Latest / From the Coach's Mouth / Episode 31: Emma Lemley

Transcript

Episode 31: Emma Lemley · From the Coach's Mouth

0:00
Even if you're not throwing change ups for a strike one, the
0:04
more you throw a pitch in a game, the better it's going to
0:07
become. That real game experience is
0:10
really what you need for that pitch to become comfortable for
0:14
you. But also just throwing a change.
0:17
It's it's really just to get their timing off.
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Like I don't throw a change up for a swing and miss pitch.
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I rarely get swing and misses on change UPS, but I throw it just
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to get their timing off a little bit so then I can come back with
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something hard and hopefully get them to swing and miss or get
0:36
their timing off enough to where they pop up or something.
0:38
Whether you live northeast, West or South, the best basket info
0:44
comes from the coach's mouth. Welcome to the From the Coaches
1:01
Mouth podcast with your host Jay Bolden and Ken Krause.
1:22
Hello everyone and welcome to the From the Coach's Mouth
1:24
podcast. This is Ken Kraus coming to you
1:27
with my good buddy and the best looking man in softball, Jay
1:31
Bolden. Jay, how you doing today?
1:34
I don't even know how to respond to that.
1:36
So if there's any, if there's ever been a falsehood, that was
1:39
the absolute falsehood. Like like we tell all of our
1:42
guests before they get on here, Ken, is that we both have faces
1:45
for radio. So that's.
1:47
True. Very true.
1:49
So outside of outside of that, I'm doing good.
1:53
It's been a busy couple of weeks back to work now, but starting
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to settle in a little bit and and get going with lessons again
2:00
and and all that good stuff. How about yourself?
2:02
Yeah, everything's been going well for me.
2:04
You know, again, the start of fall ball means that kids are
2:08
kind of in and out. You know, you getting those last
2:10
minute messages. I'm sure you are too.
2:13
We're having an extra practice and not going to make it today.
2:16
But you know, I think, you know, it's been definitely staying
2:19
busy. It's interesting seeing some of
2:22
the kids. You know, I've had a couple of
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kids where one kid went to one team and then the kid who was on
2:28
their team went to her old team. You know, a lot of flipping
2:31
around. So trying to keep up with it.
2:34
I'm sure you keep notes too. So I keep notes on all my kids
2:37
and they try to remember to change, you know, what team
2:41
they're on. So I know what to follow on Game
2:43
Changer. But honestly, sometimes I forget
2:45
to even up their age when they have a birthday.
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So I'll see a kid that's going into high school and I have them
2:51
listed as still being a 10U. Yeah, I use Google Keep a lot.
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So that is it's a good little thing that I kind of go in there
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and after every lesson, I'll just throw some notes in real
3:01
quick as to what we worked on and that kind of stuff.
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So, you know, I do that and even like all the way through their
3:06
commitment, I'll put committed and they're still in the Google
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Keep. So because I'll see some of them
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in the in the summer and stuff like that too.
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It's funny you say that about fall because I was had a couple
3:16
of lessons this week and the parents are like, well, you know
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what's we've got this coming up and a volleyball game here.
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And I'm like, listen, you know, fall, let these kids be
3:25
athletes, let them do their thing.
3:27
You know, fall is a time for you to work on some things.
3:31
You know, I know we're probably not going to see each other on a
3:32
consistent basis, which is fine, right?
3:35
You know, for me, the consistency piece kind of
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starts, you know, when we get into November when volleyball
3:42
dies down and and fall ball dies down a little bit.
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So I'm like, hey, just, you know, if they're out playing and
3:47
and I'm doing other things, it's a good thing.
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So yeah, I'm kind of like you. Like there's some hit and miss.
3:52
I've got some, you know, work related things I have to be at
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and so I'll have to miss days here or there for for this.
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And then again, you know, Saint Xavier's getting ready to fire
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up here in the next week. So practice is there and games
4:04
coming up in the fall. So yeah, fall's a busy time.
4:07
You know, it's also my favorite time of the year.
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Like I tell you, it's, you know, windows open and pumpkin spice
4:13
lattes and sweatshirts at night. I'm I love that weather, man.
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Yeah, yeah, I I noticed that throughout my life, I don't want
4:20
to get too philosophical here, but seemed like throughout my
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life, fall was like the best time of the year for me.
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Just personally is like, you know, I met, I think I met every
4:29
significant girlfriend I ever had in the fall.
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Things would just kind of change.
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Things would get better. And.
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And so, you know, I have a special place in my heart for
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fall, even though it is sad when you have to put away the, the,
4:43
the lawn mower and take out the snow blower and put away the,
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the, the umbrella for the table that we never use the patio
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table, but but I still put it up every year.
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Of course you do. Yeah.
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Yeah. You got to.
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You got to, you know, we put everything together and tie it
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down because you know, out here in Windiana, it's, you know,
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he'll get a 65 mile an hour wind here in the the back of my
5:08
house. You know, there's nothing behind
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us yet. Well, enough about us, Ken, why
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don't you tell people about this amazing guest that we have
5:14
today? I'm super excited about this
5:16
person. Please tell them about this
5:18
person. All right, well we are
5:19
definitely thrilled to welcome today's guest to the From the
5:22
Coaches Ma podcast with a special thanks to the amazing
5:25
Rick Paulie for helping us get connected.
5:28
While she's done a little coaching at various camps, she's
5:30
primarily known as one of the top college and now professional
5:34
pitchers in the country. Growing up, she was a multi
5:36
sport athlete. In addition to softball, she
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played basketball, volleyball and was a competitive swimmer
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when she was young and later went on to letter in softball,
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basketball and swimming in high school.
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Never one to sit around doing nothing in her spare time, she
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also played the violin and sang in the choir.
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One of the top prospects in the nation as a high school senior,
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she stayed close to home by continuing her softball career
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at Virginia Tech. In four years there, our guest
6:03
amassed an impressive career 68 and 30 record with a 2.88 ERA
6:09
and 849 strikeouts, 4th all time in Virginia Tech history.
6:14
That was all in 640.1 innings pitched.
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She also holds the all time record for saves at Virginia
6:20
Tech with 12. And to add to her accolades, our
6:23
guest was a four time all Atlantic Coast Conference
6:26
selection and four time first team NFCA All Mid-Atlantic
6:31
Region honoree. In her senior year, she became
6:34
the first hockey in program history to throw back-to-back
6:37
perfect games. She also played for Team USA in
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the 2022 Canada Cup, helping the team to a championship while
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giving up no earned runs in three innings pitched while
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striking out seven. Earlier this year, she became
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the first college player and one of only 12 to receive a Golden
6:55
Ticket, an invitation to be drafted into the Athletes
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Unlimited Softball League. A member of the Blaze, she
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appeared in seven games, striking out 32 in 44 innings
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pitch in a rookie season. There's more we could say, but
7:09
we'd rather hear it directly from her.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome MLM Lead to the From the
7:15
Coach's Mouth podcast. Hi, Emma, thanks for having.
