Don't Suck: Life, Family & Softball
Don’t Suck: Life, Family & Softball is a father-daughter podcast where passion meets the grind. Hosted by Ronald and Madison Smith, we dive into the highs, lows, and lessons learned from the game of softball and how they apply to life beyond the field.
From early morning workouts to late-night tournaments, and road trips—we talk about the dedication, sacrifices, and unforgettable moments that come with chasing dreams. Expect real conversations, funny stories, competitive debates, and insights into the softball journey, plus a little family banter along the way.
Whether you’re a player, parent, coach, or just love the game, Don’t Suck is here to keep it real. No excuses, no regrets, just hustle.
Don't Suck: Life, Family & Softball
The Roller Coaster of Tournament Victory After Defeat
A rollercoaster week of softball reveals the mental toughness required to overcome adversity and find success when it matters most. We start with an embarrassing April Fool's prank (yes, Mom actually got me good) before diving into the week's emotional journey from triumph to disappointment and back again.
The early-week area game against MGM proved challenging, as our bats went quiet in a crucial 1-4 loss that postponed our chance to secure the area championship. This led to some difficult but necessary conversations about game approach, communication between parents and players, and the importance of timing when providing feedback after tough losses.
The weekend's Saraland Invitational tournament showcased our resilience in dramatic fashion. After dropping Friday night games to both Daphne (facing a D1 commit throwing 68-70 mph) and Spanish Fort in extra innings, we could have easily folded. Instead, we regrouped and won four straight games on Saturday, including a redemption win against MGM and ultimately defeating Spanish Fort 5-4 in extra innings to claim the tournament championship.
Throughout our conversations, we explore the mental challenges of softball — finally connecting against a pitcher who's had your number all season, making necessary adjustments at the plate, and handling the pressure of championship moments. We also tackle the noticeable double standard in how emotional responses are judged in softball compared to baseball, opening up important conversations about expectations and gender in athletics.
As our podcast journey continues to grow beyond what we ever imagined, reaching listeners across multiple countries and cities, we're excited to create opportunities for young athletes to share their stories and connect with the broader softball community. Join us each week for honest, unfiltered discussions about softball, family dynamics, and the important life lessons we learn between the lines.
aim up. Young glove in my hand, dirt on my cleats yeah, way before I had a fan. Late nights, cage lights perfecting my stance, got a dream in my heart. I ain't leaving the chance. Softball life, every play's a test, pressure's on. Yeah, I play my best, bass is loaded. Gotta stay composed like life.
Speaker 2:One shot never fold you're listening to the don't suck live family and softball podcast with your host, madison omg, did you see?
Speaker 3:the college coach with the Oklahoma hat watching me pitch, and Ronald Smith.
Speaker 4:Bruh, that's Mallory's grandfather Week. Seven baby. I got Madison and Claudia.
Speaker 3:Hey guys, hey y'all.
Speaker 4:And we're looking to get it started April 1st through April 5th this week. April fools yeah, did you have any good April Fools?
Speaker 3:Oh, I didn't pull any pranks, but one of my teachers did get her battery taken out of her mouse. It's kind of boring, but she always uses her computer at the beginning of class and somebody took it on the way out of the classroom and she was like, why is my computer not working? And she was so mad. So I have a co-worker who like why is my computer not working?
Speaker 4:And she was so mad. So I have a co-worker who, like once a day he goes and puts sticky notes on everybody's mouse underneath like underneath, and it's random people, it's not the same ones and you'll hear people all day just what's going on? And they have a sticky note on the bottom so it ain't picking up, that's funny.
Speaker 4:I did get got. How'd you got gotten by mom? So I was sitting in the outfield watching the game against robertsdale. I remember yep, brooke had a game so she was late getting there. And she said, hey, I'm gonna come park in the outfield for we can sit in the back of the truck and we watch the game. And I was already out there with morty's parents and I said, all right, so I'm waiting around watching the game. And I get a phone call and I hear what am I I going to do? I'm stuck in the truck and I thought, how you idiot, what are you doing? So I'm like, all right, I'm coming. So I start walking and I hear Brooke in the background going mom, what are we going to do? So I start running. I mean, let's be honest, I'm kind of big, I ain't running, I'm power walking.
Speaker 3:Fat girl shuffling, yeah, fat girl shuffling.
Speaker 4:And then they're giggling and then they say April Fools, and I have never felt so gotten in my life.
Speaker 3:That's funny. I wish I would have been there for that.
Speaker 4:I think the thing that got me is mom's not even that funny.
Speaker 3:Mom doesn't have the same sense of humor we have.
Speaker 4:No, she thinks we're stupid, but I think we're giggly hilarious and it actually made me mad that I was gotten.
Speaker 3:Because it's like it's mom, it was her yeah.
Speaker 4:Anybody else could have gotten me, but not her. All right, Claudia, before we get started, how about you go ahead and kick us off with a quick pitch questions.
Speaker 2:Already. Would you rather hit two bombs in one game or throw a no-hitter? I think I'd rather hit two bombs.
Speaker 3:What Well, I've kind of been sucking on that inside lately, so hitting two bombs is like a great boost of confidence, a perfect game.
Speaker 2:Not perfect. No hitter. A no hitter, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 4:Oh, a no hitter. Yeah, I'd rather have two bombs than two If it was a perfect game.
Speaker 3:I'd be like oh perfect game.
Speaker 4:Yeah, perfect game.
Speaker 3:Well, depending on who it was against Like, whenever I hear somebody pitching a hitter, not that it's like oh whatever. But when I hear perfect game, I think, oh my gosh, that's crazy. But when you hear no hitter, it's like you know good job, yeah, good job. But then you hear two bombs in a game. It's like dang, look at you go.
