be. Awesome. Yeah, big difference. You get a great opportunity now, that your name will forever be etched in the record books, right, until someone else comes along, but it's awesome that you had such a strong year there, and we just didn't want to miss it, I know it's not like you to talk about it, but, and make a big deal about it, but it was, it was a great year, and we were following it, of course, being from Northeast Ohio, so, great season on that. Yeah, thank you. I remember you guys came down to the Northwestern series, and they were tough. They were, they had my number, they knew what they were getting from me, and they showed it, but it was super cool for, I think a couple of your kids were out on the field with us during the Lantham. We were there for that, actually. Yeah, yeah, that was super cool. I just, I wish that series would have gone a little bit differently, but that Northwestern team might be one of the best teams to ever come out of the Big Ten. So, I have to ask a question, so you kind of mentioned it, do you, there's a big college football game on one weekend, and do you have, the teams you've played for, are you rooting for Ohio State above everybody else, or do you have allegiance elsewhere? Oh, gosh, I mean, here's the thing, I love when both of my schools do well, so the last couple years, when Ohio State has lost to the team of North, and Auburn has also lost to Alabama, it was a couple rough days in the Hanley household, but if those two are playing each other, I'm gonna have to root for the Buckeyes. All right. Yeah, I like the hard work of the, there's something different about the Midwest, the work ethic of the Midwest, I think is second to none. Yeah. Yeah, moving from Texas here, I can 100% attest to that. There's a different culture, different feel, different passion, and that is great. Yeah, I agree with that. Before we, yeah, before we leave college softball, I wanna kind of zoom back out and ask some broader questions. So, first is, there's a lot of challenges going from high school ball into travel ball, and travel ball into collegiate athletics and what that looks like. Looking back on your journey, what are some, if not biggest challenges, maybe it's just words of wisdom or an insight you would give, if somebody's listening right now and they're 16, 17, 18, looking at college ball, what are some things you wish that you knew at that time that would help you prepare yourself for that transition? Sure. I think one thing that I've learned, again, I've struggled with mental health for years and I found therapy and therapy is one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me and to my brain and to my story. And one thing that I've learned over and over and over in so many different senses is that we as humans will always try to imagine the worst case scenario because we love to be on the defense. But when we learn to retrain our brains to think about the best case scenario, we get to live in a lot more freedom and with a lot more confidence that what we're doing matters and so I wish I would have known that at 15, 16, 17 is to not, and that could be relationships, that could be friendships, that could be sports, that could be the grades that you're gonna get on your social studies test, that could be making a cake for the first time tonight, like it doesn't have to be these massive life things, but if we start recreating things to think about the best that could possibly happen instead of automatically assuming that the worst is gonna happen, it gives us a new sense of freedom and of purpose and I think that's something that I still work on every day, obviously, we all are humans in progress, but that's something that I really hold dear to my heart and I think another thing is that we don't have control over our life, right? And whenever divine creation, I believe that there's a savior that died for my sins and rose again on the third day to make a path for me to get to heaven and I don't think that my life is by mistake and I also acknowledge that I don't have full control of my life, so I wish I would have understood that a lot more in my early 20s and in my late teens was that I truly don't have control over my life and once you sit with that and accept that, there's a different sense of like living in the moment, living in the day to day versus trying to make sure that tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day match up exactly how I want it to happen because it's not gonna happen, right? There's gonna be things, you're gonna hit red lights when you're driving to work and you're gonna be five minutes late, but that's okay, you're gonna get an A and a test that maybe you just needed a 90 on and guess what, you're gonna wake up tomorrow, so I think just realizing that the day to day is also very, very, very special. It doesn't have to lead up to big things all the time. Yeah, so I feel like I need that in my own life right now at 43 years old, like I need to hear those things, it's so important and yeah, having that perspective is I tell my kids a lot and I feel like I need to hear it myself because if something will happen, it's like in the grand scheme of life, like the thing that happened to you today is really not that big of a deal, like it's really, it's not, like you're gonna be fine and it's hard to see, but so it's so good to remind ourselves. Yeah, and then to counter that, kind of the devil's advocate, like it's okay to celebrate this often. Yeah, right, right. I made some really good chicken last night and I'm really proud of it, so that's not something that is gonna be, it's not