7:22
Me, thanks for being a Yeah, Thanks for being a part of this
7:24
today. We appreciate you.
7:26
Yeah. Thanks for joining us.
7:27
We, we love this. So I have to ask you, as a
7:30
musician myself, do you still play the violin or?
7:34
I do not. I do not.
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So I actually started on the piano and then I played the
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violin for about probably 3 or 4 years.
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And then during COVID I started playing the piano again, but
7:50
haven't been able to really stay on it.
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But singing, I do still sing. Love it.
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Yeah. I was just going to say that I
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think that, you know, playing the violin, that's great
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training for pitcher parents because if you know kids
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learning the violin, it takes a long time before it doesn't
8:07
sound like a cat being tortured. So parents learn to be patient
8:12
and wait for the outcome. I'm just.
8:16
Going to buy a lemon just say just about every instrument
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sounds like that Ken when they're first starting so.
8:21
You know, if you're playing guitar, you can get credible on
8:24
it actually fairly quickly. Might sound choppy, but it, I
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mean, there's nothing like the sound of a bow going across a
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string on a violin. I've tried it.
8:33
I can play just about any instrument, some with more
8:36
competency than others. I even was able to play
8:40
instruments that I had no idea. Like, I picked up a trombone
8:43
once. It was playing a part to when
8:45
the Saints go marching in for something or another in school.
8:48
And I never played the trombone. But yeah, violin, yeah, that
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takes some special skills. Nice.
8:57
All right, Well, I'm going to break off into some softball
8:59
now. Ken, since you went, you got us
9:01
down. The We're not doing a music
9:03
podcast. No, that's after this one.
9:07
We'll get into that after this one.
9:08
So we're going to kind of start you out like we start just about
9:12
all of our guests out if you can, you know, take us back to
9:15
when you first fell in love with softball and you know what
9:18
sparked the passion and and you know, where did it begin for
9:21
you? Give us, give us a little
9:22
background. I started playing softball when
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I was seven years old, first grade, and I remember my first
9:30
practice ever. I got a black eye.
9:32
I got hidden face, but hey, I, I came back, I, I got back up.
9:40
I kept playing, but my first time ever pitching I my dad
9:44
wasn't even there, which my dad was my pitching coach all the
9:47
way up until college. My dad wasn't even there and
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they put me on the mound and I struck out three batters my my
9:57
first time pitching. So that kind of sparked that
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like competitive love of like, oh wow, I can, I can be in a
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position where I have the I have control of this game and and,
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you know, the outcome kind of depends on me.
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I love this. This is awesome.
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So yeah, right there. That's good.
10:17
So did you start out as a pitcher right away or was it was
10:20
it like coach pitch or something like that in the beginning?
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I was a catcher 1st and it was not for me.
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I was, I was too hot. I was, I got way too hot, but I
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was. But I was like OK, well where
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else can I be in the action? Every single, every single time.
10:37
OK, pitcher. OK, let's try pitching.
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So when you were growing up, did you have, you know, I asked this
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question all the time, Emma, Ken and I both do pitching lessons
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and, you know, and Latin hitting lessons too.
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And, and a lot of times like, you know, I'll watch your videos
10:52
or I'll watch, you know, we'll, we'll breakdown videos of other
10:55
pitchers, you know, the, the legends, of course.
10:58
And I'll ask these kids that come in, I'm like, you know, do
11:00
you know who, you know, Emma Lemley is or do you know who
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Rachel Garcia is? And these kids are like, no.
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And I'm like, what? Like how do you like, you want
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to be a pitcher? Why are you not looking at some
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of the best pitchers in the world?
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And so my question really to you is, did you have somebody that
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you kind of, you know, that was a role model for you that you
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looked up to and you're like, man, you know her mechanics or
11:23
the way she throws her rise ball?
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Was there somebody like that for you when you were growing up,
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say around 12/13/14? Well, my dad and I actually
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started pitching or learning how to pitch through Amanda
11:34
Scarborough's videos. So that I mean, because my dad
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was my pitching coach and my dad when I was younger, we kind of
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learn together how how to pitch and he learned how to become a
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pitching coach when I was learning how to become a
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pitcher. So I looked up a lot to a man to
11:53
Scarborough throughout my career just because that's that's
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really how we learned how to pitch.
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Is your dad? Still is your dad still a
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pitching coach? He coaches kids every now and
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then, he helps them out, but most of the time he's on the
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road with me as much as he can, watching my games.
12:10
That's awesome. Yeah.
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I think once then I got into middle school and kind of
12:15
started the recruiting gauntlet. I think my inspiration was
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really I was, I was watching Keely a lot, Keely Rashard a
12:23
lot. We played for the same travel
12:24
organization. And then once I was going to
12:27
Virginia Tech. I really, I watched her a lot,
12:30
especially when she got to Virginia Tech and I was, I was
12:32
lucky enough to be able to play with her my freshman year and so
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I look to her a lot. Yeah, she's excellent.
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So anybody who's listening to this, please go and look up
12:42
videos of Keely Richard, another fantastic, another fantastic
12:46
pitcher. Awesome.
12:47
And, and I think too, like you, to be honest, Virginia Tech has
12:50
had some really great pitching minds there.
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You know, Josh is, I know Josh really well and he's been on our
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podcast too. But you also have some really
13:01
good men's fast pitch guys there too, if I'm not mistaken, right?
13:04
So, you know, and, and with Pete, I think, you know, he has
13:08
that background in there, but I think Doug Gillis was there for
13:11
a while, right? And then Josh, and then you have
13:14
Mata there too, right? Yeah, yeah, Mamo, he is.
13:18
Yeah, he, Oh my gosh, I watch him throw.
13:23
I watch him throw. Yeah, yeah, He, he throws to
13:26
our, to our batters. Well, he tones it down a little
13:30
bit. He, he, he throws halfway and
13:34
it's still like 72, but like, but I mean, he watching him
13:40
pitch, it's like, Oh my gosh, That is he's, he's crazy.
13:44
He's awesome to watch. So Emma, I do want to tell you
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it's something, you know, because Jay was talking about,
13:49
you know, the kids looking up. I mentioned last night to
13:52
someone that we were going to be talking to you this morning and
13:54
they were all excited. They knew who you were.
13:56
Yeah. So yeah, they follow AUSL and
13:59
then, you know, follow college softball.
14:01
And they were like, oh, that's that's really cool.
14:02
They were excited to hear that. So.
14:05
So, you know, you mentioned Virginia Tech.