Speaker 4:You know what I want to watch. You do Hit a walk-off.
Speaker 3:Me too. I think about that sometimes, Can somebody?
Speaker 4:serve Madison up one a favor throw me a meatball, please I think she'd miss the meatball at this point.
Speaker 3:I'm like what's an unpopular opinion that you'll always defend me personally, which I think a lot of people don't agree with this, but I think that people's natural hair color suits them best. Oh, 100 people who dye their hair, claudia your hair is literally blonde.
Speaker 2:it's naturally brown, so I know that a hairstylist, so I know that obviously brown would look better on me, but I like the blonde.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I like your blonde hair too. I think it looks cute on you, but a lot of people that you literally just called her ugly.
Speaker 4:What are you talking about?
Speaker 3:A lot of people that dye their hair like bleached blonde and all these crazy girls girl, if you just dyed your hair back brown, it'd be so much prettier.
Speaker 2:Well, I feel like okay. So if you have like level one black hair and then you go jump to like level 10 bleach blonde hair, that's a huge jump. But if you throw in like a few low light, yeah, like some little bit of like a little bit of dimension but you can definitely overdo it.
Speaker 3:But also I think that their hair, like most people's hair, like that they get done if they go from brown to blonde with the highlight. Whatever it's really pretty, it's pretty hair. I just think that usually people's natural hair suits the best.
Speaker 4:Mine would be that Nickelback actually rocks. It's the best band.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm too young for that. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean Nickelback has the best music. I don't know what happened, but somewhere it became cool to say they sucked.
Speaker 3:Is that rock stuff?
Speaker 4:Yeah, but we'll listen to some later.
Speaker 3:Okay, along with that, where's Willie movie or whatever it's called?
Speaker 2:Free Willie. Oh my God, oh whoops. So unpopular opinion, music related. Probably like Taylor Swift, I love her music. That could be popular or could be unpopular, Not sure.
Speaker 3:It depends on what crowd you're talking to.
Speaker 4:It depends on what crowd I'm talking to so. I think that's an easy way out, because I think most people like Taylor Swift.
Speaker 3:I don't know she's been on a downfall recently.
Speaker 2:Everybody I don't know. She's been on a downfall recently. Everybody I don't know.
Speaker 4:a lot of people hate on her Well because you know the whole football thing and I think these celebrities get way too deep into politics.
Speaker 2:They need to step back.
Speaker 4:That kind of kills them too.
Speaker 2:So I want a different one, but I love her music.
Speaker 4:I have a favorite song too. I have a favorite song of Taylor Swift's song. It's that song about. It Was Me. I'm the Problem, it's Me.
Speaker 3:Oh, I cannot stand that song.
Speaker 4:That is my favorite song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's probably yeah.
Speaker 4:Maybe that's the unpopular opinion. That's her best song.
Speaker 2:That might be an unpopular opinion. That seems very unpopular.
Speaker 4:Here's an unpopular opinion Taylor Swift Country or Taylor Swift Pop.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because Taylor Swift Country was rocking. Yeah, I love both, though.
Speaker 4:That.
Speaker 3:Tim. Mcgraw song come on. What song is it?
Speaker 4:When you sing Tim McGraw.
Speaker 2:You ain't heard this, no, okay, would you rather be the fastest player or bomb hitter?
Speaker 4:When you said that, I thought you said fattest, fastest.
Speaker 3:I think I'd rather be the fastest, because the fastest people are top of the lineup Usually. They hit really good, they get on the bases, they score a lot of runs. That just seems fun, and who wouldn't want to be fast? I see our fast people on our team steal a base all the time. Imagine how great that feels to just know that you can beat out the catcher's throw to second base.
Speaker 4:Well, here's the thing Bomb hitters are going to hit bombs for sure. They're also going to hit a lot of pop-ups. Yeah, that fast, kid, you get her on first, and no outs she's scoring.
Speaker 2:She's Emily Lockhart, mm-hmm. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Just like last week, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'd have to agree Fastest player.
Speaker 3:What's a smell that takes you? Smell of the. What brand is it? Soft soap it's got the fish on it and, like you know, the soft soap, hand soap that they put in the bathroom. Yeah, every time I smell it it reminds me of when I went to nolwood or doyland whatever daycare they just have that soap in the bathroom and it just takes me right back to it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, mine's chlorine. I had a chlorine pool, so you had a pool I mean not to brag. We were rich back in the 90s. I guess you could say yeah but anytime I smell chlorine, which nobody has chlorine pools really anymore yeah, claudia, I don't have to say anytime I go outside.
Speaker 2:I was always outside as a kid, so like being in the woods and stuff was. It always brings me back. What's your favorite ballpark snack?
Speaker 3:a pickle, oh, pickles are so good I love a good pickle um, also, crunchy grapes are good. What are you making that face for crunchy grapes like the green grapes that are really crunchy like? Oh my gosh, we had a whole competition at our tournament are you getting that from the concession stand?
Speaker 4:because no it doesn't.
Speaker 3:Didn't say concession stand snack, it said ballpark snack.
Speaker 4:No, but that dough, pickle chips, beef jerky, which means old peanuts Ugh Sunflower seeds yeah, sunflower seeds. Nachos and cheese.
Speaker 3:Okay, well, you're not the one playing softball.
Speaker 4:So think about me and my stomach and those chicken tenders at the Daphne Complex. Those are good. When you said chicken tenders.
Speaker 3:I thought of Buc-ee's. Those are good too, yeah.
Speaker 4:Ask me what my favorite gas station food is, that would be Buc-ee's, except for they screwed their menu up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they took everything away.
Speaker 4:You sort of get an extra chicken tender Now you already have it in a box. Yeah, it's about two of them to be satisfied. Boo Buc-ee's. Yes, some dude.
