Full Show - 4/12/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, April 12th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Varsity Blitz high school sports show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.
I'm Fox Sports ninet twenty and your iHeartRadio app as always,
coming live from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios,
largest employee owned HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin.
Go to Donovan Jorgensen dot com. Today's show ten o'clock.

(00:23):
We're going to talk to the head baseball coach at Germantown.
He got his five hundredth win. It's a lot of wins.
We'll talk to Jay as they're heading down to Kenosi
to play Saint Joe's at ten twenty. Sidney the pitcher
from Wisconsin Lutheran High School Indiana Magic Gold. If she plays,
she's a Wisconsin Badger commit. At ten twenty. Her and

(00:45):
her mom and dad are going to join us here
in studio. But for the first hour Germantown Softball Jason Otto.
I talked to Jason for a while. He is a
wealth of knowledge when it comes to softball. Man, he's
talking about, Hey, this girl from Hurley, She's going I like, man,
I gotta know more about the girls here. Let's talk

(01:06):
about some of the girls from Germantown. We're gonna be
joined at at nine to twenty four senior girls from
the Germantown team. They're four and oh right now playing
awfully well, and we'll talk with them and we'll introduce
you to our Pick and Save student athlete of the week.
But for the first segment, it's good to meet Jason
Ottaw in person.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Coach, how you been I've been great. Yeah, good start
to the season. Actually, see the sunshine in the day
above thirty degrees not bad. It looks like the direction
is headed the right way.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
So yeah, hey, did you know coming in you guys
had a chance if I said to you, you know,
a couple of weeks ago, hey, coach, you'll start the
year four and oh before you play wild with Tosa
East and you play West Allis Hill in Central this
upcoming week. But if I said, look, you'll start the
year four and oh, would that have surprised you or
you have said, yeah, I think we got a shot

(01:54):
to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I would say, ye, I think we got a shot
to do it. I mean, I'm pretty comfortable in the
fact that we have a shot. Anytime we stepped on
the field with the leadership that we have from the seniors,
but also the youth in the program contributed in different ways.
I mean, we're capable of beating any team in the state.
At the same time, if we don't do what we're
supposed to, we can lose a lot of games here
and there.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
So well, we don't want to talk about that. No,
we don't talk about that. And these Ford seniors that
are in studio with us, we had talked about this
group and you said, look, they've been playing softball together
for a while, You've coached them, you coached them in
travel ball some of them, and then decided to be

(02:37):
the head coach at Germantown a couple of years ago.
Is that correct.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, this would be my third season as the head coach.
I was an assistant for a bunch of years helping
the late great Kurt Ragruzzi, kind of my softball mentor
in the world and a guy who probably will forget
about softball then I'll ever know, but tried to get
as much knowledge as I could from him. After he passed,
I kind of decided it was time to just step
away from high school a little bit. Helping, you know

(03:02):
it was just more of a volunteer assistant thing. But
this group of girls that are here, including another senior
who's not here, Julia. I mean, they've been playing together
since they've been six seven years old, whether it was
our first U eight travel teams all the way through.
Some of them are still currently teammates in travel ball
during the summer, and it's it was just one of

(03:23):
those things when the job was there and I got
asked by a couple of parents who thought maybe I
should do it, and after long discussions with my daughter,
I said, this would be a great group to take
the high school experience as the head coach, and yeah,
it's been great.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Coaching your daughter, been a good thing for the relationship
for the Idol family, or because look firsthand, I know
I coached my son in high school basketball and the
first year or sophomore year was not good. And it
was me I had to make the adjustment. I was
the adult in the room and realized that once we
got to the kitchen table, I was his father, and

(03:59):
I would any pretty girls say hi day today, and
if you want to talk basketball, he would bring it up.
But the first year the McGivern household was a little
bit crazy, and it was it was on me. And
I'm wondering the relationship that that you and your daughter have.
Has it been, has it been strong, has it been
has helped? Has there been some setbacks in that?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
I mean, I think you can break my relationship with
Kylie down into two parts. Under the age of thirteen
or fourteen coaching days as comparable to how I've learned
and adjust how to coach just girls in particular. I mean,
these girls all played for me when they were eight
years old and nine years old and ten years old,
and you know, probably was a lot more vocal in

(04:41):
the i'll call it holding them accountable for mistakes and heirs,
but always trying to positively reinforce it. Now more along
the lines of just trying to make them better players,
to be ready to play at the next level, you know,
little ins and outs, and not trying to make big
changes to them. But as far as Kylie, I would say,
that's a different thing because when Kylie and I our
relationship is softball. I mean, like we talk softball all

(05:04):
the time. When we're not playing softball. I mean I
get a text from ear in the middle of the day,
you see this girl committed here, this girl committed there.
So the not talking about softball, that's maybe one of
the first things we talk about. It's probably made our
relationship much stronger. The coaching part of the high school level.
You know, when I was on the fence about doing
the job, I kind of said to her. I said,
She's like, why are you not going to be the
coach coach all the time? I'm like, well, my problem

(05:24):
is not necessarily how you feel about it. It's about
how other girls feel if I don't play them and
write spots, and do they take that out on you?
And she was pretty simple in the fact she goes, Dad,
I know everybody already thinks you're a jerk. So I'm
good with the fact that I care.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
The next segment that have her, these other three seniors
join us. I can tell you this. I didn't know
and my son went to Calvary Baptist No. Noominie falls, small,
small Christian high school. There's sixty seven sixty eight kids
in the school. It's now closed, and I didn't know
until after he graduated. I had Andy Sharona and camp

(06:00):
Seroni in studio and I did a show on coaching
our sons, and I said, hey, listen, you know I
wasn't there every day. And he started telling stories about
in the hallway in the locker room, where guys would say, hey,
you're only playing because your dad's the coach, or you
had three turnovers, he didn't pull you out, but I
get three and he pulls me out. And I didn't

(06:22):
realize he was going through some of that until he
talked about it on the air, and you know, he
lived through it. It was fine. He understood that he
was one of the better players on that team and
he should be playing. But I didn't realize some of
the stuff that he was going through. He shielded me,
and I'm glad that she was so honest. They already

(06:42):
think you're a jerk, so don't worry about it. You
can't be more of a.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Jerkbys not just at the local scene, you know. Again,
you just, you know, always coached teams that have been
lucky enough to have good players and lucky enough to win,
and nobody likes everybody wants to beat the teams that win,
and kind of the same situation at Germandown, you know,
for a lot of years has been a good program,
and you know, the the they want to beat you
or they want to be on your team, you know,
one of those two. So kind of learned that a

(07:07):
little bit.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
But the difference between playing coaching club ball and travel
ball and high school. As a high school basketball coach,
it always took us about two weeks of practice to
get guys out of the AAU mindset where if I
get the defensive rebound, I'm going to dribble down and
shoot a three. And it took us a couple of

(07:29):
weeks to get them away from that because they weren't
playing for what was on the front of the jersey.
They were playing for what's on the back. And I
understand that, I do. I get it, But when you're
on a travel team, is winning the most important or
getting seen and playing better individually? And so I always
struggle with that, and I'm wondering, as a coach who's

(07:50):
done both and does both, your thought on how you
coach high school compared to travel ball.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
And that was one of the biggest challenges in the beginning,
is how do I they have expectations of a couple
of these girls that are sitting here today in the
summer being one thing, and then expect them to just
be okay during you know, high school season. And I
look back at this is when I even before I
started coaching high school and a couple of these girls
might have been lucky enough to play. One of my

(08:18):
softball mentors is weirdly saying, is with a girl who
helped me coach Kaylaknwent, who you know, career best player
at the Wisconsin Badgers, you know, could have probably played
any country in the school and decided to stay at home.
And before the girls were getting ready before their high
school season, you know, she kind of said doing what
to do and what to prepare and she says, you know,
high school was one of the most challenging times of
my softball career. And kind of looked at her, like,

(08:39):
you won two state titles.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think one year she had seventeen home runs and
forty five intentional walks, you know, like, how was that
challenging to you? She's like, every practice that I went
to during the summer, I had ten, eleven, twelve other
players who challenged me every day. And when I got
to high school, I was lucky enough to find a
girl who could play catch with, you know, and so
in their case. Here they have other good teams, but

(09:02):
a lot of times in high school there's maybe one
or two really really good players and a bunch of
them are just not at that level or looking to
play at the next level. So it's like, how do
you challenge yourself every day? We talked about it yesterday
and games that were we knew were going to be,
you know, a little bit lopsided, but it's like, how
every pitch, how every play are you getting better? What
are you doing? You know, are you taking a better

(09:22):
lead off? Are you doing those things? So, you know,
managing those expectations.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
That's challenging because that was challenging for me as a
basketball coach. I was lucky enough throughout the years and
I did it for thirty five years, but I had
won six stay championships, three in the WIA and three
in the Christian schools. And there were teams that I
had that you knew going into a game that you're
going to win by thirty and you're going to get

(09:46):
a running clock. How do you get better? And my
mentor and a guy coached with for a long time,
Paul Wallersheim over at Greendale Martin luther I had this
conversation with him, and he said, look, us doing these
kind of drills every day are not games like this,
They're for games down the stretch, and so if we
get these guys, we would do no walk trow And

(10:06):
our kids are like, this is ridiculous. Why why are
we doing this? And it's for playoff time when we're
taking a team that has more quickness than some other
teams in the state and we're going up north and
we're gonna have refs that have never seen the kind
of quickness we bring. We can't we can't get a
walk call because they didn't know because it wasn't a walk,

(10:28):
but were too quick. We got to put the ball down.
So we would do those drills every day for that
one moment. And I'm sure that that's what you guys
do too, right.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
You know, just in the paper the other day it
was you know, coach Showalter is retiring, And coach was
at Germantown for a long time and people always watched
us play basketball back in the day when he had
Zach and Luke and all those kids, and every game
was a blowout, and everybody's like, oh, that'd be really
easy to coach I'm like, he has probably the most
challenging job. How do you prepare a team for later
in the season to be ready in the fourth quarter

(10:58):
to handle those types that you if you watched it,
he played that game all the way right up to
the fourth quarter and then would let off the gas
a little bit and bring in the kids. And yesterday,
you know, it kind of seems weird in a game
again that I know we're winning, we're starting the starters,
and but it's just to be you know, how we
warm up, how we prepare for the games, and those
types of things. We can make adjustments in the game,

(11:18):
but it's sometimes the hardest thing to coach in some
of those games because a lot of coaches will just say, Okay,
we're going to win no matter what, so let's just
do it. We're focused on what are the little things
we're getting better at.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
You know.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Who threw the no hitter yesterday?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Elena? Yeah, I don't know if she had a no
hitter or not. Elena was. She's a junior pitcher for US.
Her older sisters come through the pro Both sisters have
come through the program. One played in college, one didn't.
And she's a nice pitcher, and I asked her to
go out there and execute, just throwing fastballs to the locations
and we'll defend it behind you. And you know, she
I think through fifty four pitches in the game, and

(11:54):
you know that's where we're at. You know where you
brought up sit a little bit.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Sid is the.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Thirteen fourteen to fifteen, sixteen seventeen strikeout kid who's as
good as anybody in the state of Wisconsin, is as
good as anybody in the twenty twenty five class, and
throws a lot of pitches.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Yeah, Well, when she's coming in at ten twenty and
I told her that if she wanted to bring a
bag of balls, and after she gets out with the interview,
you can go outside and she'd better bring a lot
because I'm going to take her deep and well I'm
gonna lose a bunch of them. And she's like, okay,
oh man, yeah, And I'm completely lying. I couldn't hit
her stuff. I'm sure that do you get in the

(12:29):
batter's box once in a while, you're still taking swings.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
No, the pitching is I respected so much the time
and effort that those girls put in, and it's you
know if you said, as somebody, you watched the major
leaguers hoping against some of these girls, and I want
it bat looks a little goofy, But you know, if
they were in there five six times, I think they'd
be okay. But the speed did your daughter coming high
and inside? Then the first one? Did you get in
the batter's box?