14:07
Why'd you choose there? You know, I assume you had your
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choice of schools. And what made you choose
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Virginia Tech? So I originally committed there
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in the eighth grade under Scott Thomas, and in the eighth grade
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I wanted somewhere that was close to home.
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I live in Lynchburg, so it's about an hour and a half close
14:30
enough, but still far enough. But then when the rules changed,
14:36
and then I think it was in the ninth grade, the NCAA rules
14:41
changed and then you couldn't commit until September 1st of
14:44
your junior year. And then right after that rule
14:47
change, then Coach Pete came in. And so I was kind of in this
14:52
like Gray area of do I still want to go to Virginia Tech or
14:58
should I start looking for other places?
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Does Virginia Tech still want me?
15:02
I don't know. But in my heart, I always, I
15:07
still wanted to go to Virginia Tech.
15:08
And then I saw what coach Pete kind of did with the program
15:14
with in the first just like 2 years that he was there, just
15:18
saw what the, what him and his coaching staff did for the
15:22
program. And so that kind of sealed the
15:26
deal of OK, I, I still, I definitely still want to go to
15:29
Virginia Tech. And I told my travel coach that.
15:32
He said, you know, you should probably have a backup or or two
15:36
or and I was like, OK, but I really want to go to Virginia
15:39
Tech. So yeah.
15:40
Then on September 1st, there was a, there was actually a camp on
15:43
September 1st that year and they reoffered me and I immediately
15:48
took it and it, it really just it feels like home.
15:52
I wouldn't trade Virginia Tech for anything.
15:55
I love it there. So what was the transition like
15:59
for you? I want to ask you about two
16:00
transitions, if you can. What was the transition like for
16:03
you going from that high school athlete right to college?
16:07
And then if you can take us down that little bit now because
16:10
you're in the Athletes Unlimited league, right?
16:12
What does that transition been for you going from, you know,
16:16
the college player at the top over to the Athletes Unlimited?
16:20
I will say going from high school to college, freshman fall
16:25
was the hardest time of my life. And I think a lot of student
16:31
athletes, a lot of just students in general will tell you that
16:34
same thing just because the routine is so different going
16:38
from high school to college. Like you're having to get up at
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5:30 in the morning and go to 6:00 AM lift and then you have
16:47
to go straight to practice for three hours.
16:49
And then you have to go straight to class and you actually have
16:53
to walk to all your classes. And it's, I think just freshman
16:58
fall. I didn't know how exhausted I
17:01
would be all the time just because there was, there was so
17:05
much on my plate, so much more than there was even in high
17:09
school. And I thought I was working hard
17:11
in high school, you know, to get where I was.
17:14
But I did not know what working hard was until I got to college.
17:20
And I was, I was hit with a wave of exhaustion and also just the
17:26
the responsibility of having to do everything yourself once you
17:30
get to college too, It's new for, you know, most, most people
17:35
having to rely on yourself to, you know, fix your meals, get
17:40
yourself places on time. You know, you don't have your
17:44
parents to be on you all the time of you got to get to
17:47
practice at this time. No, it's all your responsibility
17:50
now. You've got to make sure you are
17:52
up at your alarm clock time like you, you got to make sure
17:55
everything is everything is right.
17:57
It's all on you now. I think that was the biggest
17:59
transition. But then once the my freshman
18:03
spring hit, it was that was a little bit easier.
18:06
It gets a little bit easier every year.
18:07
So that's the nice part about it.
18:10
And then transitioning to AUSL from college, the level of play
18:17
is just so amazing here. I mean, stepping from high
18:23
school to college, that level of play was a huge, a huge step up.
18:28
I mean, the game is faster. Everyone is a good hitter.
18:32
But then here it's like an even different level because I mean,
18:39
the the game is so much faster. Our pitch clock is 15 seconds.
18:44
The the batters, I mean, all Americans, the best in the
18:48
country, the best hitters in recent history and you're going
18:54
up against them every single pitch.
18:57
So you really do not have a single pitch off.
19:00
So I mean, I think the I've learned a lot this summer with
19:04
this transition to pro softball. And I think the biggest things
19:10
I've learned were one, you definitely need to throw a
19:14
change up. And two, you just you have to
19:17
slow the game down in your mind because it is so fast-paced.
19:21
And especially with that 15 second pitch clock, you can get
19:24
so wrapped up in it because they're going to hit the ball.
19:27
You're going to give up big hits in this in this league, and if
19:32
you have a runner on second and one out and you're like, Oh my
19:35
gosh, I have to get 2 outs. Oh my God, no, you have to throw
19:38
the next pitch. So you really have to just slow
19:40
the game down for yourself and throw change UPS.
19:44
That's a that's a big one. You have to throw change UPS so
19:47
that. You know, when you say throw
19:49
change UPS, that's interesting because Jane and we're going to
19:51
kind of get into this, you know, talking about a little bit
19:55
before we got started recording and isn't it?
20:00
How, how, I don't know how you feel about this, but we were
20:03
talking about you got to throw a change up even if it's not going
20:06
to be for a strike, even if you know you're not going to get it
20:09
over the plate, you've got to throw it just to change the way
20:12
hitters are looking. Get in their heads a little bit,
20:15
I'll give them something else. And sometimes a change up that
20:19
you float in a high that nobody swings at still serves as a set
20:23
up pitch for something else that you want to throw later.
20:26
Do you agree with that? Is that your experience?
20:28
Oh yeah, I definitely agree. I think, well, I mean, I've been
20:33
such, you know, a power pitcher throwing rise balls, throwing
20:37
curveball 70 miles an hour. Like I don't really I wish I
20:41
would have discovered the importance of a change up
20:44
sooner. I think that would have, I think
20:48
I, I even like, I think it was last week I was playing with
20:53
Kayla Kwalik and I told her I was like, hey, call as many
20:57
change UPS off speeds as you want.
21:00
Everybody here has faced me probably 20 times by now this
21:05
summer. So call as many change UPS as
21:09
you want because I haven't thrown like that all summer.
21:11
You know, they know I'm going to throw them a curveball.
21:14
They know I'm going to throw high end on them.
21:17
Just just, you know, call a change up.
21:19
Let's see what happens. Even if it's not for a strike,
21:24
let's let's go for it. And it worked out really well
21:27
actually. But yeah, I think even if you're
21:29
not throwing change ups for a strike one, the more you throw a
21:33
pitch in a game, the better it's going to become.
21:37
That real game experience is really what you need for that
21:42
pitch to become comfortable for you.
21:44
But also just throwing a chain. It's, it's really just to get
21:48
their timing off. Like I don't throw a change up
21:51
for a swing and miss pitch. I rarely get swing and misses on
21:55
change UPS, but I throw it just to get their timing off a little
21:59
bit so then I can come back with something hard and hopefully get
22:03
them swing and miss or get their timing off enough to where they
22:06
pop up or something. It's great that you said that,
22:09
Emma, and I think a lot of people think that the change of
22:11
pass to be thrown for a strike like it's you know, it's a setup
22:15
pitch, honestly, right, or it's a weak, weak contact.