Speaker 3:Yes, we were at the gas station and Dad was talking about Buc-ee's and he was like oh, he was not having it you know what I got kicked out of Buc-ee's and we don't support that, no more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was not having that. If you, probably all my friends would agree with this, because I will just start singing it. Oh say, can you see like oh, randomly. It's always in my head and we have to. At our home games we listen to the long ch Stapleton version, which it's a great version, but when you're listening to it for a game, yes, you're standing there for 20 minutes and you can feel everybody's eyeballs staring at the back of your head and you're just like the game's about to start. It's nerve-wracking and you just gotta listen to it.
Speaker 4:I watched one of the Heathstroke lists for that song. It's way too long. Yeah, it very long.
Speaker 3:Um, so I have two songs that are always stuck in my head and they both have the number 22 of them, which is weird.
Speaker 2:I don't know about you that one right there, 22, 22 can you do something.
Speaker 4:Well, that's isn't that. 21 oh my god, no, but it's david banner cadillacs on 22s.
Speaker 1:Y'all wouldn't know that but back in the day that was it.
Speaker 3:And I still all the time every day. Claudia, what's your song?
Speaker 2:Probably probably Love Shack.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that is your favorite song.
Speaker 2:That song stays in my head. Or Meet Me Halfway, like I be. Can you meet me halfway?
Speaker 4:That's a good song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is very good song. What's a toxic trait you have?
Speaker 3:I've actually thought about this recently and it's really bad of me to be like this, but I don't know how to like not, but I've caught myself trying to tell people something that I'm thinking about, you know, like a story that I heard, or trying to tell something, like something, and then once they start talking, I just start to not care. It's really really, really bad, and if I could change it, I would and it's not in a mean way or anything, and I'll make myself sit there and listen to people talk, but it's like almost as if I'm just the one that wants to do this talking, and I hate that, and so I've been trying to not be like that.
Speaker 4:My toxic, my toxic, my top my toxic. You said toxic my toxic trait would be that anytime I do anything, I go all out you do, yeah, you do like anything red flag
Speaker 2:very podcasting.
Speaker 4:We talked about.
Speaker 3:Yes, the podcast by everything's at the front door the next day and hey mad, you want to do a podcast with me. I couldn't even say yes and he's like well, looks like you're doing it because the stuff will be here on Saturday.
Speaker 4:And anything I do, it's always been that way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you know, we appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, my toxic trait. I probably have a few and I'm thinking of a few, but I feel like my main one is that I put everyone above myself. Now this is a toxic trait to me, so like I don't know how to explain, like certain situations and stuff, but I'll always just put others before me and like what I want.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I'll. I'll worry about what other people are going to think about me and what I do way too much, and that's something that teenage girls are like that a lot.
Speaker 4:You will hopefully listen to my advice and get out of that it's really hard though it goes from.
Speaker 3:It'll go from what I, how I choose to wear my hair to school, to like what. What I choose to say because I'm so worried about what other people think I wear the same four outfits every, every day.
Speaker 4:You know I've got four sets of clothes I could carry and I haven't always been this way, but now it's so nice to not worry about it well, it's not even that.
Speaker 2:It's just like the big things for me, like when you go through a breakup or you go through a friendship breakup and you're constantly worried about what they're putting out there about your character. I think that bothers me more than anything.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, well, sounds like they have toxic tricks to talk about also.
Speaker 2:Right Okay, pitcher's duel or a high-scoring slugfest.
Speaker 3:I'd probably say pitcher's duel Isn't a slug, is like they're getting hits and hits right.
Speaker 4:It's 14-16.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, being a pitcher, that's a lot of earned runs. So I'm going to say pitcher's duel.
Speaker 4:If your kid's pitching, I don't mind a slugfest that's fine. But if it's my kid, let it be a pitcher's duel. Yeah, please, hey. Nothing's worse than when your kid's pitching and they're having a slugfest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, describe each other in colors, so I feel like we should give each other colors.
Speaker 3:Okay, All right, dad, you're definitely.
Speaker 4:I'm going to tell you the color that Claudia is.
Speaker 3:Okay, and I've told her. I've told her this before I told her this when I first met Claudia. I wonder if we're thinking the same color.
Speaker 2:It's yellow, and which is funny because my absolute favorite song is yellow.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I remember telling her one time I said is your favorite color yellow? I don't know, you just feed yellow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I see yellow.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so what color?
Speaker 1:did you say I?
Speaker 3:was. I was thinking Because, like I know, you like the color gray, but I don't think you're a gray person, Because when I think of gray I think of sadness. I'm kind of cultured, though. I don't mind being a little dark here, but I don't know what you're saying. I see like a blue or a red and red as in, like a deep red, not like bright red.
Speaker 4:So is this a real thing that we're just coming up with?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:We're just coming up with it honestly oh wait no, I'm speaking from facts right here.
Speaker 4:So what about me? Is red?
Speaker 3:When I just think of you like red could be safe.
Speaker 4:I have a color for Madison and I'm going to you turn your head, mom, and I'm going to whisper it into the monitor. I'm the only one that has a headset on, and I want to see if you say the same thing.
Speaker 2:About Madison.
Speaker 4:Yeah, turn around Close your ears.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Green. I don't think they heard that, okay.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. You want me to say hers? Yeah, I was thinking blue, but I don't know, maybe green.
Speaker 3:Oh, no way, he said green.
Speaker 2:He said green. Yes, I was thinking green because I just think of like outdoorsy, like I don't know.
Speaker 3:All right, that's crazy, I'm not.
Speaker 2:I was going to say blue, but then I was like no green.
Speaker 3:I think our colors are pretty accurate. I don't see myself as being a green person. I've never heard somebody say that I'm green.