Speaker 1 (12:52):
That one?

Speaker 2 (12:52):
I mean, I kind of do. I just I envisioned
myself just putting it on a tee right down.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
The middle and she taking it deep. I got in
the batter's box with the girl from Fort Atkinson years ago,
and I hit one ground ball of the second basement.
She got mad at me. I said, what are you
mad at? She said, I don't want you touching my stuff.
And I said, I'll go lefty against you, and I
bunted one of the third basemen, who burst out laughing
and said I would have thrown you out by a mile.

(13:17):
And I thought, man, these girls were so kind to
me until I got in the batter's box. And you
want to talk at the competitive level of this pitcher
who I thought she was going to just lay a
couple in nice for me to hit. No chance, absolutely
no chance. Hey, this conference, the Greater Metro Conference coach
really good softball conference. And look, you know all these coaches,

(13:38):
you know, a bunch of the players who in the conference,
Brooks Central, brook East Sussex, Hamilton, me Nominee Falls. There
is some really good softball in that conference. Right now.
You guys are at you know, at the top of
the conference. Who are the teams that you think, Okay,
we got to make sure you bring your a game
for Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
You know last year Hamilton and US, you know, battled
for a conference championship game right down to the end
of the year. We were lucky enough to win it.
This year, I kind of foresee the same thing. Hamilton's
even a more improved team this year. Kaylee has a
plethora of talent and a plethora of freshman incoming talent.
So we'll go to battle with them a couple of

(14:18):
times this year. Brookfield Central is definitely an improved team.
You know, a kid who's worked really hard over the
last bunch of years, Lexi Iiicorn's become a nice pitcher.
And I know they lost a game to Hale the
other night, which was like a battle all the way
into the eighth inning, but a good core of you know,
older kids mixed with some younger kids and a lot
of pitching and Hale Is you know, once they went

(14:38):
to the combined West Allis School thing kind of has
really you know, they have a really nice player, Grace Dooley,
and a couple other hitters. They'll they'll be up there
towards the top and then falls is just adjusting to
the fact of not having Kaylee Nemick on the mound,
which has been for four years of you know, I
think last year all but fourteen innings in games, you know,
which is is hard on a kid to throw that

(14:59):
many pitches and stuff. But she was a warrior and
out there pitch and even when she was hurt and
just you know, made them a better team this year.
I think they're gonna adjust to it and they'll be
better by the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
He is Jason Otto, the head girls softball coach at Germantown.
Which one of the four that are going to join
us after the break? Are you most worried about talking
smack about you?

Speaker 2 (15:21):
I think that would put that as an equal level
all the.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Way they're all laughing at what I normally would do
is separate we have four players and Julia couldn't make
it today, but we have four seniors from the Germantown team.
I'm going to bring them all on Mike's and we're
gonna I'm just gonna go and ask them questions, but
we're gonna keep you in studio and talk about you
behind your back, right in front of you. But Kayla

(15:46):
and Madison, Kylie and Emmy are going to join us.
As we talked Germantown Girls Softball. Jason, I appreciate you
doing this. What travel team do you coach for.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
I coach for a team called the Beverly Band.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's been with them.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
This would be my I roughly second year, but I
mean we have definitely been. That program itself is we
have a lot of kids from Wisconsin because I've brought them,
but it's definitely we also have kids from seven different states.
I have a kid from Georgia and Ohio and Indiana and Michigan,
but blending them and both Emmy and Madison both play

(16:19):
within that program. And Kayla and Kylie play for a
local program Velocity that plays at a national level, which
I had coached for previously and to that point.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
So in Sydney, who we're going to talk to a
ten twenty place for the Indiana Magic and I'm going
to ask her about that, how that happened and how
she gets to practice stuff like that. It's amazing to
me that kids are playing for teams outside of the state,
and we'll find out a little bit more about that.
On the other side of the break, we'll be joined
by four seniors from this Germantown girls softball team, and

(16:51):
I can tell you that I had the opportunity to
talk to Jason Ido, their head coach. He is so
proud of these girls. He's really proud of of the
leadership that they've brought to this program and where the
program is going to be after they graduate. Number of
these players are going to be playing softball at the
next level, and we'll talk to them on the other
side of the break. This is the Varsity Blitz High

(17:13):
School Sports as always presented by your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores on Fox Sports ninet twenty
in your iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz
High School Sports show, presented by your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores. Coming live from the Donovan
and Jorgensen Heating and COOLID Studios. Any issues you have

(17:34):
with your HVAC system, you need to turn that air
condition around soon. Go to Donovan Jorgensen dot com. They
can come out and do a be part of the
maintenance program. They will identify any small issues before they
become major problems. Donovan Jorgenson dot com. So I love this.
I've got four Germantown girls, the seniors and captains of

(17:57):
the Germantown softball team, and I said, hey, guys, who's
the most and they all pointed. In fact, Emmy pointed
to herself. Okay, Emmy, how are you?

Speaker 5 (18:06):
I'm great?

Speaker 1 (18:06):
How are you multi sport athlete? Gymnastics and softball. I'm
not sure I've had anybody in studio over the years
with that combination. What sports do you like more?

Speaker 6 (18:18):
Well?

Speaker 3 (18:18):
I mean, I guess I would say softball for sure, only.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Because your coach is sitting there staring at you. You'll
make your run stairs or something. To talk to me
about gymnastics real quick. How long you've you been involved
in that sport?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
So I did competitive gymnastics for about twelve years of
my life at Lafleur's which is located in Germantown and
I was a five time all around state champion. So
not to toot my own horn, but my gosh, I
was pretty good. And as hard as it may sound,
picking between a sport was a very difficult decision for me,
but I always knew that I wanted to do softball,
so I decided to do gymnastics at a lesser level

(18:54):
in high school, which has been great for me.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
How did you do in gymnastics at the high school level?

Speaker 5 (18:59):
It was great.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
I mean I only did it for two years.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
See was it more fun?

Speaker 5 (19:04):
Honestly?

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, It's a much different demographic than club, I would say,
so what I liked the most about it was just
the whole atmosphere. It's way more fun, less of a
competitive level for most girls. I made it to state
both years that I did it. I did not win,
but it was still very, very very fun.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Good for you. I had I do another show called
Faith in the Zone, and I talked to men and
women that have evolved in sports and will come on
a secular station and talk about their faith and how
it's affected their lives and share their testimony. And we
had a girl from Auburn and her whole goal was
to make the Olympic team, in which she found out

(19:41):
that she wasn't going to do it, and there was
some stuff going on. She went into a dark place
and took the full ride to Auburn and turned down Oklahoma,
which was a big deal. And she's now a senior
at Auburn and she's phenomenal. But it was interesting because
part of her testimony was how hard it was growing
up in that world and how difficult. I mean, all

(20:04):
she did was go She went to practice in the morning,
went to school, did her homework, went back to practice,
and it was six days a week. And that's a
really difficult sport if you're going to commit to that.
Very Yeah, what position do you play in the Germantown
softball team.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
At Germantown Softball, I am in the outfield?

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, center fields, left, center, right, your center, So you
go get it. You own the outfield, right, that's your outfield.
I love that. Four games in, you're having a good.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Years of right now.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yes, yeah, not bad. No, Hey, let's move on. Let's
let's talk to Cayleb Priesce Price. Caleb Price, you told
me that three times. I'm terrible. Last names. What position
do you play?

Speaker 5 (20:45):
I play shortstop.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, you can pick it and throw a little bit.

Speaker 7 (20:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Have you always been an infielder?

Speaker 5 (20:51):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (20:51):
No outfield No, you have no interest going out there?

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Right?

Speaker 1 (20:56):
That's awesome. How have you been playing this year? Having
a good year?

Speaker 7 (20:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (20:59):
I think it's I'm going well so far.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
What's going Do you know what's going on with you
next year?

Speaker 7 (21:03):
Yet? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I'm going to Butler, you are going to be a bulldog.

Speaker 7 (21:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (21:06):
You going to play softball there?

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (21:08):
You a MULTII sport or softball only.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
I used to play basketball like way back when, but.

Speaker 6 (21:12):
I don't anymore.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Don't be ripping basketball? Don't you shook your head like? Why? Butler?
If I can ask?

Speaker 7 (21:21):
The atmosphere of the campus was the main seller for
me and the coach itself. It was just a very
good atmosphere. And I also wasn't just looking like solely
on softball. I was looking at academics. How it felt,
how comfortable I was, and everything just felt right.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
We're going to get back to you here in a
little bit as our pick and safe student athe of
the week. Congratulations on that for sure, Madison. How are you?

Speaker 5 (21:45):
I'm great?

Speaker 1 (21:46):
What physition.

Speaker 8 (21:47):
Do you play well, I'm kind of all over the place,
some kind of utility.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
So I've got you down as a catcher in the
third basement.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Yes, yes, I would say, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
The first four games were.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
If you played, I have played first, stand third, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
What do you like better?

Speaker 5 (22:02):
I don't know. I'm kind of for college.

Speaker 8 (22:04):
I was thinking third and maybe outfield even, but for
first I've been playing first because that's where the team
needs me right now.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
So man third base. I did. Look softball, I was
a second base That's what I played, and look, I
underhand softball. Then the old man's league. I get that.
But when I was married, I was on When I
first got married, I was on seven teams, and so
five play every night of the week. And we went
on our honeymoon and we were in Clearwater, Florida, and
my cousin lived in Tampa, and he was like, what

(22:32):
are you doing tonight? I said nothing. He goes, we
get a doubleheader. You want to come and play? And
so I played twice on my honeymoon, and I like
second base. I got moved over to third. I was
wore the ball comes way too quick at third base.
You're okay, with that.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
Huh, Yeah, I like I like the energy over there.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Hey, did you know coming in Madison that this team
had a chance to do something special? And look, it's
early in the season, right, but you've got had a
really good core of players, not only seniors, with some underclassmen.
As I talked to your head coach in the first segment,
any surprise that you guys started the year four?