gonna last forever, my roommate and I ate it, but that's like the little things, like it's okay to enjoy the day-to-day. Yes, yes, that's great, that's awesome. Any other kind of greatest memories or any other things about college softball that you wanna share? Gosh, I have so many, so many great memories. I think playing-wise, I have so many from Ohio State that just make me smile. One of my favorite ones is my dad, he's a diver in Michigan and we talked about that and when we showed up in Ann Arbor on that Friday, I got the ball on the Friday and I had 13 strikeouts, gave up a home run to Taylor Bum, who's one of the funniest people I know and seeing him up there after the last out, the seventh inning, hands in the air, screaming, leading the O-H, he led the O-H before all the games, those memories are just so cool. And then, to be a little bit more sentimental because that's the mood that I'm in right now, it was after our final game in Cherry Hill Stadium, down at University of Tennessee, we just lost out of regionals to an incredible Oregon State team, gave it our all, gave it my all, I mean, I had a broken leg at the time, there was nothing I had lost in the tank and they were just better than us that day and we were in our final, we sang Carmen in a circle for one final time and of course, I'm right next to my dad and I'm crying, there's makeup all over my face because I was a diva during my college days and for the last time, he leads the O-H and everyone's screaming I-O and then he says it again, O-H-I-O, O-H-I-O and then he said, thank you, Buck. And my mom caught it on video because I go right back to his chest sobbing and that's just one of those memories, it was a very full circle moment, right? We fought so many times in the backyard, there were so many times where we didn't see eye to eye but he put on that scarlet and gray and cheered for me and for my people and for my teammates and just one of those memories that I think I will cherish forever and I'm glad it's on video but I'm even more glad that I got through the period that without any pressure, without any expectation, it's still out there, yeah. Awesome, that's a great memory, that's awesome. Okay, yeah, let's talk a little bit about, so after college, I know there's some transition there eventually to international softball which I definitely want to get into, I guess talk about that transition a little bit, you're in college and how you got through the process of, hey, I think I still want to play some more and how that opportunity opened up, can you talk about that transition a little bit? Sure, so in about November of my super senior year at Ohio State, a coach of mine who I played for at Auburn, Coach Emma Carasone, she texted me and asked if I had any interest in playing in Italy the following summer. She is Italian, she played on the Italian national team in the Olympics in Tokyo, she's awesome and I was like, yeah, maybe we'll see. So then it comes to be the end of January, the end of February and I have these people who are texting me in Italian and I'm like, what on earth did Carasone get me into now? So they kind of explained the situation, they explained how this all works, they told me the kind of visa that I would need to get and how I would live and what the schedule looked like and how I would get there and how I would get home and it was pretty much like you could spend the second half of our season in Italy with us and play in our three major tournaments and we'll give you a little bit of pocket change, we don't have a whole lot to offer you but you'll live for free, you'll travel here for free and you'll get to spend six months in Italy. For me, absolutely, why not? So I signed my contract in the middle of my college season and a week after we lost out at Sherwood Hill, I was on an airplane for the first time to, or not for the first time but I was on my first kind of big international flight that I remember, I picked me up when I was little but to Italy and I went there and I lived in a home with seven other Italian women and had the absolute best summer of my life and I think about that summer almost daily, I just like, things will come back and I'll laugh and it was such a unique experience where they spoke some English, I picked up on some Italian, there were some girls who spoke very, very, very well but the sense of community and pride and love that they showed every day to me and to each other and to their organization was just something that I wish we could all bottle up and bring back. That's, I mean I'm sure there's so much there to that transition and what that was like. Yeah, what were some of the, just practically like playing ball in another country with, was there different pieces of the game or different strategies or things you had to learn? I'm sure the communication piece, yeah. Just the fact that you were playing in a completely different country, how different was the game itself for you? Sure, so I mean I think our stereotypical thoughts of Europeans are actually very true. I mean we would drink Coca-Cola during the game, like there were two liters of Coke in the fridge in the game and me, I'm a soda girl through and through, more of a Coke Zero girl but I'm not picky and so it was basically the coolest thing ever. I'd go, it was 100 degrees and I would go off and get a little two Coke. But anyway, yeah, it was a whole, it was softball softball but I think the methodologies and the ways that they performed were a lot different because they don't have the advanced training that we do. They don't have the numbers, they don't have the metrics, they