22:17
I mean, you're happy with a weak fly ball to left field, right?
22:20
I mean it's just and I think too, you said something that's
22:23
really important and I want to touch on this.
22:25
I just finished up. I had two pitchers both play at
22:28
the Division One level. They, they had their last lesson
22:30
with me last night. And I think with all the, the
22:34
data that's out there now with the 643 charts, everybody knows
22:37
what everybody does in college. And I was trying to tell them,
22:40
you know, the one kid is predominantly drop ball, drop
22:43
ball, drop ball. Well, everybody in NCAA Division
22:47
one knows that she's a drop ball pitcher.
22:48
However, she has a really good curve and rise.
22:50
And I'm like, you have to do something different this year or
22:53
else you're going to get the same result.
22:55
And the pitch calling has to be different this year or you're
22:58
going to get the same result. And so we worked a little bit on
23:01
an on an off speed rise, like a fatty rise where you get the
23:03
thumb off. I'm sure Josh has talked a
23:06
little bit with you and stuff like that.
23:08
So giving her that and even an off speed curveball a little bit
23:11
with her too. So I think that what you the
23:12
point that you made is great. Like you did something that
23:15
people were not expecting and it kind of threw their game off a
23:18
little bit. So I think that's, that's,
23:21
that's awesome that you said that and hopefully people
23:22
listening, you know, pay attention to that as well too.
23:25
Yeah, I think, I mean with all the data that is on pitchers
23:30
now, and I mean we have pitching machines now that will throw the
23:34
exact same spin and speed and the exact same pitch as a
23:40
pitcher will. I know at Tech we have a few of
23:42
them. And so I mean, pitching now,
23:46
especially with all this data, it's, it's become even more of a
23:50
mind game. Like you're not just going to
23:53
overpower these hitters as much as you want to.
23:56
Like that is really what you want to do.
23:58
And a pitcher's heart is you want to get that swing and miss.
24:01
It's like, no, you, you have to almost you have to out think
24:04
that you have to be smarter than them.
24:06
How can I get them off balance? How can I trick them almost or
24:11
how can I throw them something that they're not expecting?
24:14
You know you can't. You can't let them get
24:16
comfortable. Right there it is, right there.
24:18
Right. Well, and I think the other
24:19
thing too, that's important that, you know, coaches need to
24:22
remember when they're calling these pitches is all right, I've
24:24
seen it so many times. So they'll call, you know,
24:27
they'll call it change up and the change up doesn't quite
24:30
work. It drops early, maybe it even
24:32
rolls in or goes flying high. And then they just decide, well,
24:36
OK, I I we can't throw that. It's not a good pitch.
24:38
It's like, wow, hasn't she thrown away a fastball or
24:42
whatever, you know, rise ball or whatever her best pitch is?
24:45
You're going to keep calling those.
24:47
Why are we so afraid to call a change up just because one
24:50
didn't work? I agree, yeah.
24:53
And like, to my point of you have to throw them in game to
24:57
become comfortable with them, because I mean, you can't wait
25:00
until the pitch is perfect to, to throw it, to throw it in a
25:04
game, because how, how are you ever going to know that it
25:08
works? And, and honestly, the, the
25:10
feeling in a game is so different than a feeling in
25:14
practice. Even if you try to put yourself
25:17
in that mindset of, OK, I'm in a game right now, I'm visualizing,
25:21
you know, game time right now. It's your adrenaline is so much
25:25
more in a game. Your whole feeling is so much
25:29
different in a game. And so you really, you just got
25:31
to take a chance on those either new pitches or pitches that are
25:35
you're still work shopping like you just, you really got to take
25:39
a chance on them. And if they don't work, OK,
25:42
maybe not that at bat, but the next batter, yeah, throw it
25:44
again, try it again. Yeah, it's the old Edison thing,
25:47
you know, as I didn't fail 10,000 times to build a light
25:50
bulb, I just figured out 10,000 ways not to build it.
25:53
You know, it's the same thing you threw that pitch didn't
25:56
work. OK, well, I got to make an
25:57
adjustment here. All right, So you know, it's
26:00
since we're talking about pitches, you know, you mentioned
26:02
the rise ball, mentioned the curve ball, mentioned the change
26:05
up, Anything else that you throw in there?
26:08
Do you have other pitches in your arsenal that you even use
26:10
occasionally? Sometimes I'll use a drop.
26:13
I don't use that very often. I would I I think in this
26:17
offseason I'm really going to focus on making that a more
26:22
stable pitch to throw. It's really it's I really just
26:26
use it to shift their eyes down and to to maybe throw a low rise
26:31
for watch strike for a looking strike looking.
26:34
But yeah, mainly I just stick with rise rise curve and a
26:39
changer off speed. So I want to I want to touch
26:42
base a little bit on a couple of things.
26:45
It's more mental health, if you don't mind.
26:47
I don't know if you've seen Brie Ellis post her stuff, right?
26:50
So that's and that's just heartbreaking to me that that
26:53
that she a person like that has to go through something like
26:57
that. And it just it, you know, I, I
26:59
just want to, I want to talk to you about how do you mentally
27:02
prepare for your games? How do you, you know, especially
27:04
against, I mean, your athletes unlimited.
27:07
There's no everybody there can just hit the hit the ball till
27:10
till, you know, I mean. Everybody's not right.
27:13
Yeah. How do you mentally prepare for
27:17
that? And then even if, like you have
27:18
a bad game? Emma, what is your, you know,
27:21
how do you handle those days when things aren't going well
27:24
for you? Yeah, well, before the games I
27:29
like to listen to my music and just kind of get into a good
27:32
headspace of trying to prepare myself, OK, who am I going up
27:37
against? Have I have I thrown to them?
27:40
How many times have I thrown to them?
27:41
What has worked off of them? And then during games, I really,
27:46
really try my best just to keep it pitch by pitch, just focus on
27:52
just the pitch at hand and just try to win that moment.
27:55
Because if you know, if you let your mind start wandering too
27:58
much of well, I've given up three hits so far and blah,
28:03
blah, blah. And then it just spiral.
28:05
So you really have to focus on just that next moment that is
28:09
coming up. And then I've had some, I've
28:12
definitely had some games this summer where things did not go
28:15
my way. But I, I always call my dad
28:19
after and kind of debrief, maybe rant a little bit of what was
28:24
working and what was not working for me.
28:27
But I always try to remember if I, you know, what, what did I do
28:31
well during that game, even if it wasn't something physical,
28:35
did I did I fight during that game?