Speaker 4:You're definitely green. I don't know why. I don't know where the color comes from.
Speaker 2:I don't either. Telepathy, telepathy, telepathy.
Speaker 3:Telepathy. I'm saying what would make you green?
Speaker 4:It's just the vibe you get from that person, you know, like somebody who's really happy and sunshiny. Happy is yellow, I don't know if that's me, but you have a yellow personality.
Speaker 2:I do when it comes out You're a happy person, and then somebody who's what is red I need to know what red is.
Speaker 4:I feel like I'm a red flag.
Speaker 2:I feel like when you think, of red, you're thinking of red flag but we're thinking of like Think a deep, maroon red.
Speaker 4:What? Somebody who's intelligent Sure? I want to know for real. I have got to know. When you say you have red.
Speaker 2:When I think of red, I think of bad to the bone.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's fine.
Speaker 2:Would you rather have a brutally honest coach or one who sugarcoats everything?
Speaker 4:Be honest with me.
Speaker 3:I feel like the right answer is a brutally honest coach. But you know, talking about the whole pressure thing, sometimes having somebody that's so honest to you is kind of harsh, you know. Having somebody who sugarcoats you at least makes you feel some kind of harsh. You know having somebody who's sugarcoated at least makes you feel some kind of goodness, you know.
Speaker 4:Well, I can respect that from you, because you I'll tell you why you know the correct answer.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know that what people would want to hear is you say I want somebody to be harsh with me, and I would assume that you would have said that too, and I respect that you didn't say that it is nice to have somebody on your team and say, hey look, it is fine. I'm kind of that person with you when you are going through that tough moment so I could see that Interesting take though from you.
Speaker 3:Very interesting, very shocked you said that it kind of it really depends on the kind of person you are too. I feel like I'm not the kind of person that's going to go out there and hear Madison, you really sucked today Like that was awful. You need to work harder.
Speaker 4:No, but what about constructive criticism? And that's something else too, so would you rather me be sugar-coated, or would you rather me give you constructive criticism?
Speaker 3:I would rather give me constructive criticism. It kind of depends on the person. Though You're my dad, you're gonna tell me the truth eventually, regardless, like you're, I'm gonna know if I sucked it up that game or I'm gonna know if I pitched a great game eventually, whether you tell me right after the game or you tell me a week later. I mean, there are certain times when you don't go right after the game and say, dang, you know, like that was terrible. There's also times where I mean you gotta wait a second and be like, hey, good job, like, but we need to do this, you know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've struggled with that this season. I know, I struggled. In the beginning, when you were struggling, I didn't talk, which I feel like you need to talk, like that's on me and you, you know. But now later in the season I feel like I'm talking way too much and so at least one time, yeah, but now later in the season I feel like I'm talking way too much, and so at least one time. Yeah, at least once we'll get there.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:We're going to. We're going to show all the highlights and the lows but it was this week, in case you were wondering but we're not going to run from that. But yeah, I personally would want somebody to be just straight for me. I don't we. I kind of touched on this a couple of weeks ago, where we talked about having a teammate that doesn't say something directly to me, says it's someone else yeah. I would rather coach come to me and not talk behind my back, definitely.
Speaker 4:And there's coaches out there who do that, you know, and so come tell me where I screw up and what I need to get better at, and don't tell my rest of my teammates this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I feel like for you at least you played baseball. And when I hear at practice, when I hear the baseball coach talking to them, like they're going to tell them straight up, that was terrible or you need to do better at this.
Speaker 4:Guys are going to take that different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they're they're going to have different coaching with, like male coaches and stuff. They can talk to them differently than our coaches. Can you know what I mean?
Speaker 4:And y'all probably heard the expression that girls have to feel good To play good and boys have to play good to feel good. Yeah, and you know it's two different types of personalities here. So when I was coaching, you know my girls I used to, first part of the day I was always hey, how was your night? You know all that trying to be so nice. But when I played when I was a boy, I don't know if my coach ever talked to us before games.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was like you show up and here you go yeah.
Speaker 2:Claudia uh, brutally honest, that's what I would choose. I mean, I'd rather you be honest than just sugarcoat it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that's all for our quick pitch well, before we get into week seven, here's a message from our sponsors. Today's episode of don't suck life family softball is brought to you by us. That's right, folks. We try to get a big name sponsor, but apparently yelling don't suck and a person isn't the best sales pitch so we're sponsoring ourselves, because if we don't believe in this podcast, who?
Speaker 2:will. Do. You love softball, family, questionable life advice? Then Don't Suck is the show for you. Tune in weekly for game breakdowns, hot takes and at least one embarrassing story that Madison will regret sharing and, best of all, it's completely free.
Speaker 3:quality entertainment at absolutely no cost. No subscriptions and no hidden fees, just good old family fun and maybe a few sarcastic remarks Don't suck.
Speaker 2:Life, family and softball, because life's too short for bad podcasts.
Speaker 4:Available wherever you get your podcasts. And if you don't listen, well, just know, we're not mad, we're just disappointed. All right, man Week seven, april 1st through the 5th.
Speaker 3:April Fool's week. April Fool's week.
Speaker 4:I April Fool's week. April Fool's week, I've already been got-gotten and y'all started off. Y'all had Robertsdale. That was April Fool's, that was April 1st.
Speaker 3:At home.
Speaker 4:At home. Y'all won 7-0. You were 0-2 with 1K. The Ks are stacked.
Speaker 3:They are really bad, and it gets worse as the week goes on.
Speaker 4:Let me just tell you yeah, as the week goes on, let me just tell you yeah. And then y'all still got the win. Then y'all went to MGM. Look, you've heard it here all seasons from us, we know they're going to be tough and then playing them at home. Something about MGM and Bryant at home.
Speaker 3:And we already knew coming into this game, that MGM was going on having a winning streak.