don't do the strength and conditioning programs but they do it with such a full heart that I don't think we do in America. So I do think they do some things better. And I will say I believe that they have much more pride in each other than we do because a lot of times, and I'm not saying this is all the time, but a lot of times in college softball, they get a little selfish, we get a little bit angsty, we wanna do things because we wanna do them versus in international ball, especially in Europe and in Italy, which just has such a big part of my heart, like they did it because they love the game and there was no expectation of return. That was literally just because, I mean, these women are in their 20s and 30s and have full-time jobs or were in college and would come to practice straight off the train, ride their bike to practice. And that was just, it was just their life and it was just what they love to do. And so, I think in the same sense of, we love college ball, but why do we love it? We love it because it's the game or do we love it because we get the cool gear and the good food and the cool travel pictures? Like they don't get that, they get the incredible Italian food, don't get me wrong, but it's not the big picture-esque scale that we live on in America, if that makes sense. Yeah, for sure, I mean, that makes a lot of sense. And that's what always amazes me when we get to watch even Olympics softball, whatever it is, the last go-round, and that's what amazed me, seeing some of the women there that I remember watching in the college rinks and thinking they've had to stay physically ready, mentally ready for all these years just because they love doing it. This is not some sort of big, high-paying gig that they're getting a lot of money to do this. This is just because they love it. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, definitely a very eye-opening experience. And I had some opportunities, I could have played here in the US in the Pro League that summer, but looking back, I think Italy, even though, I think if I were to play in the Pro League, my life would look a lot different now. I believe that Italy was exactly what I needed and gave me so many more tools in my toolbox that I wouldn't have right now at 26 years old. Yeah, sure. Did you have any help transitioning culturally, outside of softball, just culturally? Did you have help in navigating the city and navigating, was that challenging as well? There were some adults in the organization that were super helpful that took me to get a Wi-Fi box so I could use my phone or have a bike ready for me. But a lot of it, honestly, I was just kind of transplanted and put there and they kind of told me to figure it out. And luckily, I mean, my teammates were incredible and they are truly my friends. We still talk very frequently. I'm planning my next European getaway because I love them so much. I went back last summer to play with them and it was the best weeks ever. So yeah, I mean, there was some help. I definitely wasn't on my own, but there were no, I mean, there was no one teaching me the language. There was no one teaching me the food etiquette. Like those things just came in the day to day. And I think, thankfully, my parents have raised me to be very strong, but very open-minded. And so once I kind of got over the shock, it was like the best thing ever because I had no choice but to be there in that space at that time. So it was super fun and living with them and seeing how they process in their day to day. I mean, I'm telling you guys, I don't think I've laughed. Those like six months, I think I've laughed more than in the rest of my whole life combined. Like it was just the best time of my life. So much fun. That's awesome. Talk a little bit about what you're doing today. Like what's your life look like today and what are you involved in? Okay, yeah. So today I am currently living in Philadelphia and I help run a baseball and softball training facility where we give hitting lessons, pitching lessons, baseball and softball. We run team processes. We are kind of like the event space. I give pitching lessons. I give hitting lessons now, funny enough. And yeah, just again, like really, really, really loving to hear now and whatever comes next, I'm sure just as everything else is aligned in my life, this is exactly what I needed right now. And I'm sure whatever's next will be also what I need at that point in my life. Yeah, I'm loving it. This is a really cool area. Yeah. That's great. Great perspective for sure. And I feel like that's scattered through your whole story. Just all the twists and turns, but it all wraps, it all ends up in the right spot. We have to hope for and pray for. I'm gonna ask you one question too before we pivot into another topic. So you've lived in all these places, right? You've lived in Ohio, Columbus, Auburn. You've got the international situation. What was your favorite place to live? And as a Dallas Cowboy fan, you cannot say Philadelphia. I won't let you. I won't let you say it. Well, I did spend a couple months in Austin. That was fun. Gosh, it was so interesting. I don't know. I loved my time in Japan. Japan is such an interesting culture and such a beautiful, beautiful country. But I would say Italy. I just think that the people there are still my heart and the ways that they live their lives and the way that they value family and friends and just time spent together. I think that opened my eyes so much more than any other experience I've had so far. So yeah, I would say I loved living in Italy. And I was 20 minutes from Milan, which is