28:39
You know, I didn't give up. I, I attacked the next pitch
28:44
just trying to find something positive that I did every time
28:48
because, you know, even if you don't get a, a win out of you
28:51
know what you were trying to do, just trying to find a small win
28:55
and then looking to see, OK, well, what can I do differently
28:58
next time to maybe get a better outcome?
29:01
Well, and has that been tough too?
29:02
I mean, you're used to getting the wins, you know, I every time
29:05
you step up another level, you know, there's always that risk
29:08
that, you know, you're just not going to get the same level of
29:11
outcomes. So, you know, it sounds like you
29:13
focus a little bit more on the process.
29:14
Did I do what I wanted to do? And, you know, realize that
29:19
sometimes the outcomes just beyond your control.
29:22
Yeah. And in this season, we, my team
29:25
blaze, we underwent some some unfortunate injuries on the
29:30
pitching staff. We had some injuries.
29:31
And so I had to take a little bit of a bigger role than I
29:35
thought I was going to have to for a while there in kind of the
29:38
middle of our season. I was, I was pitching way more
29:41
than I thought I was going to. And with that comes, you know,
29:45
seeing batters more and giving up a few more hits and a few
29:48
more runs. They're here and there.
29:50
But I think just trying to communicate with my coaches,
29:54
trying to communicate with the the veteran pitchers on our team
29:58
of like, okay guys, am I doing OK?
30:01
Is this like, is this am I, is this OK?
30:04
Like do you guys need more from me?
30:06
Like let me know what you need them.
30:08
But just keeping in, you know, contact with my coaches and my
30:13
teammates was was so helpful just to kind of push me through
30:18
that. And they are they were so
30:20
encouraging and just yeah, they they really helped me.
30:24
Cool do. You use any routines or mental
30:27
training techniques, you know, visualization, journaling, any
30:31
of that kind of stuff that's kind of, you know, internal.
30:34
Yeah, so this started with coach Josh, really.
30:38
We did a lot of mental work at Tech.
30:41
I I think Virginia Tech, yeah, we have the Calm app.
30:44
They give us all the subscription to the Calm app.
30:48
And so we would love to do as a bullpen last year, we would love
30:52
to do meditations and just visualizations, different
30:56
drills, different breathing exercises, either before or
31:01
after almost every bullpen just to work on the mental side of
31:05
it. Because I mean, the mental side
31:06
of it, it's not something that just comes to you like you
31:10
really have to practice it. There was a while there where I
31:14
thought I had the yips and I really had to focus on the
31:18
mental side of the game before I kind of got into the the
31:24
physical side, back into the physical side of it.
31:27
But I've really taken that mental side of it to this next
31:32
level of I still have my Calm app.
31:34
I love listening to my meditations either in the
31:37
mornings before games or on the way to games.
31:42
And then just focusing on my breathing exercises.
31:45
I still love doing this one where it's kind of like box
31:49
breathing where you like inhale for three seconds, hold, exhale.
31:54
Love doing that. And then before I go out, every
31:57
time I have an appearance, before I go out, I say 20
32:01
positive things to myself. This is something that Coach
32:03
Josh taught me also, counting down from 20 and saying 20.
32:07
It doesn't even have to be about softball.
32:09
It can be about softball, can be about, you know, just my life,
32:12
just about me, my family, my friends.
32:16
It could be about anything. And so I still do that every
32:19
time I go out just to put myself in kind of a positive mindset
32:23
and start start the game off on a good note.
32:26
Awesome. So I want to talk to you a
32:29
little bit about are you guys still currently playing Emma or
32:32
are you guys now? Is it done?
32:34
What are they doing now with the?
32:35
Yes, we have actually we have two more games right now.
32:40
We're in All Star Cup. So that's like the traditional
32:43
AU where you switch teams, it's point system.
32:46
So we have our last two games today and tomorrow and then
32:50
that's. Here in the Chicago area, right,
32:52
Rosemont, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're
32:55
in. Rosemont Cool.
32:57
What I wanted to ask you was this season's going to be ending
33:00
here in a couple games. What's your offseason going to
33:03
look like? What are you working on, right?
33:05
People think like you've made it to that level.
33:07
You don't have to work on anything, right?
33:09
So what are what are some of the things that or give us a little
33:12
bit of what your offseason kind of looks like for for people
33:15
that are are listening to this for you?
33:17
Well, luckily for me, I'm going back to Virginia Tech to be a
33:21
graduate assistant, so I will still have access to Coach Josh
33:26
and to all of the facilities. So lucky for me I have that.
33:33
But so right after this, I am going to take about a month,
33:40
month and a half off of pitching.
33:42
I have been going non-stop since January, so I think it's time
33:47
for a little bit of a little bit of a break on that shoulder.
33:50
But I, I really plan on, you know, hitting the gym really
33:54
hard in this next, you know, month and a half playing so
33:58
much, you don't have a lot of time to really get in the gym.
34:02
So I really want to get back into the gym, really focusing
34:06
more on my health for the next month and a half rather than
34:09
pitching. And then probably around
34:12
mid-october, towards the end of October, get into more, you
34:17
know, just moving step throwing a little bit, not too much
34:21
pitching yet. And then I think for first,
34:26
honestly, I'm going to work, change and drop a lot because
34:31
I've been throwing a rise ball for, I don't even know, eight
34:35
years. That's that's never going to,
34:38
that's never going to leave. That's never going to leave my
34:40
mind how to throw a rise ball. It's it's ingrained in me.
34:44
It's natural for me now. I think I really want to focus
34:47
on learning or getting that drop down and getting, getting that
34:52
change up really consistent first before I move into
34:57
anything else. And then just probably take a
35:01
maybe a little bit of time off around the holidays.
35:04
And then probably once I get back in January, moving back
35:10
into, you know, getting a rise ball down a little bit, moving
35:13
back into it. And then probably around March
35:18
or 8th, probably around March is when I'll start like throwing
35:21
live and really start ramping it up, getting ready for season.
35:24
But yeah, it's gonna, this is like the first time I've
35:28
actually had a long break, a 10 month break to really focus on
35:35
myself and my pitching journey and what I need to work on.
35:40
So I've never had this much time in my life to work on something
35:44
like this. So I'm excited.
35:47
I'm really excited. To take full advantage of it.
35:50
Absolutely. I am, yes.
35:52
Yeah. Can you share a memorable moment
35:54
with a team that sticks out? And it doesn't necessarily have
35:56
to be AUSL or even Virginia Tech, but something, you know
36:00
what? What's something where you look
36:02
back on and you say, yeah, guess that's that's the memory.
36:05
If if my memory is ever going to go, that's the one I want to
36:07
hang on to the most. Oh my goodness.
36:11
Probably, probably when I got my golden ticket for the USL Draft.
36:17
I since I got the first one, I didn't.
36:19
I didn't know that they were even doing that and the only
36:22
person that knew was Cassie Grizzard.