Speaker 4:They were 5-for-1 last week, y'all gave them life. Or 5-and-1, yeah, and they played y'all and we had a lot of errors, but they hit. They hit hard that game.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Y'all gave them life.
Speaker 3:They went through the next week, had five wins. Then we had to play them at home.
Speaker 4:And then I seen our bats kind of slow down. I mean, yeah, win against Robert Stell 7-0, but we didn't have those high scoring games like we've had and we lost 1-4. We had no run support. I did go two for three though. You went two for three with two singles and one RBI. You pitched six innings with three earned runs, five walks and four Ks. Not your worst outing, but it absolutely was not your best.
Speaker 3:It was when I was thinking about it. It wasn't good enough for me to go out there for us playing MGM. You know how the environment is, but it could have been worse.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there was a home run that was hit that Gabby Peterson brought back into the yard.
Speaker 3:It was amazing We've practiced that a good bit this season, like catching Robin home runs, and to see it actually happen in the game I was like wow.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was an incredible catch. They hit about three or four balls that I mean I thought off the bat were gone. You had a ball they were getting all of. We went back we watched tape. We kind of know where they were getting you. We know where you were making that mistake at, something that we will adjust next time.
Speaker 3:we see, yeah and uh, we will not tell you, barkley, where that adjustment will be, but but we're coming for you.
Speaker 4:The next time. And that's all out of respect. We love barkley. She's. Her ears must itch a lot because we talk about her. I mean probably like 14 times a day.
Speaker 4:And uh, she was. She was kind of the mastermind behind Madison, and not just Madison, but if you go look at any of Barkley's kids that we had from Mobile Thrillers and that tenure team, they all performed very high in all their high school teams. Yeah, barkley was very, very good at teaching defense, but they got us, they got us. So we now we could have, if we would have won that night, we would have secured area, but we didn't.
Speaker 3:So now it's kind of up in the air.
Speaker 4:So now it's probably going to come up to a coin toss Yep or Bryant can beat MGM, and I think that would change everything if we beat Bryant.
Speaker 3:I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 4:It's going to be tough.
Speaker 3:Thank goodness we do play Brian at home, so we've already played him away. But still, you never know.
Speaker 4:And look who knows what might happen. But then we traveled down, we had a tournament. What was that tournament? The Sarah Land.
Speaker 3:Just like the Sarah Land Invitational. It was at the new complex called the Land. I think it was very nice. It was huge. I think there's there maybe is eight fields they're not completely done, I think there were might have been five that we were using, but it was very nice. It was kind of similar to gulfport, except or like panama city, maybe just a little bit more spread out and the bathrooms are nice.
Speaker 4:It was just a nice place well, before we get to that, let's go back to mgo. Let's go back to my, my, my problem that week. I didn't know if we get to that, let's go back to MGM. Let's go back to my problem that week.
Speaker 3:I didn't know if we wanted to talk about it.
Speaker 4:Well, we're not going to hide from it. Okay, so we leave that game. I was I never feel good playing MGM, especially at home, and so when I got there something didn't feel right. I kind of feel like we have taken MGM and Bryant a little too lightly this year.
Speaker 3:Probably. I was telling Morty, one of our teammates, the day before we played MGM. I was telling her I was like I'm not really sure how I'm feeling about this game. I mean, obviously got a little bit of nerves because it's MGM. But I told her I was like we've been on a kind of streak where we haven't really been hitting like we have at the beginning.
Speaker 4:I mean imagine we scored 14 or 16 runs the very first time we see MGM and this week we scored one run.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I told her, like MGM had their streak, we played them and then they were winning, winning, winning. And we're playing them at home. They're going to be on and I just hope our bats could be on they really were.
Speaker 4:I feel that we make zero adjustments in a game or at the plate Zero adjustments. Y'all have got to figure that out. Y'all faced this pitcher. She did an excellent job. I mean, she kept y'all popping up the entire game.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and she's only what a freshman, I think.
Speaker 4:Maybe, maybe younger. I'm not sure she's a great athlete. And then I don't know who the other pitcher was. That come in.
Speaker 3:I don't remember.
Speaker 4:But both of them together really kept y'all off balance.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And you actually had the only hit that you got the RBI on. But after the game we were in different cars and I called Madison and we're all on Bluetooth the entire family and I have a tendency of breaking the games down and I said too much that night.
Speaker 3:Too much, too soon.
Speaker 4:Too soon, probably, things that need to be said eventually, but not then. And the conversation started off with that sucked Like, what are we doing? Yeah, and one thing that kind of got me with that game is we kept throwing one spot in on that plate and that kept getting busted, and the answer of why we were doing that for me was not the right answer. So that's where I come from. And eventually we ended the conversation and I guess what night.
Speaker 4:I come home a couple of nights later and she said I'm mad you didn't come to my game. I said I'm sorry I had work. You know I had this. It was Friday night. I'm sorry, I'm mad you didn't come to my game. Sorry, I had work. What are you doing? She said well, that's not me, madison, I'm sorry to you, I will do better. And look, we're going to keep it real here. So I screw up, she screws up, we all make mistakes, and so how do you handle it? And I don't know what it is about this year, but I feel for me personally I don't know why, but I feel like there's so much more rot in this season.
Speaker 3:Maybe I think it might be because this year we've really seen from the very beginning of the season that we really do have a chance of making it to state, Like this year, our team bond, like team chemistry on the field is a lot different than it has been the past two, three years that I've been, or whatever, however many years I've been, or two, whatever, however many years I've been playing with varsity. So I feel like when you kind of see that there's a chance of there being a better ending than the last few seasons, it's kind of you feel like there's not more pressure to succeed, but there's you want more out of what you're having.