Speaker 5 (23:10):
No, No, not at all.

Speaker 8 (23:11):
I think our team is very good, and I think
we have a lot of good energy, and I think
we'll keep doing great.

Speaker 5 (23:17):
Yeah you like this team, yes, very much, so I waited.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Till the last one. But Kylie Otto, who is the
head coach's daughter, pitcher, first baseman. Where else do you play?

Speaker 9 (23:28):
That's it?

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Where do you like better?

Speaker 6 (23:30):
Pitcher?

Speaker 1 (23:31):
You like getting up on the mount? Yeah? Have you
pitched for a long time?

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (23:35):
I pitched since I was eight.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Really, what's going on with you next year?

Speaker 9 (23:39):
I'm going to Brian and Stran.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Good for you. I am big fans of the people
over there and in their campus, and I really like
it a lot. Any surprises for you as far as
how this team is and where you think it's.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Going to be.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
No surprises, how do you like playing for your dad?

Speaker 9 (23:55):
I actually love it. A lot of people like I mean,
a lot of people say he yells, but I strive
under his pressure.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
So I love the fact that you were one hundred
percent honestly be the coach. They already think you're a jerk.
You might still be our jerk, right. And when I
talked to him, I can tell you this that we
talked for a long time and he's really proud of
this senior class. And we talked about coaching his daughter
and he said, look, I didn't know if it should work,

(24:22):
and I went to her and we had a very
honest conversation about it. But he's really proud of you
and this team and how he feels his team's got
a chance. When he said that first segment, Look, with
a group we have, I feel like, whoever we play
in the state of Wisconsin, we got a chance to
beat because we were really good. Yeah, and we got
kids that have a chance to play really well, not

(24:44):
only at this level, but the next level. Hey, what
do you like playing better travel softball or school?

Speaker 9 (24:52):
If I'd be honest, I'd say school because I like
playing for my dad.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, that's awesome. And the kids that you're in class
with and the kids that are playing, and hopefully kids
from Germantown come out and support this team. And if
they haven't started, let's get them started, let's get them going.
And I know that. Look, Germantown loves their sports, they do,
and they love teams that win. Yeah, and you keep

(25:16):
winning and they're going to come out for sure. I
love that. Why Brighton Stratton by.

Speaker 9 (25:21):
The way, Well, so I choose I chose Juco because
I just got back into playing like more competitive softball.
I wasn't quite ready to like go to college. Yeah,
you know, so, I don't know. I to Brian and Strtan.
I really liked it. I really like the coaches and
just felt right.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, close to home.

Speaker 9 (25:37):
Yeah, close to home.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Do you know what you're going to go into? School wise?

Speaker 9 (25:41):
I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I'm thinking something
with business.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, and you know what, you can change your mind
fifteen times before you go Madison? What about you? Where
are you going?

Speaker 5 (25:50):
I'm going to Wisconsin? Madison?

Speaker 1 (25:52):
You are so at ten twenty? Sydney's coming in? You
know her?

Speaker 5 (25:55):
Yes? I love her?

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah? Have you ever gotten the battersbox against her.

Speaker 5 (25:59):
Yes, I have actually during high school actually last year?

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, how did that go for you?

Speaker 5 (26:04):
I got out?

Speaker 1 (26:05):
But did you bunt?

Speaker 5 (26:07):
Yes? I bunted it and it got caught.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
So you popped it up. You got to get it
on the ground. Yes, have you given it? Has it?
Has it dawned on you and your parents yet that
this is.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Your year of last Yes, it has a lot emotional
time for you.

Speaker 8 (26:23):
Yes, especially because last year I tore my a cl
So no, I'm coming back from that this year and
this high school year is my first year coming back
and playing again.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
So how did you tear it?

Speaker 5 (26:36):
I funny story?

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Actually you know what? The head coach stand his head like.
I don't know if you want to ask.

Speaker 8 (26:43):
It was it was our third game game in last
year for high school and I hit a dinger over
the fence home run, and I jogged around the bases
and stepped on home plate and tore it.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Man, I'm sorry that did you jump on the plate?

Speaker 8 (26:59):
It was like a rational hype and everything and just
stomp and went down.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
I could not believe you, Torri or acl have you
have you hit a home run since? And and when
you've done it? Now you just cross home plate nice
and easy every time.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
I'm careful.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
How hard was the the rehab? And you must have
Look that's a depressing thing now, right, you show up
at practices, you go to games, what are you coaching
third base? Or what are you doing?

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Then?

Speaker 8 (27:27):
The whole year, I was really like supportive of the team.
I still went to everything that I could. I have
had pt like all the time. I've gone twice a week.
It's been really challenging and mentally it's been hard to
but I'm really excited to get back and everything now.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, gotta be gotta be hey, our our pick and
save student athle the week before we get to a
break three point What is your great point everage nine
for three point nine four? Who didn't give you a name?
Let's out that teacher. There's guys that that's one time, right, No,
we're not outing anybody. You guys like, don't do it.

(28:01):
Your motivation for being such a good student athlete, Kayla,
Where does that come from?

Speaker 7 (28:08):
Just my level of organization and balance. I'm very organized
and I like to stay on top of things. I
don't like to have any late work or have any
bad grades. If I have a bad grade on a
tester quiz I do anything to get extra credit or
like do quiz correction so I can get the grade better.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
And good for you? How much very easy during the
recruitment process when the coach from Butler says, hey, tell
me about your grades or they get the transcripts, how
much easier it is for them to be able to go, oh, yeah,
let's make an offer here. Was that a big part
of the recruitment process? And if it wasn't Butler, what

(28:47):
was the second choice?

Speaker 5 (28:49):
I would say the second choice was Buffalo?

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Okay, did you go on campus there? I did, yes,
And Butler felt more like home for you.

Speaker 7 (28:57):
Yes, Also because Butler was very small, Buffalo was very big.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
And wanted something a little smaller.

Speaker 5 (29:03):
Yeah, a little overwhelming?

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Well, the fact that your first name is Madison. If
we can move the microphone. When they made the offer,
was it an easy decision for you?

Speaker 5 (29:14):
I mean, yeah, I had Madison.

Speaker 8 (29:17):
Wisconsin and Northwestern were my two top ones that I
both had offers for. And I've also had coaches that
have played for Wisconsin before, so Wisconsin just seemed like
the one for me and I went there.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Did you like the recruiting process it was no, not really,
but they're all shaking their head here.

Speaker 5 (29:38):
It was.

Speaker 8 (29:38):
It was a challenge. It was really an adventure for everyone.
And I now I look back at it and I
enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
So yeah, it's interesting because when you're growing up, you
want to be in that that that circle, right, you
want to be recruited, and there are so many seniors
that sit where you guys are sitting and go. You know,
at the beginning, it was very but boy got it
was a hassle at the end, and once I made
the decision, it was good, Emmy, what's going on with you?

(30:06):
Next year?

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I would be going to DePaul University.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Going down in Chicago. Why to Paul.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
One thing that I think really made my recruiting process
difficult was the fact that I felt not looked at
in a way, but to Paul, I felt not only
that the campus was great, but the coaches believed in
me and they saw what kind of potential I had,
which made my decision very easy.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, I did. And the campus to be in Chicago beautiful.
I worked in Chicago for years too fast for me,
it was too fast. I've got a niece who would
never move out of Chicago. She moved down there and
she's like, this is where I have belong. She grew
up in Cedarburgh and said Cedarburgh was too small, it
was too slow. Chicago was too fast for me. Good man,

(30:49):
that's awesome. Did you have any idea what you want
to go into.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yes, so I'm probably gonna do biochemistry on a pre
med track. So I'll be very stacked.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
And you're not a pick and save student now that
you got your close though you were. Really it was
one little sick and I look, I got to make
the decision. I took that out of Jason Otto's hands
because all four of you, I can tell you this,
all four of you could have been my pick and
Save student athlete week. Everybody's a three to five and above,
and I love that. We're gonna get to a break

(31:20):
on other side of the break. Look, Germantown Softball is
in really good hands Coach Otto. He knows more about
softball and the people that are playing in the state
of Wisconsin that I know about anything in my life.
I can tell you that. And he's got this program
in a really good place. We're gonna ask these four
seniors a couple of questions their favorite memory of being

(31:42):
part of the program so far. And then I always
like to hear and I don't need to ask Kylie
who she can hear during the game, Mom or dad, grandfather?
Who's the loudest And I know that it's her dad,
but other than Jason. And then we'll make fun of
Jason a little bit behind his back. He makes you,
guys do some drills I would think during that you

(32:02):
never want to do again when you're done. And we'll
find out what kind of stuff he does. This is
the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your
local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only on
Fox Sports ninety twenty and your iHeart Radio app. Welcome
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.

(32:23):
Coming live from the Donovan and Jorgans and Heating and
Coolian Studios. We're talking Germantown girls softball right now ten o'clock. Jay,
the Germantown boys baseball coach going to join us, just
got his five hundredth win. But that's a lot a
lot of wins. And we're gonna talk to Jay at
ten to twenty Sydney from Wisconsin Lutheran and the Wisconsin

(32:43):
Badger commit is going to be joining us. So our
four senior captains. Julia could not make it today, there
are five, and I wish she could be here. I certainly.
I know that Coach Otto said nothing but good things
about her and this entire team. There's some challenges, he said, Look,
we got a chance to be pretty good. We've got

(33:04):
some work to do to get there. And I think
that this team is a team if you're going to
be looking late in the season and they're going to
be a team that's going to make Germantown, the school
and that community really really proud. In studio with us
is Caylea Madison, Kylie and Emmy and Emmy. I'm going
to start with you because I started with you last time.

(33:25):
Who who could he hear more at your games? Mom? Dad, grandparents, brothers, sisters.
Who's the loudest part of your family?

Speaker 3 (33:33):
The loudest part of my family is definitely my dad.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
No doubt. He's been kind of giggling. What's your dad's name.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
My dad's name is Bo, Hey Bo, keep.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Going, man, I love it. You hear him talking.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
All the time.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, all positive stuff or does he get after the
ump every once in a while.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
I mean a mix of both. He's always trying to
make me be my best, so everything he does is
not a good spirit.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Look, I didn't ask I could ask all you guys this,
but your motivat issue for being such a good student athlete?
Where did that come from?

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Motivation was definitely the fact that both my parents have
been involved in the medical field at some point, and
I knew that something I wanted to do for a while.
So I've been involved in a lot of accelerated courses
and it's always been kind of just a thing for
me to push towards.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Your favorite memory of being part of Germantown saw you
got a lot of it softwall to be played, Yes,
but so far being part of this program, what would
it be?

Speaker 3 (34:27):
As selfish as it may sound, yesterday I hit my
first over the fence home run ever, and.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
You didn't tear your ACL. Now everybody's learned a very
valuable lesson from Madison.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
I think why it was so important to me is
I think there's a stigma for Division I athletes where
you have to be the biggest and the strongest to
play at that kind of level, and for me this
was my first one ever, and I think it was
just a great step as for the entire team that
supported me in my whole process.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Did you know after as soe as you hit it
it had a chance to get out?