the fashion capital of the world. And I am a shopper. So that was a very, very, very dangerous place for me to live. But it was worth every penny that I spent in any crazy experience that I encountered. That's funny. Now your experiences in Japan, were they also with the Italian team or? No. So after Italy, I decided not to re-sign there as much as I wanted to. It just wasn't feasible. And I was offered a... I was actually being scouted during my senior year at Ohio State. I didn't know this until I was in Italy. I was getting these emails from this Japan scout. And I was offered a position to play with the Denso Brite Pegasus in the Japan Diamond League. The JDL is the most premier fast pitch league in the world. I believe it's the best softball, but it is the most established softball league in the world. It's run like the Major League Baseball. They have massive fan support. They have places where women can make salaries playing softball, like unheard of anywhere else in the world. And so, no, I went to Japan to play with the Japanese Diamond League. Well, I thought you had a brief career in Japan, but I didn't know if we were gonna speak on that. So I wanted to just make sure that you had the opportunity to talk about that experience as well. Oh, yeah, it was beautiful. It was such an interesting place to be. And seeing how that whole other side of the world functions, it was so much different than the United States and Italy. But the Japanese way of life and the Japanese people are beautiful humans. And they are so, so, so grateful for what they have. And they are so respectful. And I think that's, you know, we learn about Japanese people being respectful, but their way of softball is absolutely unlike anything I've ever seen. They play a lot of short games, a lot of choppy stuff, stuff straight to the ground. They're, as far as from the pitching perspective, their balls move unlike anything I've ever seen before because they are so precise and because they work so hard. I mean, they practice eight, nine hours a day without even thinking about it. So it was definitely a very eye-opening experience for me. Were there like rule differences or anything significant that was different, just how the game is played in that culture versus, or that league and versus what you grew up around? Sure, I don't think there were any rule differences. There's just kind of different standards. Like they, a lot of the Japanese players, because they are shorter and thinner, they use, like they get much more airborne when they're pitching to kind of create more of a momentum and a more torque versus me. I'm six foot one and I'm a big girl, so I can push off the mound and push off hard. So that was something that was really unique was seeing these girls literally jump three feet in the air and be able to spin a rice ball. That was unheard of for me before. So that was really cool, really cool. Got it, got it, okay. Yeah, I'd probably touch on that too. That's an important piece of the story as well. Yeah, let me transition to one topic and then we'll wrap it up with some words of wisdom from others. You mentioned earlier how faith played a role in your journey and helped you through some of that. Yeah, I'd love to just give you the space and ask some questions around that. Just what, because I think that's so important and I know everybody has their own experience with this as well, but just how much faith can really help you transition through the difficulties of life, also help with your perspective, help you live for bigger things than softball. So yeah, talk to me a little bit about how your faith has helped you during these various seasons and what kind of encouragement you would give others to lean into that as well. Sure, yeah, I love the space for that because I think that sometimes as athletes, we try to pretend like everything's put together, right? I'm living my dream, I have the coolest new shoes from Under Armour or Nike that I didn't have to pay for and they have my school's logo on them and I'm getting on a private jet this week to go to play at Texas A&M, but sports are hard and college sports are draining and truthfully, without that constant battery refill, for me, that was worship music, for me, that's still prayer sessions and surrounding myself with people who bring me joy, not who bring me down. I don't think I would be able to do it and I don't think I would have been able to do it with a full heart. And so, I think finding something that roots you and however, whatever that rooting and that grounding looks like, I think it's completely okay, as long as it's serving to you and not hurting other people. But I just believe that, for me personally, I know that my savior doesn't value me as a ball player. He put me on this earth to bring light to darkness and to spread his name and his love through what I do and that's what I get to do every day. I get to live a life of love and that's something that I hold very true to my heart, very close to my heart and that's what I strive to do every day, to love people hard. Again, like we talked about, there's no space for mean people in this world, there's no space for hate in this world, we do that with making love, it's so much more fun to love. And so, I'm not big, I don't go out there and try to recite Bible verses and try to convert people, standing on the side of the road, but I truly think that the way that I love people is kind of the testimony that I'm trying to continue with my life because of how I have been loved. My parents have loved me so wholly, I know that my father, my husband and my father loved