36:24
She's the only one that knew what was going on because she
36:27
was tasked with putting me in the right position for all the
36:29
cameras. So what did you think was going
36:32
on? It's it's a great video.
36:34
If anybody that's listening, check out that video when she
36:37
gets a golden ticket. But you know, somebody from the
36:39
AUSL comes out and is kind of doing this whole speech and
36:42
everything. What do you think was going on?
36:44
I mean, I thought they were. Promoting.
36:47
I didn't. I thought they were just, yeah,
36:49
promoting it. Because I knew Jenny Dalton
36:52
Hill, she was the general manager for the Bandits, and I
36:56
knew that she was calling our game that day, and I knew that
37:00
she was associated with the AUSL.
37:02
So I thought, oh, they're just promoting it.
37:04
Like, OK, cool. But then I started kind of
37:10
looking around and realized that there were 8 cameras pointed
37:17
right up at me. And so I'm like I'm like looking
37:21
around I'm like oh what's going on?
37:23
What is what is happening? And then she started talking
37:26
about the golden ticket and I was like Oh no way.
37:30
I was me. I was like no way I'm getting
37:33
the first one me. Oh my gosh.
37:35
And I was like so shocked when she said my name that the only
37:40
thing I could say to her was this is so awesome.
37:44
Like, that's all I could get out.
37:46
This is so awesome. But my my parents didn't know.
37:53
Nobody, nobody knew. And so but my parents were there
37:57
because they came to every game and they were crying and I was
38:02
crying. Everyone was crying.
38:05
But so it was just, it was just such a special moment.
38:09
I saw you did have. I did.
38:10
So you did have the presence of mind to take your glasses off
38:13
when you were going over for the pictures and stuff?
38:19
I know, but nobody told me to take my jacket off.
38:21
I was like, guys, I'm a big puff on.
38:23
I was, I was cold that game and I have my jacket on.
38:27
No one told me to take it off. But no, it was just it was so
38:31
special. That's definitely something that
38:32
I will. I will never forget just having
38:34
everyone there with me. Awesome.
38:36
SO I want to go back and talk a little bit about Virginia Tech.
38:39
Since you talked about that moment, can you give us a little
38:42
background of like the culture that Pete has built there with
38:45
Josh? I mean, you know, you like you
38:47
said when Pete got there, I think like there was a big
38:49
change in in Virginia Tech softball and just give us a
38:53
little bit of an idea of some of the things they did there for
38:55
culture. We cannot always talk about like
38:58
how culture is really important, especially when nowadays when
39:01
you're dealing with the teams and all of the transfer portal
39:04
stuff. So what kind of culture things
39:06
do they do at Virginia Tech? With you there, Emma?
39:08
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is like the attention to detail
39:12
and a lot of it is honestly, Pete is very chill.
39:18
He is. He kind of lets the players
39:20
handle a lot of stuff and he gives us a lot of
39:23
responsibility, which is he trusts us, which is very
39:27
appreciated because I mean, he trusts us, we trust him.
39:31
So just kind of that mutual trust and respect is there and
39:35
that that's a big part of it. But also, so last year he
39:40
brought in, his name is Jason Kuhn.
39:43
He was a Navy SEAL. I don't know if Josh talked to
39:46
you about him, but he brought him in and had him talk to us
39:51
and he stayed with us for the whole season.
39:53
Wow. And I believe, I believe
39:56
actually he is there with them right now.
40:00
I don't know if the players know that, but I know that that he is
40:03
there right now, yes. But he we did like a whole
40:11
training day with him. Just where we learn mainly about
40:15
just like mental toughness and we learned about just being
40:18
there for your teammates and leaning on your teammates and
40:21
about going through hard times with each other.
40:23
And he stayed with us all season.
40:26
And we would have, you know, regular meetings with him over
40:29
Zoom and sometimes he would be in person too.
40:32
And I think that really kind of just one help bring us together.
40:38
After that training, we were ready to run through a brick
40:40
wall together. But just I think it's, it was,
40:45
it brought along a huge culture of, you know, leaning on your
40:49
team mates. You don't have to do everything
40:53
yourself, but you have to be 100% bought in yourself.
40:58
You know, you don't, it doesn't all have to be on you, but you
41:01
do have to give everything to the team.
41:04
And I think that's really the, you know, the, the mindset, the
41:07
culture that Coach Pete wants to instill in in Virginia Tech
41:13
softball. So also, I mean that I I just
41:17
love the way that they do things there.
41:19
I watched, you know, I follow Pete on Twitter and, and I know
41:23
Josh, I talked to him, text him, you know, just just the, the way
41:26
that they handle themselves there I think is really good
41:28
too. So I mean, it's, it's definitely
41:30
a great culture. Did that help you, that culture
41:33
help you when you went to the Athletes Unlimited, the league?
41:36
Oh, definitely. I mean, I think our coaches
41:40
give, like I was talking about, they trust us.
41:43
They give us that responsibility to kind of handle things
41:45
ourselves sometimes, which is huge once you get to the AUSL
41:49
because for the most part, like we do have coaches, but for the
41:51
most part, it's what do you need?
41:54
What do you need to work on today?
41:57
You know, you're really responsible for yourself at that
41:59
point, like. And so I think that really
42:02
helped me kind of transition to this league and also all the
42:07
mental stuff that Coach Josh has worked on with us has that made
42:13
huge differences in my pitching in college.
42:16
And I think the transition where I was mentally, that really
42:21
helped, yeah. You know, it's funny you say
42:23
that the, you know, the kind of the, what do you need to work
42:25
on? I actually do that with a lot of
42:27
my students, especially the pitching students.
42:30
There's so much. And then you'll say, OK, So what
42:32
are we working on today? And they're, you know, kind of
42:34
shocked. And it's a lot of times because,
42:36
you know, everything is good. OK, so if I say throw a change
42:39
up, you're going to hit that thing right off.
42:40
And if you don't hit it, you can owe me 20 push ups.
42:44
Well, maybe we should work on it.
42:45
Yeah. You know, so, but yeah, I I
42:48
think that that's a good thing is to get players.
42:52
You know, in our society now, there's so much helicopter
42:54
parenting and helicopter coaching, so many coaches that
42:58
want to make it all about themselves.
42:59
And I really think it's important for the players to
43:01
learn to take responsibility for their own careers and to learn
43:06
how to say this is what I need. Here's, you know, I'm not sure
43:10
what you're planning on for my practice.
43:11
But me, I feel like if I don't work on my curveball, I'm not
43:15
going to be ready for the weekend.
43:16
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest or the most important
43:21
parts of being a pitcher and growing as a pitcher is 1.
43:26
Learning how to feel how your body moves and learning like
43:30
what you need as a pitcher and advocating for yourself and
43:34
saying, OK, like this is this is what I'm going to need.