Speaker 3 (34:57):
I think so you did. Money starts you.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
I can your red Were you a full on sprint
full sprint? Got a girl?

Speaker 10 (35:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (35:03):
As funny as it my sound. My dad said right before,
I'll buy you a new car if you hit it
over the fence.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah. Mike Juno Brookfield Bwick GMC sponsored this show and
Brian Juno, whose son is a freshman baseball player at
oh Creek, will take good care of you. Both. Get
over to see Mike Juno at Brookfield Newick GMC. Well done.
That's called a really nice segue in radio business. That's
a really good memory. Good for you and and and

(35:31):
you know what, it won't be your last this year, right?

Speaker 3 (35:33):
No?

Speaker 1 (35:34):
Was it a fastball? You have no idea.

Speaker 5 (35:38):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Whatever it was, you hit it out of the park. Yes,
Did you once you knew it went out? Did you
continue to sprint or did you slow down and jog
a little bit?

Speaker 3 (35:46):
I think I still sprinted just because I was so excited,
you know, after all these years.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
So good for you, Kayla, How are you good to
see you come closer? We even talked to you for
a minute. Who's louder for you and your family? Who
can you hear?

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Definitely my Really?

Speaker 1 (36:00):
What's your mom's name?

Speaker 5 (36:01):
Shannon?

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Shannon? I'm going to get a chance to meet Shannon,
hopefully at our local Pick and Safe store in Germantown
as we give you our Pick and Safe Student Athlete
the Week award. Your favorite memory being part of the
softball program at Germantown.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
Would be what I would say last year when we
beat Hamilton when our head coach was not present, so
it was a very emotional game. So we all had
to lock in and just be serious with the coaches
that we did have there. Because also we knew that
Hamilton is our rivals and we always have a good
competitive game against them, so we just had to do it.

Speaker 5 (36:37):
Do it for Jason where.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Anyway, we'll talk to you. I'll ask him if nobody
wants to hold on his daughter will tell me right?
Maybe she will. That's awesome, that's a really good that's
a good memory to beat a team like that. If
you look at your schedule and the Greater Metro Conference,
what team is it, Sussex Hamilton. That's the big arrival

(37:00):
for you.

Speaker 5 (37:01):
Yes, Sussex Hamilton.

Speaker 7 (37:02):
And then last year was the Falls, but then we
beat them, and now this year we're not really worried
about him anymore.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
No, No, we're still worried about him. We're not putting
anything up on bulletin board material. We're worried about every
team in that conference. Coach Onno's like, oh, he's gonna
make you run for that one. I just want you
to know that, Madison, your favorite memory being part of
this program would.

Speaker 5 (37:23):
Be what mine would probably be recently.

Speaker 8 (37:25):
Actually, my first game, in first time playing a game back,
I hit my first home run the season.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
That's awesome. Have you always been a power hitter?

Speaker 5 (37:34):
Yes, yeah, well yes you have that.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
And as you're rounding third base, I'm sure in your
mind it was take it easy on.

Speaker 5 (37:44):
The Yes, definitely. Everyone was screaming like, take it easy,
take it easy.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
And who do you hear at the game's mom or dad.

Speaker 8 (37:51):
Both My parents are kind of like quiet, quieter, They
kind of let me do my own thing. But I
would say, probably my dad.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Did they come to every game?

Speaker 5 (37:59):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Man, that's awesome. Did did they understand the year of last?
Do you have brothers sisters? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (38:04):
I have twin brothers. You do, younger?

Speaker 1 (38:06):
So are they athletes? What do they play?

Speaker 8 (38:09):
My brothers play football and baseball. They're in seventh grade.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
But this year of last with you is look at
it becomes your emotional Do you remember Madison? You guys
have senior day? Right and freshmen? Have you played varsity
for a long time?

Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yes? All four years?

Speaker 1 (38:25):
So as a freshman you remember senior day? You thought
I got a long time?

Speaker 5 (38:29):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (38:29):
It comes quick, right, it is?

Speaker 5 (38:31):
It goes really fast.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Are you excited about the next chapter in your life?
You're still taking care of your your grades and all that.
I understand that. But as the weather gets a little
bit nicer, you get a little bit like, okay, ready
to get up to mates.

Speaker 8 (38:45):
Getting back into this awful and everything makes me really
excited to move on and everything.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
But I'll still miss all my friends.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, and no doubt it's going to be hard. Hey,
let's uh your your last missus otto as the head
coach's daughter. Look, you've been around the program, You've been
around softball a long time, right, your favorite memory be
so far being part of this Germantown softball team, What
would it be?

Speaker 9 (39:11):
I would say it was last year when we beat
the Fall seven to one. I mean, they've been our
big rival for a really long time. It was seven
to one, right, I know, we beat them, and it
was they've been our big rival, and I don't I
think the energy was just up that game. We're all
really excited. And I think also winning conference last year
was just awesome.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
That's a big step, right, a huge step. Do you want?
You want to be in the mind every game, don't you?

Speaker 6 (39:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah, yeah, like you don't want. You know, the last
game they did, he had a junior come out and pitch,
and I'm sure you weren't all that happy with that.

Speaker 9 (39:42):
It's tough watching when I'm not pitching.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (39:44):
I just love the adrenaline, the adrenaline in the mound.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Like you knowess, hey, your big rival for you personally, Like, look,
let's not put anything up on anybody's locker room wall,
but but who for you personally? Do you go? Look, man,
we're beating them this year.

Speaker 9 (40:03):
I would say Sussex. They just they have a lot
of good hitters. So I know, like when I'm on
the mountain, I'm gonna have to hit all my spots, like,
can't make a mistake.

Speaker 5 (40:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
And you have to pitch against kids you probably play
on the Yeah, all my friends. Yeah, difficult for you?
Or or did you look? Is it give you a
little bit extra motivation because you want to strike them
out or at least have them hit a ground ball
to third and have Madison throw me.

Speaker 9 (40:29):
I think it gives me a little bit more motivation.
I mean this past week when we played Falls, my
best friend Alex siliers on the team. I know she's
a big power hitter, so I knew I couldn't make
any mistakes. I had to hit my spots and I
made her ground out. I let her get a hit,
but you know, let her get hit your second at best,
she got a hit, but she grounded out the first.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Talking down the first baseline or anything.

Speaker 5 (40:48):
I got a.

Speaker 9 (40:48):
Little bit of some text after the game.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
I love that. That that's really good. Hey, when when
you guys have all four of you been at varsity
for four years.

Speaker 9 (41:00):
I've been on it for three years.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
But okay, yeah, but Kayla and Madison, I have yes.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Do you remember your first game as a freshman?

Speaker 5 (41:08):
I do so.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
It was you're you're going from from eighth grade and
playing travel ball against kids in their eighth grade. Now
you're you're fourteen going at seventeen eighty eighteen year olds.
What a big jump? And did it take it a
while to slow down a little bit for you?

Speaker 3 (41:27):
I do believe it was a big jump going from
the club aspect to the high school aspect. Played at
that level before, so I think, especially coming in as
a freshman on varsity, for just the three of us,
it was definitely a lot of pressure and it was
new to all of us, I would say, so, I
believe it was fun.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, well, hey, what do you hit in the lineup?

Speaker 5 (41:47):
By the way, I hit first.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
I'm a slapper except the home run run.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, you get the first base, and you feel like
you get the third? Are you a first the third kid?
Like if somebody hits a hit to line shot to
center field, are you looking for thirty?

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Yes, I throw you off by.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I have to three hop it and that's where my
arm is at. And so the idea of Madison if
you can. No, that's the idea of playing varsity as
a freshman. Where you surprised you made varsity as a
freshman or was that Did you know coming in you
had a chance to play coming in?

Speaker 8 (42:22):
Yeah, we all, all three of us had a pretty
good idea that we were going to make it and
we were all excited.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
How were the seniors for you at that point? And
I'm look, I just here's what I hope And we
don't have to get dived deep into that because we
don't have the time. But I hope that you guys,
as the captains, understand that these freshman sophomores their first
year on varsity, they're looking at you guys to learn
how to be good leaders. And I hope that that

(42:50):
you guys know that role and understand the importance. You know,
when I said who's the biggest talker you all, you know,
you all pointed to one and she can be the
verbal part of it. But then everybody's got to be
leaders in their own way. And do you accept that role? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (43:06):
I do.

Speaker 8 (43:07):
I feel like Emmy's definitely the talker, like energy, and
he's kind of the organized organizer girl with everything.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
And did you feel any extra pressure being a leader
because your dad's the head coach.

Speaker 9 (43:18):
Do you think No, I've always been the type to
take on the leadership role. I like to take all
the underclassmen under my wing and show them what it's
all about.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Do you think he'll coach one day?

Speaker 9 (43:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (43:27):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Your dad thinks that too.

Speaker 6 (43:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (43:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
Can I tell you this, he's so proud of you.
He is, so we talked for a long time. And
I love it when when a father talks more about
the kid as a kid than as a softball player.
And he might not tell you this, but I got
sick and tired of hearing what a great kid you
are and what a great softball player you are, and
how you're going to probably coach one day and all

(43:52):
of that, and I love that. What part of Germantown
do you think you'll high school do you think you'll
miss the most?

Speaker 9 (44:00):
I think everything.

Speaker 8 (44:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (44:01):
I just love the atmosphere of Germantown. Like all my
friends and a lot of my family lives in Germantown.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
I don't know they're gonna They've gotten you fully prepared.

Speaker 9 (44:09):
For that next Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Madison, same question, you think Germantown has gotten you fully
prepared academically, Miss Soley, who we talked about, great teacher
over there her last year, by the way, Yeah, has
gotten you fully prepared for that next level.

Speaker 5 (44:23):
Yeah, I think so. I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
Where are you living up in Madison yet? Do you
know where?

Speaker 5 (44:29):
I know the dorm.

Speaker 8 (44:30):
I don't know the name of the dorm, but I
know I've been there, I've visited there, I've slept even
there for a night. I'm kind of I'm so, I
know where I'm going and I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Man, that's awesome. Good good for you. Hey, if if
we can our Pick and Save student at the week,
Kayla and and you and I will meet up and
hopefully it'll be after a practice where your teammates can
join us. Your your mom and dad get a chance
to meet Channing come over and and and again. Congratulations
on that and Pick and Save and and our metro

(44:58):
market source so proud to highlight, promote and celebrate true
student athletes, and all four of you girls could have
done that. I'm going to ask you guys a favor
before I cut you loose. Don't let anybody mess this
year up right this time You're look, especially seniors, the
weather gets warm, there are parties, people are going to

(45:19):
all of that stuff. Don't mess with that. Now, get this,
you know what, be done with this season and then
do what you guys want to do. But don't don't
have anybody screw up this. What could be a really
special year and the legacy that you four and Julie
are leaving at Germantown, the softball program are really high.
Let's let's get the deal done. Get it done, and

(45:40):
then go about doing what you guys do, but don't
as leaders, don't let any of these kids mess this
thing up. All right, Hey, coach, you did good. You
did good. This is a good group and you're right. Well. Hey,
by the way, what's the drill that he makes you
guys do that you never want to do once you
get done?