Speaker 4:And you know y'all went going back, so y'all go to the Sarah Lynn Invitational this weekend. And one thing that y'all faced y'all faced Spanish Forward who kind of looked at their season. They beat Orange Beach who is like I don't know what the record is, but it was like 20 or 28 to zero. They have not lost, and you know quite some time. I think the last time they lost was to pace.
Speaker 3:I'm not really sure, but I think.
Speaker 4:I could actually be wrong with that, but I know that it's. It's been a quite some time. It's been a good year since they lost in Spanish Ford actually upset them. And so you know, I wonder, like with them, how their season I mean you beat a team like that. Who's a powerhouse?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean they. You know Orange Beach has a. Their entire softball field is going somewhere.
Speaker 3:D1.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean it's crazy. I think their starting pitcher is going to South Carolina and she's a senior this year.
Speaker 3:I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 4:And then their catcher, who is a junior, is going to Arizona, arkansas. One of those. So I mean they are a stud team, so Spanish Forth beats them. So for me, I think the same thing with them. If they had struggles, they'd think about man, where we could accomplish so much more.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So we'll get into that, but this weekend. So we go to Daphne, or we play Daphne first Y or we play Daphne first. Y'all lose 2-9. Y'all face Vic who's going to Bama.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And again, I don't think y'all make the adjustments.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we really. I think we tried to prepare for that, which we also weren't 100% sure if we were going to see Vic, and we ended up did seeing her, but I think we could have, I mean she throws what?
Speaker 1:68, 70?
Speaker 3:And so we haven't seen that all season and I mean you can't really do anything that's actually seeing live pitching from that speed and that kind of spin to prepare. I mean we have a hack attack, but it's not really the same. It's going to spin just about the same every time which a pitcher maybe she misses her spot or she spins it crazy different each time.
Speaker 4:She's either going to bite you on the knee or she's going to come up to your chest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and for me she came up to my chest.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think there's places that you can stand in that box to approach that type of pitcher, even like a drop ball pitcher where you stand, a rise ball pitcher where you stand. People may see it different, but I think if you ain't hitting someone like that, you have to make an adjustment and you better make it quick, Because once you have a couple strikeouts or a couple little pop-ups, she's got you where she wants you, so then y'all play Spanish for it. This is still Friday night and y'all lose 4-5.
Speaker 3:We end up going into ITB. Was it once or twice I?
Speaker 4:don't remember.
Speaker 3:I can't remember either, and it was just yesterday or the day before, but you didn't play in that game you were just a flex. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So Friday night we lose both games. It's basically a single elimination. So then we come back out and we're going to play MGM Saturday morning and y'all got the win there. Y'all beat them four, three and you didn't hit there. You flex, but you all you did pitch two innings, you gave up two arm runs, one walk and one K.
Speaker 3:So I mean you know not too bad, and they had just seen me two days before, so I was expecting to go out there and shut them out, or nothing.
Speaker 4:Then y'all play Sarah Land. Y'all win 5-1, and you were one for three with a single and a strikeout, one RBI, so that's not terrible, yeah. Then y'all play Faith. Y'all have seen her a few times this year. You were one for three with a single, an RBI and 1K, but I will say you finally put the bat on the ball at Larkin.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's something I've been struggling on all year. I finally got a hit off of her.
Speaker 4:The place where she was struggling. She didn't throw it there.
Speaker 3:Thank goodness I remember I was on deck, and usually I don't not have a plan in the sense of getting up to bat, but I don't want to go up to bat and be thinking, oh my gosh, if it's outside I I'm gonna hit it, or if it's inside I'm gonna hit it. I don't want to be so focused on my plan that I'm way in my head, you know. So I'm on deck and I'm thinking, okay, every time I hit off this girl, she always throws me the same high pitch and I just either don't hit it solid or I just don't hit it. And so I'm in like, okay, if she throws me something down, I'm swinging at it. First pitch she throws me. I'm pretty sure it was like almost in the dirt, but I swung at it because I was telling myself, if it's down there, I'm swinging. And so I did, but I ended up getting hit off of her.
Speaker 4:You know what a mental game it is to be a batter. Yeah, and y'all get the win there. That takes y'all to the championship game. Y'all got to go back and face Spanish forward again. Daphne got put out a little bit earlier. I want to say that Vic had an injury happen.
Speaker 1:Don't know what happened.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So won't speak on that. What happened? But they end up getting put out and then we face Spanish forward in the championship. Y'all win 5-4.
Speaker 3:We went into ITB again.
Speaker 4:It was a really good game. Yeah, I want to say it was tied like 2-2. They scored two early on. You and you were over two hit by pitch in a strikeout. But you went eight innings, you gave up three earned runs, with one walk, two Ks and that team can hit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they can.
Speaker 4:I mean that's some really impressive numbers. So I mean y'all win the Sarah Lynn Invitational this weekend and really behind some really solid, you know, offense and defense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think we were one of the least expected teams to pull that out, but we went from going 0 for 2 to 4 and 0. Yep.
Speaker 4:And you know kind of getting to it, so we had it was 2-2 for the longest time, yep.
Speaker 4:And you know kind of getting to it. So we had it was 2-2 for the longest time, yeah. And then in the top of the eighth inning they put a runner at second and we score three runs, mm-hmm. So kind of like, all right, we can pull this off now. You know, there was kind of a little bit of uncertainty. Well, then they come and I'm like, all right, don't worry about the girl at second base. Well, the first girl hits a bomb towards right field. Yeah, they score, she gets on second. So it's kind of like you're replacing it. Well, okay, I'm not worried about the girl at second, because at the time it's still three, five. Well then I don't know what happens, but she ends up getting hit in. Y'all make it, you know, y'all get a couple outs here and then the last ball is hit to you.