43:37
Or even if it's like the hey, my body's really hurting today.
43:42
I don't need something super heavy today.
43:45
Because that is one thing I have had to learn how to do is to not
43:49
throw a million pitches every single day and just keep myself
43:52
on a pitch count. If I if my body's not feeling
43:56
good. I'm on month 8 of playing right
43:58
now. Do a light day, take a day off
44:00
if needed. Like rest days are important and
44:04
especially for the younger girls, rest days are OK,
44:07
sometimes you need them. Thank you for saying that.
44:10
So many people don't, so many parents are like, you can't take
44:14
a day off. You're going to fall behind.
44:15
You're going to be this and that sometimes.
44:17
And you know, I'm sure Jay experiences the same thing, but
44:20
I'll sometimes I'll have a kid that hasn't had a lesson in
44:22
three weeks and all of a sudden they, they hit a personal best,
44:26
you know, they hit a new high speed and I'll be like, maybe,
44:30
maybe I'm not doing any good. Maybe they'd be better off just
44:33
doing it on their own. But you know, it's the guidance.
44:36
And I think it's, it's that fact that maybe that time they didn't
44:40
come to see me, you know, they got a little bit of rest or
44:42
something else happened and their bodies recovered.
44:46
Yeah, sometimes that's what you need.
44:48
Sometimes that's the key. I.
44:49
Want to ask you real quick, Emma, about the Athletes
44:51
Unlimited. How does that work?
44:52
Do you guys just have you do your bullpens by yourself, you
44:55
have somebody in the bullpen or are you guys collaborating with
44:58
each other? Is there anything you've learned
45:00
from some of the other pitchers on your staff?
45:03
Yeah. I mean, so during our regular
45:06
AUSL season, our pitching coach, which my pitching coach was Cara
45:09
Dill. She was usually, she was always
45:12
in the bullpen with us when we would be throwing.
45:14
But also I really challenged myself to ask as many questions
45:19
as possible of like, oh, well, how do you throw your change up?
45:23
Or like, how do you grip that? Or what are you thinking when
45:26
you when you throw this or hey, when you're in a tough
45:29
situation, like what, what do you think to, you know, get you
45:34
through that next pitch? So it has been a lot of
45:36
collaboration of even people asking, like my teammates asking
45:40
me, well, how do you throw your rise ball?
45:42
And so I think at this level, you know, you do listen to your
45:46
coaches, but a lot of it is collaboration and just knowing
45:53
your craft, knowing how you throw, like I said, knowing your
45:56
body and honestly just tweaking things yourself.
46:01
And the catcher is also at this level know when you're not doing
46:04
something correct. And so the catchers also will
46:07
speak up a lot and say, hey, you did not get your backside
46:10
through on that or hey, you, you fell off really bad on that
46:14
pitch and you're like, OK, let me fix it.
46:17
Yeah, sometimes the catchers are probably the least gentle.
46:23
That's a catch, a personality thing, just like.
46:26
Honestly, sometimes that's what I need to hear.
46:28
Like. Direct.
46:29
So one thing I want to ask you, so you know, you're talking
46:31
about you have the regular season where you're on a team
46:33
and everybody's kind of together and you're working that way.
46:36
And then you get to the All Star Cup and do you find it fun?
46:40
I mean, the fact that, you know, the the team changes and you
46:43
know, the last week this was my catcher.
46:45
Now it's the girl I'm pitching to.
46:47
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, it's a crazy
46:51
format. I've never, you know,
46:53
experienced something like this. So this is definitely new.
46:57
You know, you can't worry about the leaderboard too much.
46:59
You just got to play. You just got to play and help
47:02
your team win. But it is really fun, honestly,
47:05
getting to play with different people, just getting to meet new
47:08
people and stuff. Like, I mean, you're, you're
47:11
playing with the same team for, you know, a month and a half.
47:14
It's fun. It's really fun to get to play
47:17
with new people. And it's fun for me as a pitcher
47:20
to get to pitch to new people and just work with different
47:24
catchers of hey, like I've never caught you before.
47:27
What how do you like to like, what sequences do you like and
47:30
stuff like that. So, and it's and it's such a
47:33
quick turn around too, week to week that you you really got to
47:37
talk to each other, You know, you really got to get to know
47:39
each other. But it is, it is.
47:43
It's really fun getting to play with everybody.
47:46
No, I was just going to ask you, So what are your goals then for
47:49
next year? You've you've had your first
47:51
year in the in the athletes unlimited in this.
47:53
What are your goals next year? Next year I'm definitely, I want
47:59
to First off get, I want to throw my change up about 30 to
48:04
35%. Right now it is not that, but I
48:07
would like to throw my change up, you know, even 30 to 40%.
48:10
I would like to throw it a lot more than I am right now.
48:13
I think that would really help me and who let's see, I would
48:19
like to help my team to a winning record and get to the
48:22
championship series. We didn't have the best record
48:26
this year, so I would like to have a winning record and make
48:30
it to that championship series next year.
48:33
And it'll be even harder because there are 16 now.
48:35
Awesome. Yeah, awesome.
48:36
Yeah, You know, and it's funny too, because you know, when
48:39
people watch professional athletes and yeah, I think about
48:42
with football, it's really easy to come down on quarterbacks,
48:45
you know, in in softball, on pitchers and all that.
48:47
But you think about in football with a quarterback and say, oh
48:50
man, this guy sucks. You know, our team is the worst.
48:52
You know, our quarterback is awful.
48:54
Your quarterback is like one of the top 30 people or, you know,
49:00
40 people at that position in the entire world.
49:04
They are not bad. They may not have had the best
49:06
season you wanted to have, but they are incredibly amazing.
49:10
And, you know, it's kind of that same thing in here is that you
49:13
could say, yeah, you know, it wasn't quite the season we
49:16
wanted. But really, when you look at it
49:17
and say, wow, the people that I was playing with and you know,
49:21
and all of this the worst player in our league, you know, worst
49:24
in air quotes, but you know, we're playing like is just an
49:27
amazing softball player. Yeah, yeah.
49:31
No, truly. And you know, it's not even that
49:34
we, we did not play bad whatsoever.
49:37
Like we played very well. It's just we would lose by like
49:41
one run. We just couldn't get over that
49:43
little bump sometimes because like we, we, we played very
49:48
well. We have really good players on
49:50
our team, but yeah, it was just we ran into some unfortunate
49:55
circumstances sometimes and that's just how it goes.
49:58
Well, and again, I think people have to remember that it, you
50:00
know, at any level, you can just be unlucky, you know, one hop
50:03
here or there, you know, 1 little imperfection in the field
50:06
where somebody's cleat caught in and created a little divot that
50:10
caused that ball to deviate a little bit and the shortstop
50:13
couldn't make the play and it put a runner on base.