Speaker 5 (45:57):
Madison, Okay, well this isn't now.

Speaker 8 (45:59):
But when we were younger, we we were on rebels
together and we had to run to like the soccer goal,
and we had to run all the way up the
hill to the soccer goal and all the way back, and.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
We did I swear we did it like ten times.

Speaker 9 (46:14):
So let's not forget when we would win a game
and he would the field we played on had a hill,
he would make us run the hill even if we won.
Sometimes because we didn't play as good as he thought,
we couldn't get better.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
We would get excited if he like if he said okay, guys,
no running, we would all go. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (46:32):
We celebrated.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Man, they're not gonna miss you so much now they're
gonna miss you a lot. Guys. Congratulations on on on
a good start of the year. Get the deal done,
finish it out, Make sure that that you get in
contact with me for our Pick and Save Student Athlete
of the Week, and Caleb will we'll figure out an
evening next week that works for you. Congratulations on that, Coach, Ota,

(46:55):
well done. You're kind of my go to guy. Now.
I'm telling you we talked for a long time. I've
never talked to anybody that knows more about softball than
the state of Wisconsin than Jason out of the head
coach at Germantown. Guys, we're going to get to a
break when you stay with Germantown. On the other side
of the break, the head boys baseball coach just got
his five hundredth win, and we'll talk to Jay on

(47:17):
the other side of the break. This is the Varsity
Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your local Pick
and Save and Metro Market stores on Fox Sports nine
twenty in your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the
Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your local
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores on Fox Sports
nine twenty in your iHeartRadio app. We're coming live from

(47:39):
the Donovan and Jorgenson Heating and Cooling studios. Any issues
you have with your HVAC system go to Donovan Jorgensen
dot com. They will take really good care of you.
We're trying to get a hold of Jay, the head
baseball coach at Germantown, know that he is got the
team heading down to Kenosha for a team against a

(48:00):
game against Kenosha Saint Joe's, but want to congratulate him
on his five hundredth win. That's an amazing accomplishment and
twenty five years he's been coaching, and the fifth active
coach twenty third in state history to reach five hundred
career wins. I've known Jay a long time to head

(48:20):
coach at Whitefish Bay prior to that, and the number
of other places Walksha South in Greendale and Walkee Madison.
But to get the five hundred wins is a great accomplishment.
We are now joined by the head baseball coach at Germantown. Hey, Jay,
how you been good?

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Mike?

Speaker 10 (48:37):
How are you?

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Man?

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Congratulations? I didn't know you were that close to five hundred. Man,
that's a lot. What a great accomplishment for you.

Speaker 10 (48:45):
Thanks.

Speaker 11 (48:46):
I appreciate it. You know, it just kind of just
means I'm getting old. I guess No, I've been doing
it for a long time.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Well, it does mean you've been doing it for a while,
but there are other guys that have been doing it
for as long as you have and coach. To get
to five hundred, to be put into Wisconsin Baseball Coaches
Association Hall of Fame, I think is a great accomplishment.
But to get to five hundred, I look, there's only
three career three guys that are still coaching that have

(49:16):
done it, and twenty five I think throughout the history
of high school baseball in the state, or the twenty
third to do it. I just think it's a really
big accomplishment. And I've known you for a long time
and it doesn't surprise me at all and still going strong.
You still get excited to get out to the ballpark

(49:36):
every day.

Speaker 11 (49:38):
Oh yeah, absolutely, you know, even when the you know,
the weather hasn't been the greatest this year, but being
able to get out there. Finally yesterday it was our
first day we got to go outside and practice on
a field. So pretty excited about that. You know, we're
we get to play this morning against Kenosha. Saint Joe's
are a really good team.

Speaker 10 (49:56):
Should be fun.

Speaker 11 (49:57):
And you know, I'm just as excited now going to
game and going to practice as I was, you know,
way back and when I started at Walkashaw South in
ninety six. You know it's still still have a love
for the game, and you know, I just can't get
enough of it.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
I guess, man, I I love that. In the article
that that I read in the Journal Sentinel, Jeff Jeff
Wolf talked to your assistant coach, talked a lot about,
you know, your passion for the game and the knowledge
for the game. And when he said, look, every everywhere
he's been, he's been a winner. He's built a positive
team culture. He recognizes talent and it doesn't matter what

(50:33):
year you are. And I love this. You know, he
talked about if you're a freshman, but you're one of
the better players, he's going to play you. And and
and I had the same same feeling and direction and
kind of mission statement when I coached basketball. Look, if
you're a if you're a senior and you've been in
the program for a while, if it's a tie, you

(50:54):
get the not But if the freshman's better, we got
to have that conversation. And I think you're right with that.
I think it is makes the whole program really strong words.
It's not Look, if I'm going to play him because
he's senior, I'm going to play my best players. And
I agree with you with that. Yay.

Speaker 11 (51:13):
Yeah, I've always kind of believed in that.

Speaker 10 (51:16):
You know, when I.

Speaker 11 (51:16):
Had my coach, you know, in high school, Frank Benavid's,
you know, he didn't passed away, but he was a
Hall of Fame coach, and that's kind of the way
he treated all of us. If you were good enough
to play right away, you know you did. And you
know coach Miller also at Whitewater, you know, playing for him,
you know, it didn't keep too many freshmen around, you know,
and when he did, you know, he thought you could play,

(51:37):
and he would give you the opportunity. And that was
always kind of the philosophy of the coaches that I
had and I learned it from those guys. And if
you know you're good enough you can, you're gonna go
out there and play. It doesn't matter. You know what
you're in school, you are and you know, like you mentioned,
it's all things being equal. You know, the older guys
will they'll get a shot, you know, but if there's
you know, like you said, they'll talk about it. And

(51:58):
you know, two most recent examples go two of the
guys at Germantown right now, the two guys that started
for me last year as freshman, you know, Carter Gordon
and Grady Chiever both ended up being All Conference players.
So you know, they had opportunities to go out there
and make the most of it, and they sure did.
And you know, if the kids can play, they're going
to play. You know, it doesn't matter to me, never

(52:19):
has what great level they are.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Yeah, I agree with that. We're talking with Jay wa Chinski.
He is the Germantown baseball coach. Got his five hundredth win,
which is an incredible accomplishment. Only twenty three high school
baseball coaches in the state of Wisconsin have ever gotten
to five hundred, and now he's one of them. He's
also he was inducted in the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association

(52:42):
Hall of Fame. And look, when I talked to him,
he doesn't want to talk about any of that stuff.
He wants to talk about this year's team. He wants
to talk about this year's conference. He wants to talk
about kids that players who have played for him over
the years that he doesn't take any credit for this.
And I'm like, coach, you got five hundred wins. He's like, yeah,
I had good players. Man, why do you keep wanting

(53:03):
to talk to me about that? So I just congratulate
him because it is. It's a big deal in stay Wisconsin. Hey, coach,
this year's team, you feel pretty good about where you
guys are at?

Speaker 10 (53:14):
Yeah, I really do.

Speaker 11 (53:16):
You know, typical at the beginning of the season, you know,
pitching is a little bit ahead of the hitting. But
you know we've got I got six pitchers coming back
from last year's team. You know, five of those guys
are going to college to pitch, and you know, we
haven't ever really had a chance to.

Speaker 10 (53:30):
Get out and do anything. We've only played two games.

Speaker 11 (53:31):
We haven't played since last Friday, you know, we had
a double header. But you know, once we get out
there and start playing some games and the kids can
all show what they can do. I really like our
team this year. You know, the experience from the kids
coming back this year, plus the juniors that came up
from JV last year. You know, they've already contributed to
those first couple of games and are playing really well.

(53:52):
And you know, the big thing is with our conference,
I mean, everything is so balanced. I don't think if
you ask me right now you know who I thought
was going to win the conference. I can't tell you.
I mean I think it could be anybody. Everybody has
good pitching. You know, everybody plays defense. You know, there's
a lot obviously, there's a lot of great coaches in
our conference. You know, everything's it's gonna be a fun.

Speaker 10 (54:14):
Race this year. You know, there's so many a lot
of good pitching in our conference.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
A lot so hey, hey, hey, Jay, I'm sorry to
cut you off. You came from You're at Whitefish Bay
for a long time, and that conference is a really
good baseball Conference and you jumped right into the Greater
Metro And I don't know if it's a it's a
better baseball conference than the north Shore, But I could
have that conversation and have that argument with somebody when

(54:39):
you're talking about you know, Marquette and Sussex, Hamilton at
Brick Central and brook Feast and Menominee Falls in Tosa East.
You know there there are really good coaches and players
in the Greater Metro Conference. And I don't want you
to tell me which one you think is better. But
it's not like you left the North Shore and went
to some conference or you're gonna win the conference every year.

(55:02):
You jumped into a conference that it might be known
for baseball more than anything else.

Speaker 10 (55:08):
Yeah, I would agree with you. I'd say their conferences are.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Very similar, very similar.

Speaker 11 (55:12):
You're in, you're in and year out. You've always got
some of the best teams in the state that are
in both conferences. You know, like you said, you can't
walk into any one of these years thinking, ah, you know,
we got it made or we got a better shot
than anybody else, just because there's so much talented at
the top to bottom. So I mean they're they're very

(55:34):
comparable for sure.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Hey, coach one, if I were to ask one of
your players, you know, who's the team in the conference
that you know that that you're looking at and you're
gonna circle because that's the team that we need to
beat this year? Who would they tell me? Cessex Hamilton,
me nominee falls Brooks andri Brookies? Who looks to be
the team in the greater metro other than Germantown. That

(55:57):
that might keep you up at night a little bit.

Speaker 11 (56:00):
You know, you kind of hit the nail on the
head when you started rattling off team after.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
Team after team, right.

Speaker 11 (56:05):
You know, it's like you can't put any more emphasis
on one game than another because you know, like I said,
there's a lot of good teams in here, and if
you're really focused on one and say, hey, we got
to get these two, and then you know there's the
letdown the next game that you play, whoever that may be.
You know, that's a it's really tough to say. I mean,

(56:25):
there's obviously the the big rivalry between Germantown and the Falls.

Speaker 10 (56:30):
You know, that's in all sports. That kind of goes
without saying.

Speaker 11 (56:33):
But I don't think that that one's circled anymore on
the calendar than you know, Brooks Central and Sussex, marquet Toast,
the East Coast and West, you know, like the rookies anything.
Like you said, you know, you kind of got to
circle all those conference games and treat them the same
because they're all really good teams.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Yeah, they they are. And you know, it be fun
when when the weather turns a little bit nicer and
you guys get into conference play because you know every night,
how many look you said you got sick good pitchers.
You've probably got nine pitchers on staff that you might
have to go to you know, playing playing spring baseball

(57:08):
in Wisconsin, Yeah, yeah, you got to have a lot
of pitchers and some guys that might be able to
go in and go three innings and throw some strikes.
Makes it a little bit more difficult than when you
were playing summer ball and you didn't need all those
that many pitchers. You kind of like it. Do you
like playing spring ball more than summer?

