Outside The Chute

Episode 61 - Erika Polidori

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Oakland University Alum, Olympic Bronze Medalist and Brantford's own, Erika Polidori.  
Erika had a standout 4 years at Oakland University in Michigan where she would go on to finish fourth or better in 10 career offensive catagories and be named to the All-Horizon First Team in her Senior season in 2014.  She would then go on to win a 2015 Pan Am Gold Medal on home soil in Toronto while leading her team in average and then just a few week’s ago help lead Team Canada to their first ever trip to the podium by bringing home a bronze medal from Tokyo.
We’re gonna talk to Erika about getting her start in Brantford, her numerous national titles with the Brantford Bobcats, her time at Oakland University with the Golden Grizzlies, the rough times of being a nurse during this crazy pandemic and of course that epic bronze medal win in Tokyo.
Erika was an absolute treat to chat with and I was so happy I was able to chat with someone who is such and avid listener to our podcast.

Episode 60 - Shane Boland

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Canadian Men’s National Team member and Gould’s, Newfoundland native, Shane Boland.
Shane has had an incredible career to date and he’s still adding to that impressive resume.  He has won 3 ISC World Titles, 7 Canadian Senior Men’s Championships, 2 Canadian Junior Men’s Championships, a bronze at the 2017 WBSC World’s, as well as, many individual awards, including being the only Canadian player to ever win the ISC’s, Senior Men’s and Junior Men’s titles in the same season.
We’re gonna talk to Shane about getting his start in the game back in Gould’s, his time with the National Team, his incredible walk off homerun to win the ISC World’s for the Toronto Gators back in 2016, as well as much, much more.
This was such a wicked interview as Shane provided awesome stories, as most Newfoundlanders do and we shared plenty of laughs.  Shane is definitely one of the good ones in the game.

Episode 59 - Tara Henry

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Co-Editor at D1Softball.com and UCLA Golden Bears alum, Tara Henry.
Tara had a fantastic college career with UCLA as she would compete at three Women’s College World Series, between 2004-2006, winning the prestigious championship in her freshman season.  Since then she has co-founded an organization called Run The Bases where they focus on inclusion and gender equality through softball, as well as, she is a co-editor for D1Softball.com.
We’re going to talk Tara about getting her start in the game down in California, her recruiting process to UCLA, the 2004 WCWS win and, of course, everything else Tara has on the go today.
It was such a blast to be able to chat with Tara, as she is someone who has an absolute passion for the game and it was great to hear her share her journey in the game to us.  This was definitely one of the favorite chats I’ve personally had the pleasure of doing

Episode 58 - Ryker Chason

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with former USA Softball Junior National Team member and current Assistant Coach with the Ole Miss Rebels, Ryker Chason.
Ryker got his start in the game in an unusual way, as he went online, filled out a form and tried out for the US Men’s National Junior Team.  He would go on to compete at the 2014 and 2016 WBSC Championships, before finding his calling and turn his attention to coaching.  He would get his start with South Georgia State before enrolling at LSU and having four years to learn under one of the best in Beth Torina.  Ryker was hired on as the Assistant Coach at Ole Miss this past season and had a very successful year under Head Coach, Jamie Trachsel and will definitely be looking to improve on that going into next season.
We’re gonna talk to Ryker about getting his unusual start in the game, those two WBSC World Championships, his time at LSU and, of course, his current position at Ole Miss.
Ryker was a pleasure to chat with and I’m sure it won’t be too far down the road when we’ll be hearing that he takes on a head coaching position.