Speaker 4:So it was nice to seal that deal and yeah kind of fill up, finish off a not a bad week overall. I mean, you know, this is something to I remember early in the season. I'm like Madison, you guys are hitting the ball, but you're like Dad, I'm batting 420. You know so, even when I look back at this, like you're still pitching excellent Right now, you have a 2.6 ERA. You're just one point over what your goal is for the season. You have a batting average of 333. You're 27 points below what you wanted to be. I don't think you'd be mad about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And you know one thing that I feel that you have to do you have to find a way to get out of between the years and realize like hey, this is nothing new for me, I see. Where y'all struggle is for yourself is where you kind of go back and forth from different pitches and you know you typically do better against somebody throwing harder or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 4:But you know again sorry for my attitude this week and you know I'll do better. And look, parents, when you screw up, just tell your kids like hey, that's on me, you know I'm sorry, and I don't say sorry and do the same thing again the next day yeah but uh. So going back over the totals, real quick. Batting average 333, 20 strikeouts. You're two over where you want to be. You got a few weeks left of softball.
Speaker 4:If I were you, I wouldn't even study that number, no more yeah now it's just time to pull the batting average back up 2, 2.6 ERA. Loving that, I mean you can live there and I'd be happy. 77 strikeouts Can we hit 100 this year?
Speaker 3:Let's see how many games we got left. Maybe like six, seven.
Speaker 4:Maybe, I think we only got a few weeks left. So around the area, bryant beat St Paul's and MGM, they lost to Sarah Land, they got a win against Faith and they lost to Ballin County, and that's where Miss Madeline Byrd is with her 1,000 strikeouts.
Speaker 3:She knows how many strikeouts now? Yeah.
Speaker 4:That's a tough team, but, yeah, good week. Seven Congratulations to Baker for that tournament win and we really needed that. We've got to find a way to get hot again. Get these bats popping.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:All right. So before we get out of here, claudia, how about you start us off with the caught in the rundown question?
Speaker 2:Do you think everything happens for a reason, or is life random? And this is like an open discussion, so I would like for all of us to speak on it.
Speaker 3:I think everything happens for a reason. I do too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3:I feel like even meeting, like even if you go to the store and some random person's like go to the store and some random person's like hey, I like your hair or you like bump into them with your car, like that happened for some reason, yeah, what if you see him again?
Speaker 4:yeah, well, I mean without reason why we're here yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Have you ever gone through something that felt completely unfair or random?
Speaker 3:absolutely I'm sure, yeah, I, yeah, I mean being broke, being poor, and we're fortunate.
Speaker 4:I mean we say that we're broke but we have a thousand on our phones in our hand. Yeah, yeah for sure, and there's people out there starving to death.
Speaker 3:We're out here starting a podcast with all this new stuff. Yeah, I mean, there's people that have nothing.
Speaker 4:So we're super fortunate. So I don't want to be ungrateful for what we have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah for sure. Do you think we find meaning in events after they happen? I'll say 100%.
Speaker 4:Do you say, do we? What was the question?
Speaker 2:Do you think we find meaning in events after they happen?
Speaker 4:100%.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, I feel like if you don't find meaning in something that happens, then there's no point.
Speaker 4:We talked two weeks ago. Madison struggling in seventh grade, walking in that pitch, always find a meaning, I think. Every time we've had a situation, I think I might be like an Indian dream catcher or something.
Speaker 2:What that makes sense.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, my dad was Indian enough to where he got a.
Speaker 2:What does that mean? Indian dream?
Speaker 4:check.
Speaker 1:Not a dream catcher, but like what, oh gosh.
Speaker 4:I feel like my dad was Indian enough to get a check once a month from the government. Right, there's people out there if you have enough heritage in you, that.
Speaker 3:Really.
Speaker 4:Or enough percentage.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that Then you'll get a check.
Speaker 4:So I feel like my calling, like I can make a point about everything. I think that's why I'm a great coach, and I say that I mean I'm saying this humble too.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But I think that's why Madison says like I can drive a point across, like that is a skill of mine.
Speaker 2:Oh, for sure, For sure. Have you ever had a meant to be moment in your life?
Speaker 4:Every day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sometimes I feel like, even if you know like you have a really bad day and it's kind of like well, I've had a lot of good days I feel like that kind of kind of made me get out of this like little. What like these thoughts I was having or whatever, and you kind of think to yourself about how your day went or how you reacted to it and it's like wow, like that was for a reason.
Speaker 4:What about? When you meet that person? They say, dude, I needed to talk to you because, listen, listen, what happened yesterday, this situation. And then you say this I had a coworker on talk about this today. He was struggling with a situation and he said we kind of started talking about faith and things like that and he said I just don't get it. Blah, blah, blah. I don't understand. But what?
Speaker 2:he was struggling with was what I feel like I had the answer to yeah. Yeah, I mean yeah. I feel like everybody has like that meant to be moment, and even a meant to be moment doesn't have to be perfect. It can be one of those moments where it's like, oh wow, that friend really showed their true colors to me, like it was meant to be. Like obviously I'm not meant to be friends with that person or be super close with them, but yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, you know even and I guess this comes from an aspect on speaking about people like, people with faith and you know people in our lives too, to show us what we don't need to in our lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whether you don't need or don't need to be or turn out to be for sure.
Speaker 4:And I feel like we have a choice too. I feel like you get stuck in that situation.
Speaker 3:You can become that bad apple yeah 100% and recently we've this relates back to softball, but we've played softball teams where I feel like some of their players are like the way they kind of their attitudes and the way they act towards people was so just disrespectful and I kind of thought to myself I never want to come across as that kind of person and I never feel like I do. But it kind of made me think harder about the way I represent myself, you know, and how people who I'm on the team with they're representing me as well, like not only I could be walking with my jersey for my team on over here and it doesn't matter, I could be a great person, but if the same somebody else with the same jersey as me is walking over here with a bad attitude or like saying all these things and somebody else hears it, then we're all like that and that's exactly how I felt about certain teams that we've played.