Speaker 10 (57:29):
It's kind of that's a tough question.

Speaker 11 (57:32):
I mean, having spring baseball, I think the rest of
the coaches would probably agree. We don't ever have to
worry about you know, the club ball stuff, and you know,
losing some kids for that for some reason. So I
would say a spring ball, you know, we have that advantage.
But the big one is, you know, during the summer,
the weather is.

Speaker 10 (57:50):
So much better. You're not hustling running.

Speaker 11 (57:54):
Out of school, you know, catching a bus to go
somewhere to hit whipple balls because you don't have time
to take batting practice. You know, in all honesty, I
like summer baseball better because well, being the teacher and
the kids would being off school, your regular practices, you know, your.

Speaker 10 (58:10):
Pre games and stuff like that.

Speaker 11 (58:11):
It could actually be you know, treated like real baseball
where you can take your time, get in and do
your early work, take your ground balls, hit your tas,
take banning practice, you know, instead of trying to rush
to get there to get the games.

Speaker 10 (58:24):
You know, sometimes depending on busing.

Speaker 11 (58:26):
Situations, and that's everywhere, but you know, sometimes a bus
is running late and you know you're rolling up to
a game twenty five minutes early, and you got to
try and get a bit your ready stretch right. You know,
hopefully they have a banning cage you.

Speaker 10 (58:38):
Can hit them d's in or something like that.

Speaker 11 (58:40):
But I think they both have pluses and minuses. But
you know, man, that's some things being equal. You know,
the weather and the summer kind of beats what's going
on here in the spring.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
For sure. Hey, Jay, thanks for a couple of minutes
your time. Good luck today against Kenosha Saint Chose. I'm
always big fans of guys like Jay Richinsky, who has
put a lot of sweat equity back into high school athletics.
And he doesn't want to talk about him being one
of the best coaches in this area, but I can
tell you that he's been inducted in the Hall of Fame.

(59:13):
He's gotten five hundred wins, and only twenty three coaches
in the state of Wisconsin have done that, and that
tells me everything I need to know about this guy. Hey,
I appreciate a couple of minutes. It's good catching up.
Good luck today, coach.

Speaker 10 (59:28):
Thanks Mike, I appreciate it. Keep up the good work
on the show. We all love it.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
You got a coach, Thank you very much. We're gonna
get to a break the other side of the break.
Cindy Vatagkle from Wisconsin Lutheran High School also plays with
Indiana Magic and it is a Wisconsin Badger grad, Wisconsin
Badger commit. Excuse me, will join us in studio. This
is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only

(59:54):
on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your iHeart Radio app.
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.
Coming from the Donovan and Jorgenson Heating and Cooling Studios.
Man as soon as you have to turn that HVAC
system on, make sure if there's any issues, go to

(01:00:14):
Donovan Jorgensen dot com. So it's more than a year.
I can tell you that I have tried to set
up this interview with this young lady because she's a
big time pitcher in our market. She's going to Wisconsin
to play softball at Wisconsin and we have tried, but
she's really busy. I think I'm busy. I'm not nearly

(01:00:36):
as busy as Sydney Faton. Call. There you go, Wisconsin
Lutheran picture Indy still with Indiana Magic. Yes, still doing
Indiana Magic. And she's a Wisconsin Badger commit. And I
looked back this class that they're bringing in are all
homegrown girls. They're all from the state of Wisconsin so far,

(01:00:57):
and I think that's really awesome. And I have tried
Sydney and I have gone back and forth. Hey, can
I get you in on this Saturday. Nope, I'm actually
going to be in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'm going to
be in Michigan. I'm going to be She travels a lot,
but we have a couple of segments with her to
end the show today. Not only her, but we've got
her mom, Tiffany, who's like Sydney in the corner shaking

(01:01:20):
her head, going do not put a microphone by me
and her dad Alvin, which is great and I really
appreciate them coming in. Sidney. How you been I've been good.

Speaker 7 (01:01:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
He take to bring the microphone just a little closer. Hey,
so far so good this year? I wisconsant Lui. You
guys playing pretty well?

Speaker 11 (01:01:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:01:35):
We've played two games so far.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Yeah, and a little bit a few more coming depending
on the weather. How are you you been playing well?
You're no hitter already, right.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Yeah, I did.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
We played Tuesday and Thursday and we won both of
those games. And we've had a really hard game on
Thursday against Franklin, which was a really good game, really
competitive game. We've been really playing really well as a team,
and then just kind of getting used to the new
group of girls that have came in and new coaching
and everything.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Yeah, you got a new coach this year. Tell me
about the Indiana Magic. How do how does it girl
from our area end up playing for the Indiana Magic
And I did some research. One of the better softball
programs in the country. Right, Yeah, And so when you
were younger, did you play against them? And then did
they say, hey, why don't you come play for us?

(01:02:24):
And do you make practices or how does that work?

Speaker 6 (01:02:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
So when I was twelve year fourteen of that area,
we played against Indiana Magic Goal that was on Wisconsin
Lightning at that time, a team base out of Kenosha,
and we played them, and then one of their coaches
found my dad on Facebook and was like, hey, we
need a girl to come sub with us in a
couple of weeks.

Speaker 6 (01:02:46):
And we really liked.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
How she hit, and so they invited me to come
play with them down in Saint Louis and I performed
really well. So then after that tournament they asked me
to come join their team.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Well, whoa, whoa, I want to go back to some
you said they were impressed way you hit. Yeah, so
I wanted to talk pitching the whole time. But then
then I'm doing some research and I saw you hit
one out as on a game winner, and and so
your pitcher first, you play some first base as well. Yeah,
but you're if people talk about you, they say she's

(01:03:19):
a pitcher, but you don't mind getting the batter's box
and hitting. I showed you a video of me taking
that girl from Fort Atkinson. Deep. Yeah, yeah, no we're lying. Well, yeah,
let's not lie. Let's you know. This is the Faith
in the Zone show I do. This is a sports show.
But anybody that listens, no, I talked smack and I
can't back any of it up. So then you you
subbed for the Indiana Magic and decided that that would

(01:03:42):
be your travel team.

Speaker 4 (01:03:43):
Then yeah, so our team was kind of all a
bunch of different girls were going to different teams, so
I decided it was best for me to go to
that team. So practices they're usually once a weekend. It's
like a three to four hour practice because there's a
lot of girls from out of town.

Speaker 6 (01:03:59):
So I'll drive down for four and a.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
Half hours to go to practice and then drive back.
But my grandparents live in Michigan, so we usually just
stopped there on the way down for the night and
then drove there next morning.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Alvin, how you doing good, man, She's good. Huh yeah, yeah,
you put a few miles on the car with her
a little softball, right, Yeah, definitely, definitely. Do you get
nervous watching her play anymore?

Speaker 8 (01:04:23):
Uh?

Speaker 12 (01:04:24):
Still a little bit, especially in the definitely in the
tight games, and you know it's you know, competitive, competitive game.
But yeah, and my wife and I when we're both
at games, you can probably see both of us pacing city.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Who do you hear more during games? Mom or Dad?

Speaker 6 (01:04:40):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:41):
Sometimes I hear my mom yelling when I'm pitching, but
when it's when something exciting happens, the first one I
hear is my dad screaming, going like yes, yes, and
you go back on the replay and all I hear
is him.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
So I coached my son in high school basketball, and
then he went to Marinatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown.
And it could be a pack house and I could
be at the top of the bleachers and I could say,
in my loud voice, are you ever going to hit
a shot today? And you would look at me and
I thought, well, he didn't hear that, And you'd say, Dad,
I can't hear my coach on the sidelines, but I

(01:05:14):
hear your voice. I'm so in tune to that voice.
When when you committed to Wisconsin and you posted your
very very active on x and and thank you for
that because it updates me on what you're doing, So
thank you, and I follow you. But when you committed
to Wisconsin, there was a picture of you as an

(01:05:35):
eight or nine year old at that field. Is it Wisconsin?

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Say?

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
Was that where you had always dreamt about going to play?

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
Yeah, It's always been one of my dream schools.

Speaker 4 (01:05:44):
Obviously, I've had other dream schools as well, but one
thing that was big for me was staying close to home.
I didn't really want to go far out of the
Midway Midwest, just since I've been traveling.

Speaker 6 (01:05:54):
So much for softball over the past years.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
Family is really important to me, so staying close. Obviously,
you want to go play for those big ten schools,
and you do. Wisconsin has been always one of my
dream schools.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
If it wasn't Wisconsin, what was what was second?

Speaker 4 (01:06:09):
I really wanted to go to Northwestern, Northwestern and Order
Day and like those big schools in that area.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
But what's your grade? Point?

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
Four point zerow.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
So the true student athlete man. Good for you, and
I showed you pictures. I was just with the basketball
team because Alex Green is about a three to seven
student going to Concordia and he was a couple of
weeks ago was our pick and save student athlete of
the week, and the whole basketball team showed up and
I loved that. I you know, coach Walls and coach Whiteside,
I just have so much respect for and they don't

(01:06:42):
give away grades easy at wiscons Luthor, you get to
earn them, so good for you. That's awesome. Have you
always pitched?

Speaker 5 (01:06:50):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
I have actually, In like when I was really young,
I wanted to be a catcher, but I learned after
being a lefty that it was kind of really hard
to be a catcher, So then I transitioned over to pitching.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Multi sport athlete, I used to be a multi sport
What else did you play?

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
I played soccer, basketball, volleyball, did some cheerleading, ballet tap
all that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
But Alvin, do I need to borrow you twenty bucks?
I don't know what you do for a living. But
brother sisters.

Speaker 6 (01:07:19):
Yeah, brother a younger brother and younger sister.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
As well, both athletes as well.

Speaker 4 (01:07:23):
Yeah, my sister is a cheerleader and my brother is younger,
but he does baseball, soccer, basketball.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
So we're very busy, guys. And I'm looking at your
mom and she's shaking her head. You guys, practices in
your calendar album must be really full with Okay, who's
driving who? I've got six grandkids and my daughter has
four boys and they're all in basketball and football and lacrosse.
And now the youngest, the three year old, had his

(01:07:51):
first soccer practice. And I didn't realize I was a
helicopter grandfather. But I have my daughter FaceTime in me.
I'm cooking dinner in Pewaukee and he's over at e
line and she's facetiming me. And he comes to get
water and you can see my face yelling at him
because you let another little boy come and just take
the ball from him. And he's like, Papa, I have

(01:08:12):
my own jersey, and so I'm like, I don't know
how she does it as far as getting everybody everywhere, Alvin,
how do you do it?

Speaker 12 (01:08:22):
Well, I've pretty much, especially with Sydney being all over
the country, you know, had to you know, pretty much
take her all over the place and my wife handles
the other two.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Were you a softball player or athlete? All get involved
in this?