Episode 57 - Kamalani Dung

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with California Golden Bears alum, Athlete’s Unlimited athlete and Hawaiian native, Kamalani Dung.
Kama has had a fantastic career to date as she won 2017 All Mountain West first team honors, to go along with Mountain West Pitcher of the Year that same season while attending Fresno State and then going on to be named to the All-Pac-12 second team and NFCA All-Region third team while playing with the California Golden Bears in 2019.  She also played in the inaugural season of Athlete’s Unlimited last summer.
We’re gonna talk to Kama about getting her start in the game in her home state of Hawaii, how she taught herself to pitch, giving her the “YouTube Pitcher” moniker, her time with Fresno State and University of California, as well as, her time with Athlete’s Unlimited last season in Chicago.
This was such a fun interview with such a fantastic individual from the game of softball.  Trust me when I say, we’ll be hearing the name Kamalani Dung, whether its on or off the field, for year’s to come.

Episode 56 - Justin Schofield (1 Year Anniversary Show)

With this being the one year anniversary show, its only fitting that we bring back our first ever guest, East Hants Mastodons ace, and current 40 Man Team Canada Member, Justin Schofield.
This was a fun one for us as we got to talk about the last year for Outside The Chute, stories we forgot to chat about with Schof in that first ever episode, and trust me, there are some funny ones, and we also had special guest appearances from past OTC guests, Brady Woods and Steve Mullaley.
Outside The Chute would like to throw out some thank you’s right now.  First to Hopey for being my witty, always swearing, co-host every 2nd week.  Without you I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do this on my own initially.  Your positive attitude towards the podcast and more importantly our game of Fastpitch is something that gets me fired up to continue promoting our great game, so thanks pal.
Next, I need to thank Juno Award winner, Classified for allowing us to use his amazing collection of music for the podcast.  Local supporting local and Class is huge on supporting local. Thanks my man, definitely appreciate it.  Actually, Class just got back out on the road this past weekend, performing at the Calgary Stampede which I know he’s been eagerly waiting for.  I highly recommend anyone if they have the chance to see Classified perform live in their hometown down the road, DO SO!!  You will not regret it!
Of course I need to thank all of our past and upcoming guests.  Without you, plain and simple, there is no Outside The Chute.  The fact that I get the chance to talk to greats in this game, on a weekly basis, is absolutely surreal to me and for you to come on Outside The Chute and talk the game with myself and Hopey is friggin awesome.  So thank you!
Finally I would like to thank all the listeners to the podcast and follower’s on all our social media accounts.  When Outside The Chute started I figured we would have maybe a few hundred downloads.  With this one year anniversary episode we will hit 30,000 downloads this week.  That blows me away!
So again, thank you for all your continued support.  Let’s keep promoting this amazing game!

Episode 55- Morgan Howe

Outside The Chute sat down with Arizona Sun Devils Alum and Athlete’s Unlimited member, San Diego’s own, Morgan Howe.
Morgan has had a remarkable career to date, as she would be named to the 2017 NFCA All-Pacific Region 2nd Team and All-Mountain Team at Fresno State before transferring to Arizona State, where she go on to be named a, Pac-12 and NFCA All-Region First Team, a First Team All-American,  while also making a trip to the 2018 Women’s College World Series.  Last season Morgan participated in the inaugural season of Athlete’s Unlimited where she finished 25th overall in the points standings.
We’re gonna talk to Morgan about getting her start in the game down in Cali, her recruiting process, her time at Fresno State, her transfer to Arizona State, of course, Athlete’s Unlimited, as well as, much, much more.
This was an absolute fantastic interview, as Morgan’s outgoing, no holds barred, personality made for one of our favorite interviews to date.

Episode 54 - Rob Schweyer

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with 4 time ISC All World selection and 3 time ISC World Champion, Rob Schweyer.
Rob has had an amazing career to date spanning all the way back to the early 90’s, and he’s still going strong today, most recently winning an ASA Championship last year in OKC.
We’re going to talk to Rob about getting his start in the game in Ontario, what it was like juggling ball and professional hockey, his tremendous success on the ISC circuit, as well as, his RS Sports Training he does down in California where he is having fantastic results.
Rob was an absolute gem to chat with as he has seen it all in the game and I have no doubt everyone is going to enjoy this episode.