Speaker 3:And it can be the sweetest person on that team and I hear one or two people say something, or the dugout. You hear something. It's like, wow, I didn't think they were like that. But that's how my whole perspective will change in that person, because now I view them like that too, because they're surrounding themselves with people like that.
Speaker 4:Well've heard people make comments about baker. Oh, I hate baker because this I'm like that's, that's not the the culture of our program and I've heard I'm not I say baker, but I'm speaking about everyone, or you know, I heard someone say how your parents over there y'all's trashy parents or what, yeah, but I mean y'all kind of gave the same energy. The difference is we're on different teams.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know, so we're all kind of guilty of that.
Speaker 3:And just because you go to this school with this kind of school like actually building or whatever and I go to this school with this kind of campus, that doesn't mean nothing.
Speaker 4:Hey, can we talk about a double standard? Madison, you said earlier like people watching and uh, you know, we think we in softball, I think girls do a really good job of thinking about who's watching them. I'm not saying everyone. I've seen bad examples too. We just seen some this past week. You know, let's call it what it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:What about this? So I have watched girls who have a bad attitude kind of be reprimanded, girls who have a bad attitude kind of be reprimanded, whatever the case is. But I went to baseball games and football games where these kids have college scholarships. There's college coaches watching them.
Speaker 1:They act like fools.
Speaker 4:Yes, I watched a kid last year. He hit a single and he slings his bat down, his batting gloves, everything I say he hit a ground ball. He got out at first and he was going to like Auburn.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And slings everything on the ground and no one says a word about it.
Speaker 3:But when you play softball which I'm not just saying softball, but I play softball but when you play softball and if you see somebody slam their helmet or slam their bat or just even walk to the back, you know whatever it's like oh well, marking them off the list.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I would never want to see a girl act that way, but there is a double standard there. When I played ball, if I would have slung something, my coach would have beat me to death. With whatever I slung, my mom would have probably ran over me too.
Speaker 2:I think definitely like the whole attitude thing, like when you strike out or something like that. I think it needs to be handled more by coaches. That's just my opinion, absolutely because I just feel like they just get a free ride, like they're just leave them alone, just, and then they'll like this is just my past experience of my coach saying just leave her alone, just leave it be no let's not leave it be like somebody just got hit with a helmet because somebody else is mad and not only that, but if you're the coach of one of these kids, like man, how could you shape and shift this kid to be something outstanding?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and help them to not handle that situation that way. Yeah, so if you could go back and change one event in your past, would you?
Speaker 4:I mean, I'm sure plenty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I have one that I would go back and change big time.
Speaker 3:Even just small interactions. I would change. I go back after I talk to people maybe I don't really know them, or even at the ballpark, and if somebody I haven't seen in a while I'll talk to them. And then after I'll go home and I'll think about the conversation that we had. I'm like dang it, I wish I wouldn't have said that, not even if it was bad. Just a little comment or something like maybe I shouldn't have said that or maybe that was kind of weird in the moment. You know, I do that too.
Speaker 2:I beat myself up over that, but I try not to.
Speaker 3:I will think so hard about every single word, even if my facial expression seemed a little too surprising or a little too rude. I'll just be like dang Madison, you got to get better at that.
Speaker 2:I do that with y'all. I leave here and I'm like, Like was I rude at it.
Speaker 3:Are you serious?
Speaker 4:You were so rude you're not allowed to come back on the podcast. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's all for our Cotton Run Down.
Speaker 4:Well, good, it was a little short Cotton Run Down this week, kind of because we had a long week of softball, but definitely having a good time. Yeah, again, we've got a lot of big things planned here real soon. I've had some great phone calls the last 24 hours.
Speaker 3:Getting them sponsors coming in like crazy.
Speaker 4:We are going to do a big back giveaway soon. We're going to wait until we have one of our guests come on here. I don't know. It's exciting to see where this is going to go. We talked a little bit last week or last episode, where we are catching up to where we're at now and we're seeing the numbers come in and we're seeing the different cities. I think we're like we're three countries, we're 50 cities now and we've got people watching from or listening from places where we know no one from.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 4:It's awesome. And you know, I really hope this is reaching you know kids, parents, and I hope they're getting something out of it and I hope you know our friends also are getting something out of it. I hope this gives kids opportunity to kind of know Madison. I hope it gives Madison opportunity to have coaches listen to her and kind of see who she is and kind of seeing where this may end up at.
Speaker 3:It's already gone further than I expected.
Speaker 4:We've been writing down ideas and things we want to do. There's kids out there who are looking for opportunities to get into college and maybe they get to come on here and you know, and kind of get interviewed and ask some questions that some of these coaches may never get an opportunity to do.
Speaker 4:that it's difficult and they can tune in for five minutes and and see what happens. So if this is a kid that you can think of, I mean, it's definitely something we would look into and want to work with them. And, um, you know, we're we're doing this again. We, we think we have a lot to offer, especially madison and and I think madison, this is a great opportunity for her. Also, somebody just commented earlier and said I've never heard Madison say this many words her whole life, and it's been for a long time, which is kind of shocking to us, because Madison doesn't shut up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I talk a lot, you know.
Speaker 4:So it's definitely a great opportunity. It's letting her get out of her shell and kind of focus on what's important, so great episode week seven opportunities letting her get out of her shell and kind of focus on what's important. So great episode week seven. We're kind of caught up now and, uh, looking forward to the future man yep, me too, y'all have anything for them don't suck.
Speaker 3:Thank you.