Speaker 12 (01:08:38):
I you know, in high school, I played all intramurals.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Uh, according to I.

Speaker 12 (01:08:44):
Went to a small private school in Michigan called Andrews Academy. Okay, uh,
and but yeah, my favorite was probably flag football. But
I have no idea especially her where you know, obviously,
you know, thanks to you know, bless my God to
really have her event have the talent.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
So well, she's got a ton of talent. And uh, look,
I'd love to be able to tell you that if
I got in the batter's box, they've better bring a
lot of balls because I'm taking her deep. There's no chance.
It's just not gonna happen. It's just I'm just gonna
be straight up and honest with you guys. I just
watched these swings I had against the girl from Fort Akins.
I'm not touching her stuff unless she want, unless she's like,

(01:09:24):
all right, I'll let that that old guy over there
hit one. Alvin. I to have you in and I
apologize for not giving you a hedge up on this.
But this year with this Wisconsin Lutheran team, have you
and Tiffany realized that this is a year of lasts
for you? With her?

Speaker 12 (01:09:42):
Definitely, I mean obviously you know they were, you know,
blessed to be able to make state this freshman year,
and her goal is to try to make it back
again this year.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
So well, and and look, I've looked at the box
course from the games where you've gotten knocked out, and
it's not because you know you got you gave up
fifteen runs the last fifteen fourteen. It's nothing, it's two nothing,
three nothing. I hope that that this year, you guys
get back there. You remember the freshman year. Were you

(01:10:13):
on the mound at that point?

Speaker 7 (01:10:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:10:14):
I was pitching a lot that year because.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
You came in and played varsity as a freshman as
a pitcher in a first baseman.

Speaker 6 (01:10:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Wow, you know what, so you asn't as eight so
going from eighth grade to pitch it against seventeen eighteen
year old girls, how were you at that point? A
little nervous.

Speaker 4 (01:10:33):
I mean, I guess I was a little nervous, but
I'm just a very competitive person. So when I got
on the mound, I was just like, it's another softball game.
I didn't really think of it as anything different, and
I haven't really honestly that whole freshman year.

Speaker 6 (01:10:46):
And I kept getting more more.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
People say, you did a really good job that game,
and I was like, it just seems like another softball
game to me, of me going on the mound, working
with my catcher and working with the whole team, just
being able to perform at that level.

Speaker 1 (01:10:59):
Who's the catcher this year?

Speaker 6 (01:11:01):
It's Grace Solely.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
This was she there last year.

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
No, so we had when I came in my freshman year,
there was a sophomore catcher. Her name was Chloe Kashnitski,
and she was my catcher the past three years.

Speaker 6 (01:11:11):
She did amazing.

Speaker 4 (01:11:12):
She came in and she worked with me, we went
to pitching lessons together. So last year it was really
hard just having knowing it was her last year and
like we have to start figuring out who the next
catcher is. And Grace Solely, she's not really an experienced catcher.
She's never really caught before. And she has jumped in
and done a great job of being able to jump
in behind the plate.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
And that's a tough position, I believe it. Or And
I have a brother who's older than I am. He's
seventy one seventy playing he's catching hardball to this day.
He's still in fact right now, he's he lives out
in Florida and he plays in three different leagues like
sixty five and over, fifty five and over and forty
five and older. Wow. And then he gets asked to

(01:11:53):
go to different places throughout the country to play in
different tournament teams because he can't find guys that Oh
I can play. I can catch two games in a row. Yeah,
And I say, can you still throw guys out? He goes,
I can one hop and get they're seventy He goes,
he wan to hop and get these jokers. But it's
a different mindset. Who calls the game?

Speaker 6 (01:12:12):
I call my own game. Have you done that for
since freshman year?

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Really?

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
So that the girl that was the sophomore, she was
okay with that. Yeah, because catcher sometimes they're kind of
protective with that. Yeah, And you said, no, no, I've
got it, and I don't want to give away any secrets,
but how does she know what you're throwing? Or you
just throw and they're catching.

Speaker 6 (01:12:32):
So we have a wristband and I usually just call it.

Speaker 4 (01:12:34):
We have like a code of like what to throw,
so I would call it the number beforehand, and she
would just look at the wristband and oh.

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
Su verbally yes, whatever, whatever it is. That's really interesting
to me, the idea of going before we get to
a break, the idea of going to Wisconsin. Do you
know what you want to go into academically?

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
Probably elementary education or early childhood education.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
Really yeah, So I asked this question into my current
Electric Superheroes of the Week that I have in and
I should have given the heads up, but I'm and
I apologize for that. To go into that field, you
have to have a servant leadership hard and I'm wondering
where that came from for you.

Speaker 4 (01:13:14):
I've always been a person to just like I love
to help other people. The past five or six years,
I've been helping at my old grade school. I'm Saint
John's Lutheran and I've worked in their childcare program. So
during the summer after school, I go back and I
help work with the two threes and four year olds,
and I absolutely love it being able to teach the

(01:13:35):
love of God to everybody there and also just working
with them in the summer and teaching and playing with them.
It's always I never leave with being mad or crabby
about it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
Yeah, there is. You get more out of it than
they do, you think, Yeah, yeah, you know what. I
love that because whenever I have the current Electric Superhero
the week in studio, I first thing I think about
it is I'm such a loser because I didn't know
where my socks were when I was seventeen eighteen years old,
and then and all the things these guys that you

(01:14:06):
guys are doing right a great point. You're very active
in the school, and they give back to her community.
I often think, if you come back and you're one
of the leaders in our community, my grandkids are going
to be just fine. And I love the fact that
every article I read and anytime I listen to an
interview you've done in the past, you're quick to bring

(01:14:26):
up your faith and I thank you for that. You're
not ashamed of that, you're not running from that. It's like, look,
I want to think my parents. I want to thank
God for this opportunity, and that for me makes me
really happy and it makes me comfortable with the journey
that you're going to be on here in a couple
of months when you go up to Madison. Do you
know where you're going to be staying at you have

(01:14:46):
your dorm and everything. Yeah, where we're at.

Speaker 6 (01:14:48):
It's called the Joke. It's right next to the softball field.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
Excellent. So my wife went there a long time ago
and lived in an og and she was going to
be over and liz Waters if she had she came home,
I tell people because she missed me so much. We
were just dating back then. It was more of a
financial thing, but she was going to be in liz
Waters after that and absolutely loved the campus and all
of that. Guys, we're going to get to a quick break.

(01:15:13):
Other side of the break. I've got a ton of
questions for Sydney and her dad, Alvin, and I can guys,
I can tell you follow her on Twitter and she
both some really fun stuff and really good stuff and
a little bit about the Wisconsin Lutheran team and some
of the things that she's doing on the field at
Sydney v twenty seven at Sydney V twenty seven follow

(01:15:37):
her and I can tell you that when you read
some of her stuff, you'll smile because she again, she
does a lot of things outside of playing softball, but
this time of year you'll find out a lot about
how she's doing, how Wisconsin Lutheran High School is doing,
and how the Indiana Magic Gold team is doing. We

(01:15:57):
will get to a break. Other side of the break
will continue. I'm going to ask her her favorite memory
of being so far being part of this Wisconsin Lutheran
softball team, and I think I might know what it is,
but we'll figure it out and she'll give us that
answer on the other side of the break. This is
the Varsity Blix High School Sports Show presented by your
local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores on Fox

(01:16:18):
Sports ninety twenty and year iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores. Coming
from the Divan and Jorgans and Heating and Cooling Studios. Again,
we tried to set this up. I've tried to set
this up for a year and a half, but our
special guest, extremely busy, but we're lucky enough to have

(01:16:40):
her in studio. She's going to be a Badger next year,
playing for the softball team up in Wisconsin. Plays for
the Indiana Magic as a travel team, but through and
through she's a Wisconsin Lutheran girl, and man, I really
hope that they get the deal done this year that
she wants to happen. She'd like to get back to state,

(01:17:01):
and I'm hoping for her sake and for this team's
sake that they can do that. Sydney soup, pronounce your
last name for me the batonko. I did a great
last segment, But you know I'm being old. I you know,
just let's leave it at that if we can. Hey,
so far, you've got a lot of softball yet to
be played for Wisconsin Lutheran. But your favorite memory of

(01:17:24):
being part of this program so far, what would it be?

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
I think it would be going to state freshman year. Really,
I just think high school so much different than travel ball.
Like travel ball, you focus more on recruitment and like
performing how the best you can perform. And for high school,
it's how we perform as a team is how we're
going to win and so being able to work together
as a team and not just having one person do this,

(01:17:48):
but our collective win that we had against Port Washington
our freshman year. We had a girl hit a home run,
we had girls make diving plays. It wasn't just one person.
And having that camaraderie to go to State and be
able to play on that badger field as a freshman
on the one of the biggest stages for high school
sports was incredible, and being able to do that as.

Speaker 6 (01:18:06):
A freshman was insane. How old are you seventeen?

Speaker 1 (01:18:12):
You know what? That is? A mic drop in my business?
What a perfect answer. And I'm so happy you said that,
because there's a number of baseball players over the years
that decided not to play for their high school team
but would play for their travel team, and a number
of them already had their deal done, they already knew
where they were going, and I didn't get that, maybe

(01:18:34):
coming from the coaching in high school. I just think
there's nothing better than that. I playing with the kids
you grew up with, playing with the kids that you're
in class with, and then having the classmates come out
and support your team, and playing for what's on the
front of your jersey, not what's on the back of
the jersey. I don't know if it gets any better
than that, Sydney, I know, yeah, I agree with you

(01:18:55):
for that. So this year's team and you're a senior,
I don't know if you guys named captains or one
of the captains. Have you learned how to be a
good leader on a team from some of the upper
classmen when you were a freshman and a sophomore. Have
they done it? Did they do a nice job of
accepting you as a freshman, because sometimes it gets a

(01:19:17):
little bit rough. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
So my freshman year, we only had one team, and
we only had one senior and two juniors, and we
had a class of eight freshmen come in.

Speaker 6 (01:19:26):
So as like from the.

Speaker 4 (01:19:27):
Get go, we had to start being leaders on the
field just because we didn't have that many players. And
I had some great upper classmen leaders who really accepted
me and was able to come to me and talk
to me and be good leaders of how I can
do well without them in the future.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
So a quote from the coach at Wisconsin that I
wanted to bring up. She talks about you and being
a pitcher. She says her spin leadership competitive fire makes
her one of the most exciting athletes in the state
of Wisconsin. She's the leader dur in her community and
on the both on the field and off the field,
She's a winner. She finds a way to get it

(01:20:06):
done for her team. The spin part, I get right,
you say that, But when she talks about the leadership
part and she talks about the competitive fire, I think
that that means that she knows who you are. Any
any surprises when you read the quote on what she
she put out.

