Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Cindy Ball-Malone on the Utah Talons playing in the AUSL championship, Keys to success this year + more

Transcript

Cindy Ball-Malone on the Utah Talons playing in the AUSL championship, Keys to success this year + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Lode Layoi to rest.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell show, your source
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: for the best huts football company. Here's oc from the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred ninety two to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: one half am.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Great stuff coming in on the text line. This is
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: my favorite one from Spencer Cobb. When I was like seven,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: I was the best basketball player by far in my
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: elementary school.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Then this kid came in.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: It was just ridiculously good and went d one and
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: made me look like the six foot white guy that
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: I turned out to be.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what it happens to the best of us.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: You're in elementary school.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: You're the best at you're giving sport, you're the best
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: at you're the fastest on the playground, whatever, and then
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: some kid moves in, who's faster? Or you hit like
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: you hit fourth grade, fifth grade, and the girls start
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: to hit puberty before the boys, and suddenly, like kickball games,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: the girls are just crushing it and all the boys
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: are just like, what the heck?
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: What just happened here?
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: We've all been through these formative years in elementary school.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: You establish that pecking order, and sometimes you feel like
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: you're at the top until a new kid moves in. Well, hey,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: that might be happening with the athletes unlimited Softball league
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: and the new kid on the block. Dare I say
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: it is your very own Utah Talents head coach Cindy
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Baum alone, Coach Bear kind enough to join us again
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: on the Sean O'Connell show.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Coach welcome, How are you?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I'm great? How are you doing?
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Do it all right? Did you ever? We were?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: It's probably weird tuning in and like jumping into this
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: part of the conversation, but we were just talking about
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: how like it for the SEC who was always so
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: dominant in football, now like the new kid has moved
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: in and is better at football than them. It happened
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: to some of us during our elementary years that you
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: thought you were the best, and then somebody moved into
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the boundaries and you weren't. Were you the person who
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: moved in and was the best player, or were you
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: with a person who was the best player and somebody
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: else moved in at any point during your childhood?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was a slow starter, So I think I
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: was one that kind of learned as I went along
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: today to work really hard, so I would say I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: was maybe somebody that came in after a year or two.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: All Right, I liked that congratulations postseason bound, the first year,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: finding a home in Utah, being set down here in
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Salt Lake City, and your team has clinched a berth
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: in the Championship Championship Series. Congrats on that success first
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: of all. But has this success so far come kind
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: of how you thought it would? When we last had
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: a conversation, we were just getting the season started, and
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: you didn't really have a good sense yet of whether
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: it was going to be an offensively driven team, whether
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: you were going to live on pitching, whatever. Has the
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: success come the way you thought it would?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think this year has been just
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of different heroes in the game. And so
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I could say, you know, there was high high level
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: moments for pitchers, high level moments for hitters, defenders, like
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: some high level base running situations, and so I think
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: it's just been a healthy combination of, you know, all
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: all parts of the game.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Relative to you know, it's a it's a quick little season, right,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: It's not like this long marathon. And when you talk
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: about I mean, it was only it feels like a
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: few weeks ago that we were having a conversation about
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: camp and about the start of this thing. What kind
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: of growth have you seen from your athletes, from your team,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: the chemistry, et cetera that you think has allowed how
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: you to be in this championship series this weekend.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: You know, just learning each other. And what's been so
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: amazing is to see these professional women have the ability
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to be vulnerable in front of each other, like, you know,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: make a mistake and then come back and get in
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a winning run. And so I would say learning from
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: each other, leaning on each other. And I mean we've
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: had some bumps and bruises along the way. You've seen
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: some players kind of go on the I I R
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the I L and and we've had some other players
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: come in and to be able to play as consistent
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: as we did throughout all of those adversities, it just
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: truly speaks to like what the mission is, you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: what our foundation is and the culture of our team.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And so I think that's been a big part of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: just watching it grow and seeing us where we're you know,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: how we got there.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at some of the leagues and you've got
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm looking at hitting right now, You've got
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: what I'm looking the top eight here. Three of the
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: top eight hitters in the league right now are in
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: your lineup. So, uh, how much of that is you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: you give credit to yourself. I know you're not going
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: to take any but you know, the hitting coaches and
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: really how much is this is just jadalin and and
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Aliyah and company figuring it out at bat?