me in a way that even my parents can't match. I think once I started to accept that and view myself through that lens, there's a different sense of freedom and a different sense of joy that I was able and am able to walk in every single day in everything that I do. Yeah, so good and that's just to kind of reiterate what you said, it's just the living for a bigger purpose and a bigger story and a bigger, for somebody else's glory and not your own which is not the American way, but it definitely is freeing and allows you to focus on what really matters in life, so it's awesome to hear. Sure. Yeah, let's wrap up with just maybe some words of wisdom that you would have for other people and I'll kind of ask some specific questions around that. We talked a little bit about this as we've gone through, but if you're talking to a younger girl who's listening to this and they have these big dreams of playing softball at the collegiate level, what are some words of wisdom you would give them just to help them think about it, but also prepare them and what would you say to maybe your younger self looking back? Sure, I would say to remember there are a couple of ways that you can approach life, right, you can know exactly what you want, but you don't always have to take the exact path to get there and I think that's not something that I really grasped until I was probably in my early 20s, late teens, early 20s, because our end goal is to be happy and to bring joy to people around us. For me, for a long time, I thought that was gonna be medicine, I wanted to be a doctor and that was my goal, that was my dream ever since I was a small child and now I've realized over time that the way that I bring joy to people and the way that I spread love and the way that I feel the most content with who I am and who I'm becoming is through softball and through teaching and through interacting with people. So that same end goal of bringing joy, of leading people, of changing people's lives, that's still my goal and that's still what I wanna do every day, but the way that I'm doing it is not through medicine, it's through softball and so I think when you kind of give yourself a little bit of grace to change, it's okay to change as you get older too to change your beliefs and to change your worldviews. Things start to happen and you start to understand who you are and who you're called to be. Yeah, that's great. What about advice, so it sounds like you've had incredible parents, which is a huge, huge piece of this and parents, they deal with all the pressures and challenges around softball especially as it gets more and more competitive differently. Looking at how kind of your parents handle this, what advice would you give parents as they're walking through their kid's own journey? What are some things maybe you saw even in your own that you would say, hey, these are the principles or the characteristics that really help and that parents should be focused on? Sure, I think this is gonna sound really cheesy, but I think parents need to listen more. I think parents, not all parents, but I think a lot of times as a daughter, when I need advice, I go to my parents because I still think that my parents know everything. But there comes a point where parents don't know everything about certain topics and that's okay. But I still think sometimes when we're older and we have that sense of authority, we try to make up the narrative that we have all the answers. And so I think just listening, listening to your kid, listening to what he or she is going through, listening to, are they really happy in what they're doing or are they just doing it because it makes you smile? And I think that there's the burnout factor that's happening so much now with kids because they're playing so much and there's so much pressure from parents. Well, do they not feel comfortable having those conversations at home or on the way home? Of like, hey, mom, dad, this is really hard. I think I need to leave. Or can we maybe look at different teams that maybe aren't as intense? And again, everything that's good comes with a cost, right? You're gonna have to invest yourself somewhere if you want to be great. But is that investment worth losing your relationship with your kid or, quote, unquote, ruining their childhood and pushing them to be this great next Jenny Since Jessica Mendoza, Lauren Chamberlain? And kids need to be kids. And I think that I'm seeing that even now in my lessons, like there are so many kids who have great sessions with me when mom or dad is not there that day to catch, when it's just me, the kid, and the nine points, like the balls are great, they're moving, the mechanics are perfect, the timing is awesome. And then it's like, as soon as mom gets back from dropping the sister off at her friend's house, it's like a whole different human walks to the mountains. And that breaks my heart because I know that behind, when they walk out of my facility and back to their car, it's not like, hey, are you okay? Is something going on? It's probably a degrading, like we're spending money on this, you need to be better, you need to work harder, da, da, da, da, da. Well, what if I disconnect? That disconnect isn't because of the kid, the disconnect is because the parent and the kid are having this bridge issue. And so I think just the parents having an open mind, open heart and open ears and truly listening, obviously kids need guidance, kids need someone to kick them in the butt every now and then, but I think equally as important is that sense of open communication and honest communication. Yeah, I mean, just