50:15
And then it just kind of, you know, all goes from there.
50:18
So, you know, at any level. And that's again, Jay and I talk
50:23
about sometimes with coaches and it the youth levels and being so
50:27
hard on their players. And it's like it happens at
50:30
every level. It does.
50:31
Everybody makes errors. Everybody.
50:34
I mean, I still walk people. I give up home runs, I throw
50:38
balls to the backstop. It happens like people, even
50:42
even at our level there are still errors made like it.
50:45
It happens so. So, So what do you do?
50:48
You know, you, you throw a ball, it didn't quite go where you
50:50
wanted to go and it leaves the yard.
50:53
How do you know? How do you get yourself kind of
50:55
back on track? Are you able to sort of laugh it
50:57
off and go, well, that wasn't a good idea?
51:01
Yeah, if I know sometimes I know coming off my hand, I'm like,
51:05
that is piped that is right down the middle.
51:08
And please don't swing at that. But you know, on the off chance
51:12
that they do and it goes out, I I have, I've been very good
51:16
about, you know, being able to take responsibility and be like,
51:19
that was on me. That was my fault.
51:21
I threw that right down the middle.
51:23
The only time it really makes me mad is if I throw a really good
51:27
pitch and they hit a really good pitch and I'm just like, Dang,
51:34
like that was that moved? How did you hit that?
51:37
That was exactly what I wanted to do.
51:39
That's the only that's the only time it makes me mad is when I
51:43
do exactly what I want to and they just beat me and I'm just
51:46
like, are you kidding me? Like you just beat me on that.
51:50
But but, you know, whenever I give up a home run, I just look
51:54
at it of, well, no runners on right back where I was.
52:01
Try that riskier pitch because there's no consequences now, no.
52:06
Literally. Yeah.
52:07
Might. Might as well all.
52:09
Right, just a few more questions for you today, Emma, again,
52:11
thank you so much for being with Ken and I today.
52:13
We really appreciate it. So and these are a little bit
52:16
more personal. So just some good things like
52:19
what? Tell us your favorite hype song
52:20
before before the game. Well, I always listen to Ready
52:24
for It by Taylor Swift. That is my walk out song.
52:28
I did Something Bad by Taylor Swift.
52:29
So lots of lots of lots of T Swift, are you?
52:33
Excited about the engagement? Yes, yes, I immediately texted
52:40
my whole family. That's awesome.
52:42
That is. Awesome.
52:43
That is awesome. Last time Travis got off his
52:45
butt and put a ring on it, right?
52:47
Right, that's what I'm. Yeah, exactly.
52:51
So what about a go to meal after a big win?
52:54
Oh, I love Italian food. I love Italian food.
53:01
Spaghetti and meatballs is my go to.
53:05
Everyone knows. As if we're getting Italian, I'm
53:07
getting meatballs of some sort on something.
53:11
Good. For you I I just have to share
53:14
guys. I've, you know, I'm the same
53:15
way. I've been to, you know, cheap
53:17
Italian restaurants. I've been to very expensive
53:19
Italian restaurants and I always order the same thing.
53:21
It's spaghetti and meatballs. I remember going with my
53:25
mother-in-law once, you know, and my wife, we went to, you
53:29
know, a restaurant and I order spaghetti and meatballs and she
53:33
just looks at me and she goes, you can make that at home.
53:35
Why are you doing this? It's what I love.
53:37
It's like my favorite. It's.
53:39
Good. It's good.
53:41
I like it. Good.
53:42
All right, So what would one more here, I think.
53:46
Well, two more actually. I got 1.
53:47
I think Ken has one more too. What is something fans would be
53:50
surprised to learn about you hidden talent?
53:54
You did say you like to sing, so you can't use that one.
53:56
You got to pick something else. And I'm guessing you like to
54:00
sing a lot of Taylor Swift songs too, so.
54:02
I do, actually. Fun fact Sunday I'm singing the
54:06
national anthem at our last game.
54:08
Congratulations. That's awesome.
54:10
Yeah. Yeah.
54:12
So that's going to be the. Swifty version of it or?
54:16
I wish. No, no.
54:20
Well, Taylor Swift, on the off chance you're listening, you've
54:22
got a big fan here and, you know, get a.
54:25
Got to bring her up, come to some AUSL games.
54:27
Come out to a game, you know, we'll treat you right and maybe,
54:30
you know, you can return the favor and Emma can come up and
54:32
do a number with you. We're putting out that call.
54:36
OK, fun fact about me, I owe. This is kind of an odd fact, but
54:41
I am not scared of bugs. I'm not scared to pick any bug
54:46
up. My favorite bugs are cicadas and
54:51
people. Yeah.
54:51
And people are always like, you don't pick that up and it's like
54:54
they're not going to bite you. It's fine.
54:56
Like, most bugs won't bite unless you look like you're
55:00
trying to kill them. But yeah, I'll pick up any bug
55:03
and remove it and, you know, put it somewhere else.
55:07
And people are like, EW, it's fine.
55:10
It's fine. That's funny.
55:14
All right. So if you weren't playing
55:15
softball, what else would you be doing?
55:17
What would you? What's your dream job?
55:22
OK, well, I always wanted to be a basketball player.
55:26
Actually, up until about the 7th grade, I wanted to go to college
55:34
to be a basketball player, really.
55:36
So I would say basketball. And then I kind of, I figured
55:41
out I could throw, I could throw a ball really hard.
55:43
And so I was like, OK, well, I'm only 5-6, I'm going to move over
55:48
to softball and I'm going to stick with softball, but either
55:52
basketball or be a sports broadcaster.
55:55
Or a backup singer. That's what I got my degree.
55:57
In or a backup singer for Taylor Swift.
56:02
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome.
56:06
Well, all right, Emma, thank you again so much for joining in.
56:09
Ken and I, we really appreciate your time and we wish you the
56:12
the best of luck and, and Ken will take us out, but just want
56:15
to say thanks again and excited to see you as a grad student
56:18
over there at Virginia Tech. Make sure you tell coach Josh we
56:21
said hi. He's a we're big fans of him and
56:23
and Pete too. So.
56:25
Awesome. Yeah, definitely.
56:27
Thanks for having. Me, thanks for being here and
56:29
good luck in your games. By the time this airs, people
56:32
will know what the outcomes were, but as we're doing it, we
56:35
don't know yet. So we're hoping, Emma, you know
56:36
for all the best and that you have a great game and throw that
56:39
change up. All righty.
56:42
Well, that's it for us this week.
56:44
Thanks to all of you for listening and the kind words
56:46
you've been sharing with us. If you like what you're hearing,
56:48
Please remember to give us a like, leave a comment and share
56:51
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56:54
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57:00
On behalf of the From the Coaches Mouth podcast, have a
57:02
great rest of your week and weekend.