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean, what what awesome job. And I'm
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: assuming maybe like a Brie Ellis is in there too.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So those three really studied what occurred in the league
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: last year and just elevated their game for us. So,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: just like you said, Jadlinson just light out for us
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: in so many moments early in the game, late in
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the game, multiple you know games, multiple hits and games.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And then you have Aliyah who really turned it on
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: for us in that last game she got on base
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: in which displayed her speed and the squeeze play and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: you know, highlighted a really nice station fish the place too.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I know we've got to talk about the hitting, but
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: defense definitely wins championship. So but just to watch their
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: their growth over not only this season but during my
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: training camp and the off season, I mean, they really
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: prepped to be prepared and come back even stronger this year.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: So for those who are uninitiated, which of course includes myself,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: get the playoff format and the championship format for the AUSL.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: What what are you guys up against moving forward here?
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So clinching first place for Railer season gives you
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: a buy and an automatic bid into the championship series.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: So the two and three seed will play a playing
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: game on Thursday, and then the three game series, best
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: of three games will start on Saturday. And I'll just
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: go Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: So Saturday, Sunday, Monday, best of three.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: And when I'm not going to say if, when your
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Utah talents come out on top of that champions in
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: this inaugural season here in Salt Lake.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: City, Absolutely, that's what. That's the name of the game,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: when that game, that three game series and you leave
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: home champs.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: How has the response been at the dumpkey for you
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: this year? Obviously?
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: You know it's the first time that the league put teams,
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: rather than barnstorming around like you did in the inaugural season,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: put teams in home home stadiums.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: How's the dunkey proven to be a good fit for you.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's just amazing. I mean the people are what
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: really made it. And I'll say from our fans are crowds,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: just the game day atmosphere so intimate and unique in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the league because of our tradition. You know, we asked
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: for some of our unique Utah or Ukaw chance and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: we got it. And you know they have held onto
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that and it actually stuck through some of our away
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: games as well. And I'll just say, like to have
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: that personalized fan base is I think just kind of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: speaks to not only these women on the talent, you know,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: just the culture, but then to be able to see
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: it display within our fans and that atmosphere, it's something
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: really special.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Championship Series is Davis Diamond down on the campus at
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Texas A and M Right.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Correct, Well, have you been there a lot?
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Tell me what you know about that place and is
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: there anything unique about trying to get this thing done
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: in college station for you?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, believe it or not, I have never been there,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: which is crazy because I've i feel like I've been
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to like almost every stadium college stadium out there, but
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: it's never been there. But I'll say unique to us,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: especially in our last like a few series, is it
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: is a dirt endfield, so it's a traditional, you know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: like college endfield and so and then I would say
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the field is one of the better ones on in
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: today's game, in the college game. So I would say
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: that those are the things that are pretty unique and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: exciting for us. I know our pitchers love to pitch
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: on dirt and they're ready for that. And I think
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the short game can be played a little bit different
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to you on dirt. So now excited to see some
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of those things coming into play as well.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Cindy Baum, alone, head coach of your Utah Talents, is
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show. They are
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: into the championship series in their inaugural season in Salt
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Lake City here for the Athletes Unlimited Softball League that
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: will take place, as we just talked about over the
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: weekend into Monday, as a best of three series against
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: whoever emerges from the play in game two three versus
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: three seed. Is there a preference who, like, do you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: have more history with one of these teams? Is if
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: you have an expectation on who the matchup is going.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: To be well, I don't want to give you just
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a boring answer, but I'll say we still don't know
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: who that three seed is. That'll be determined in today's
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: game with the Spark and the Blaze and we I mean,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: we just finished playing the Bandage, so I mean obviously
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: from last year, you know, playing the Bandage in the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Championship series as well. I mean, that's very familiar. But
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just say we're going to just play
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: against our best self and that that's really what we're
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: going to focus on. So whoever ends up in that
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: game against us, you know that we're ready to.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Roll from an overall big picture perspective. And I know
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: you're focused on getting your team ready and the minutia
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: in that front, but you know, all of you are
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: kind of pioneering this thing in a new format.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: So what are you hearing. I mean, the crowds have
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: turned out.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: It looks like in a lot of these places, I
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: imagine momentum is positive. Women's sports in general are thriving
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: right now in the United States of America. But I also,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: aside from this job, I'm part of kind of a startup,
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a sports startup, and it's scary it's wild, it's crazy.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: You're you're constantly dealing with different curve balls thrown at
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: you and things like that. So from a league perspective,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: what are you hearing and how strong does the future look?