transparency on some of my own faults and Scott and I talk a lot about, yeah, I'd love to do a podcast sometime on, you know, things I didn't do well, but I wish I could tell theirs. Because I'd like to get a list of that, you know, as a dad who's gone through this, that I can't tell you how many times my wife has had to tell me like, Ryan, she's 14, or Ryan, she's 16, or you know, whatever. I see, you got to chill out. She's not a bold woman who's got this all figured out, there's still a lot going on here. And that's a good reminder, I mean, for all of us, just that, hey, these are kids and they're first of all, and they look to us for guidance and wisdom and we have a really unique opportunity in that for sure. It sounds like you, you know, you had some great coaches along the way, which also helps. Maybe talk a little bit about that. If you could speak to coaches out there, what are some characteristics, principles that you would say this is what embodies a solid coach? Sure, you know, obviously I think there are different stages of life where you need different kinds of coaches, right? My coaches, when I was 12, 13, 14, you know, Curt Jackson, Ron Rocks, my dad, Mike Roberts, those coaches were so much different than the ones that I had in college. I think when you're younger, you need the more nurturing, the more, you know, I'm going to grab your hand, I'm going to show you how to do this, this is how we're going to get better together. And that requires a lot of patience, right? So coaches, I challenge you to have a little bit more patience, especially with females. I coach young girls here and there are many times where I want to rip my hair out because I have to say the same thing five or six different times. But when I was that age, I also needed it said five or six ways, five or six times in different ways. But then I think of my days in college with Mickey Dean and with Coach Kelly and specifically Coach Jordan, I think of Coach Jordan a lot, Coach Jordan Clark, who's down at FAU now. She was the absolute 100% pure definition of tough love. She would call me out on my BS when I was trying to make excuses for myself because I wanted to be a leader, I wanted to, you know, help this team be something great. But every now and then I got it in the back of my head that I didn't want to do it because there was no support for me and there was no one else wanting to do it. And, you know, she and I had some very, very, very honest and open communication lines that I don't think a lot of players get to have with their coaches. But she never let me get away with selling myself short. And I know that sounds really cheesy, but in the time and place that I was in at 22, 23, how old was I? I was 23, 23 years old. I needed somebody to absolutely say, you are not letting yourself believe the devil or that you're less than. And you have to get out of your own space and you can't be selfish anymore. You have to do it because these other girls need you to do it and kind of put your own pride aside and make yourself vulnerable. So, you know, I think of those balancing acts of guiding you along to do it and then saying like, no, you're going to do it. I'm going to stand here and watch to make sure you get it done. You know, and those are all different philosophies that coaches deal with. But, you know, I would just challenge people, challenge coaches to meet their players where they're at, but have some sort of a plan of where they want to go. And that's based on the kid, you know? I mean, not every kid is going to be Jocelyn Ello. Not every kid is going to be Jessica Mendoza and that's okay. But what you can do is you can offer that kid the space to grow to be their best, to grow to their best potential. And that's better than creating a robot of somebody else. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, I feel like that's the goal, right? Really, we're trying to make strong women, young women out of this whole thing. You know, they all can impact the world in a different way. It doesn't have to even be through softball. It can be softball as a gateway to their corporate job or their, you know, whatever. It's an important reminder for us for sure. Yeah, I really appreciate this time with you and all the wisdom and insight. In fact, I think as we talk through this, I'd love to, maybe we can talk again and press into some of these topics more specific there and more in detail, more of you on. So I'd love to pick apart some of this with you and allow you to share your insights with others as they're going on this journey. But we really appreciate you joining us and taking the time to be transparent and share all that you've been through and hope that it was helpful for others as they listen to it. And we'll be sure to have you back soon. Yeah, thank you guys. Thank you both so much for trusting me to come on here. And thank you more importantly for what you're doing for your team and for the softball community in general. There's a lot of people who do it for the wrong reasons, but there need to be more people like you guys who do it for the right reasons. So just thank you from my 12-year-old self, from my 13-year-old self and from my 26-year-old self. I thank you. Thank you. This is super awesome. Yes, we love it. Thanks for listening to the Ohio Storm Coach's Corner. We hope this episode encourages you as you go through your own softball journey. Please take a couple of seconds to subscribe to the podcast and come back often. We would love for you to share the podcast with other coaches, players, and parents. Thanks for listening. We really appreciate it.