Speaker 4 (01:20:23):
For you, No, I was like, that defines me. I'm
a very competitive person. I want to go on the field,
I want to get the job done, and I want
to win no matter what it takes to win. And
it sometimes backfires on me, especially if I'm like competing
against my brother and sister, just like them getting mad
at me that I always want to win. But I
think it's a great skill to have and I've really
try to force that onto players on my team of

(01:20:46):
we we need to get the job done if we.

Speaker 6 (01:20:48):
Want to make it to the back to Madison.

Speaker 4 (01:20:50):
We have to take every game in the right way
and be competitive and no matter at bat, pitch, fielding,
like everything.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
So I gotta get I gotta bring this up. Michigan
State through and through and Tiffany's like wearing Michigan garb
over here. Is there a little bit of a little
bit of a problem when when Michigan and Michigan State compete, like.

Speaker 4 (01:21:12):
Kind of, yeah, Tiffany's.

Speaker 1 (01:21:14):
Wrong, your mom's wrong on this thing. She's a Wolverine fan. Alvin,
I blame you, sir, I blame you. And if there's
an issue at the family at the kitchen table after
Michigan State, damn to be Michigan or vice versa. I'm
blaming you. All the kids are Michigan State fans. Yeah, Alvin,

(01:21:35):
you're you're more of a Notre Dame fan. So you
basically split the family and it went off and now
you're you're an Notre Dame fan. I absolutely love that
for sure.

Speaker 13 (01:21:45):
Hey, any nerves about what this next step is for
you journey wise, about about being on your own moving
to Wisconsin, moving to Madison, you know, being able to
handle the academics in the study halls and softball. Are
you nervous about that part of your journey?

Speaker 4 (01:22:02):
Obviously there's a little bit of nerves going into it
because of course you're going off by yourself. It's a
brand new chapter of your life. But I'm trusting God's
plan and how He's going to guide my path, and
no matter the ups or the downs that happen, I
know if my family close by. That's another reason why
I wanted to stay close. I know I have friends
that are going that are going to support me. I'm
just the softball team there and the coaching staff.

Speaker 6 (01:22:25):
I know.

Speaker 4 (01:22:25):
It's a really great place that I want to be,
and that was really something that I was looking forward
to in a college.

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
Hey, when you talked about the team that where he
had all these freshmen coming and one team that was
Kinsolant Lutheran. Have all of those girls stayed? Are you
most of them?

Speaker 4 (01:22:40):
No, They've a lot of them wiltered out And there's
only me and another girl so far. So there's only
two seniors on the team this year.

Speaker 1 (01:22:46):
You're a kidding, boy, That makes me a little bit sad.
As a former coach, I was like, people, that's stuck
with it. So it's a younger team this year.

Speaker 4 (01:22:56):
Yeah, So it's two seniors, two juniors, a huge class
of sophomores, and one freshman.

Speaker 1 (01:23:02):
Boy, Oh boy, you got to lead this team, young lady.
You got to lead them for for sure. I once
the season's over, you'll continue to play for Indiana or
is that because you've got your deal now?

Speaker 6 (01:23:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:23:15):
So funny thing, it's actually a pretty cool experience I
got to do. So I'm half Filipino and I was
I have the opportunity to go play for the national
Philippines team this summer, and I'm going to be playing
in the Asia Cup in China this summer, plus on
top of Indiana Magic Gold.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
But you got to be kidding me, Well, you're not
driving there. You are not and I and I take
it it's your father's side. Have you been there? I have,
actually not.

Speaker 12 (01:23:41):
She's already been there last year on a mission on
a school mission trip.

Speaker 4 (01:23:45):
Because that was why we couldn't do our thing last
year because I was on a mission trip in the Philippine.

Speaker 1 (01:23:48):
You just said you were traveling. I thought you were
like in Ohio or something. I didn't realized you were.
So are you gonna go with her? I hope we'll
see if it works out. I hope so that that
would be what an honor? I didn't know that when
is that.

Speaker 6 (01:24:04):
That will be in the end of June.

Speaker 4 (01:24:05):
I'll have to go to the Philippines for training camp,
and then we'll go to China for two weeks for
the World Country.

Speaker 1 (01:24:10):
I mean, you've made the team. Yes, my good. The
game of softball has given you a lot of blessings,
hasn't it, Holy cow? But you've put a lot of
sweat equity into it. Are you a better pitcher now
than you were the freshman year?

Speaker 6 (01:24:24):
I think so.

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
I just have the maturity and the ability just to
be able to groan over the past couple of years
and with the help of coaches of calling a better
game and just having better softball IQ of what to
do on the field. But I still have that same competitiveness,
same leadership that I've always had before.

Speaker 1 (01:24:42):
The other girls going to Wisconsin with you and I
looked at that. You know a number of those girls,
I think seven recruits, and they were all from the state.
The state of Wisconsin girls softball is really good, right, Yes,
When you travel around the country, does it surprise you
how good the softball is here in the state.

Speaker 6 (01:25:03):
I wouldn't think so.

Speaker 4 (01:25:04):
I just there's so many girls that I know here
in Wisconsin personally that go out and play at these
other high level teams. So when we ever go to tournaments,
I see Wisconsin girls and I'm just like, this is
so cool that all these Wisconsin girls are able to
showcase their.

Speaker 6 (01:25:19):
Talents all over the country.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
Number of years ago, I for the first and only
time I've ever been to Denver. I was going to
officiate a wedding and my best friend's daughter is getting
married up in the mountains, and there was softball kids
everywhere in the airport. And there was a girl who
had gotten off the plane with her dad and they
were getting their baggage. And because I'm a nosy kind

(01:25:43):
of guy, I walked up and I said, you know,
what are you doing here? If I can ask, And
she said, the biggest softball tournament is here. And she
went to Cedarburgh and plays at Wisconsin and I think
she's probably a sophomore this year. And I had her
on the show because I wanted to ask her about
this tournament, and it was she she played for a

(01:26:03):
team that was outside of the state as well, and
she's said, but understand, there's four other teams here, and
there were six girls from Wisconsin on the same plane.
We're on that are playing on different teams, and I thought, well,
how big can a girl softball tournament? And she started
showing me have you played in that team?

Speaker 4 (01:26:22):
I've played there in the past three years so far,
and it's just crazy because there's two tournaments I go
on at the same time, so everybody goes there and
it's like a week long tournament. And it's so cool
to see all the softball girls there and all the
teams that are there. Just being able to surround yourself
with girls who have the same passion for the game

(01:26:42):
that you do.

Speaker 1 (01:26:44):
You know what, Hey, I'm looking at the parents. You
guys said good, you know that you did. Look. I
have a lot of seniors in high school in studio
with me, and not all of them consider as comfortably.
And she does look me right in the eye. And
the fact that she'll talk about her faith and talk
about the Lord and then talk about her parents, to
talk about all this this sport that has given her

(01:27:07):
all these opportunities. I have to get back to the
Philippine thing. How did you find out? And did you
how did you try out for that?

Speaker 4 (01:27:15):
So there's this thing in Colorado again with that it's
called the International challenge, so if you're have any heritage
from that country, you can go play there that summer.

Speaker 6 (01:27:26):
So I did that last year.

Speaker 4 (01:27:28):
And one of the daughter, one of the players on
the team, her mom asked me if I wanted to
join their team because I needed an extra picture for
the National Philippines team. And so we kind of had
to start the process of getting my dual citizenship because
you have to have that.

Speaker 6 (01:27:42):
To be on the tea.

Speaker 4 (01:27:43):
And so then when I went to the Philippines, we
were doing canvassing out on a university and all of
a sudden, I see a softball field and I was like, oh,
I'm going to go watch, Like I miss my sport.

Speaker 6 (01:27:53):
I want to go watch.

Speaker 4 (01:27:54):
And I'm just standing there and the coach invites me
on the field, and I'm like, this is so weird,
Like I'm just from Wisconsin and I'm on the field
in the Philippines playing softball. And it turns out he
was the old pitching coach for the National Philippines team.

Speaker 1 (01:28:09):
You know that's a godsend, right, And did you get
on the mountain and show them your stuff?

Speaker 4 (01:28:15):
So I was in my shorts, my sandals, and he's like,
I have a lefty glove for you, and I'm like,
good because I'm a lefty and so he's like, just
throw the ball and we played catch.

Speaker 6 (01:28:24):
I hung out with the girls. They gave us food.
It was really cool.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
Did he get behind the dish and let you throw
a few hm? Unbelievable. Oh, he must have been like, oh, Camure,
you know what, Yeah, I want to talk to you
about this kind of stuff when you go there. Who
you'll be playing in? What tournament?

Speaker 6 (01:28:43):
Is it the Asia Cup in China?

Speaker 4 (01:28:45):
And so if we placed in the top three, we'll
be able to go to the World Cup next summer
and then possibly the Olympics.

Speaker 1 (01:28:50):
Do you have any idea what other pictures they have
on the team and do you think you'll get some many?

Speaker 6 (01:28:56):
They definitely said that I'm going to be one of
their main pitchers for their team.

Speaker 1 (01:29:01):
Of course you will.

Speaker 4 (01:29:02):
And this is crazy demand to think of, Like this
small girl from Wisconsin is going to the other side
of the world to play softball and it's just like
the amount of blessings that God has given me through
the sport has been just incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
This was worth the wait. You know, this was worth
the wait. Sidney I can't tell you how impressed I am.
If we had two more segments, I've got one hundred
more questions for you. But would you please? And and
again I follow you on Twitter so I'll learn all
about this. But let me know. Are you doing any
fundraising for that?

Speaker 5 (01:29:39):
And do you need to do any No?

Speaker 6 (01:29:40):
They pay for it all, so which is even better.

Speaker 1 (01:29:43):
Yeah, look at Michigan girl over there, you should be
on the microphone, my dear. She's like, No, that's awesome,
that's even better. If there's anything I can do for you,
please let me know. I'm a huge fan of yours.
I'm a fan of the school. I'm a fan of
of the people I've talked to from Wisconsin Luther. I
think they do a really good job, not only academically,

(01:30:06):
but athletically and spiritually. And I think, uh, I just
think that every kid I talked to from there, you know,
carries themselves. Do me a favor. Don't let any of
these kids get involved in anything they shouldn't do, you
know what I'm saying. Look, this, this team is a
chance to be really good. And I tell seniors this
as a senior leader. These girls can go to parties

(01:30:28):
in the summertime. Don't do any of that stuff now
to get you know, in any kind of trouble. Take
care of your business. Let's see if we can't get
you back up the state. Good good leg, big summer. Yeah,
and then spray and then fall. You're you're you're up
in Madison and you're wearing the gear right now. I
love that. Do me a favor. If you get a

(01:30:48):
chance to beat Michigan, throw a no header against that
Michigan state. Do you guys decide you play Notre Dame.
I want you to wallop them, and I'm irish, but
the Michigan you're My mom will be rooting for you
out loud, but in her heart she'd be like, those
are that Michigan teams my team. So it's good to
see you, Alvin. Thank you. You guys got to be

(01:31:09):
so proud, just so proud. Thanks for listening. This is
the Varsity Blitz high school sports show, as always presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.
I'm Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app.