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well, our goal is to build it
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: faster than anyone else has done it. And I mean
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the example in these past couple of days, I mean
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: will definitely hold true to people are watching, Like you said,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the unfortunate situation in the Midwest with those fires, we
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: had to kind of there's a curve ball for you. You know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: we're supposed to be playing our last games in Rosemont,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: and I think a day before we're supposed to leave,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: we get told we're going to move the games to
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Oregon and play there. And to know that we sold
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: like sixteen hundred to two thousand tickets in less than
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours for that series, I mean, wow, that's
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: just it's incredible. It's incredible to see how exciting this
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: game is for you know, the outside world and just
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the softball fans out there. And I'll say, like, you know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: our hometown is definitely our hometown, but to see reoccurring
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: fans come back to those games in Portland. It was
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: pretty amazing and you started to recognize them like this,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: like these games weren't even supposed to be here, and
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, we've got a packed stadium again
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and they're they're chanting for Utah. So it's just incredible
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to see how how fast it's picking up and just
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: how intentional everybody is in making sure that it's done
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the right way, because you know, sometimes when things are
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: built fast and you're not intentional about that, you know
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: there could be issues. But the plan is for this
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: this thing to be permanent and this league to be
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: permanent and continue to keep growing, and I the future
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: is definitely.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: By back to the exs and knows of the actual
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: softball here. So I guess potentially three different opponents for you,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: three or four different opponents for you in this championship series.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Will your pitching lineup change based on who you're facing,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Will any your batting order change significantly based on who
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: you're facing? Or is it relatively consistent and dialed in
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: regardless of the opponent.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I feel good with any rotation of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: our pictures because they're they're just they all compliment each
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: other so well and then they're all equally number ones
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: in their own way. So I feel, you know, once
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: we we kind of find out who is in the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: series with this, that will show us just trying to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: give us more information of matchups and whatnot. But I
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: think our lineup is our lineup, right, I mean, depending
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: on how people are, you know, being healthy and and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: you know, also maybe who were lined up to face, Like,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: we could see different matchups as well, but we got
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: here with what we've been doing, and I'd say, like,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: we're going to stick to that. So I like the
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: rotation we have and all of the pictures are ready
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: to ready to go, and I mean, they are a
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: huge part of why we are in this position, and
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: we're going to continue to keep uh relying on them
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to lead the way. And you know, we'll get that
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: those clutch hits and the routine defense in lockdown. So
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I see the lineup being very similar to what we've
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: been doing.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: This is a weird question, but I get into the
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: hardware of championships and I'm again I'm operating under the
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: assumption that the Talons are taking down their second straight
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Athletes Unlimited Softball League championship.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: What is the.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Trophy, Like, are we going big, fat, audacious championship ring
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: if it goes down like that? Is there some other
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: way to commemorate? What is the hardware on an AUSL championship?
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I actually haven't seen the trophy, but I'm
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: assuming there's a trophy. I will say that we were
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: able to be a part of the ring ceremony for
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the returning chance from last year in Utah at our
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: home field, and I mean that was just amazing to
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: see like so much and I thought it was cool.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: It's a really great opportunity for the ones that weren't
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: on the team from last year to say, like, we
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: want this moment next year at this time. And those
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: rings were just obnoxiously beautiful. They were just so amazing
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and they were they were big and gold, and I
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: think we even used that as you know, one of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the times when we were going through it adversity, I
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: asked one of the athletes, do you remember your batting
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: average from last year? And they said no, And I said,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: do you remember the color of your championship ring? And
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: you like gold? Like that will stick in your head forever.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And so that was definitely a goal of you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: it's not necessarily for the material thing, but what what
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: an awesome way to celebrate those champions and then a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: USL Luca Fernandez, our GM, you know, and and everyone
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: involved in such a good job and doing it right
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: and celebrating mooseus and so that's that's the next goal
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: is let's make them have to design a really cool
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: ring again.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: That's the gold.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Coach, good luck obviously, thanks so much for taking some time.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And after you win it, let's whatever that trophy looks like,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: bring it here so we can see it in person
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: and we'll do a little exit interview. Can we can
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: we get you to commit to that?
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, if the a UFO is definitely committing to it,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: then I'll say I'll be there.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Let's go, all right, good luck, coach.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks, thank you, all right, take care.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Coach Bear, that's uh, not the hockey coach Bear, that's
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Cindy bam Alone. Utah Talent is going for their second
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: straight AUSL championship.