Outside The Chute

Episode 77 - Kelsey Harshman

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with University of Wisconsin alum and Canadian Olympic Bronze Medalist, Kelsey Harshman.
Kelsey has had a fantastic career to date. She played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, helping the Badgers to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018. She started in every single game throughout her four years, setting school records in all-time runs (180), on base percentage (.527), and consecutive games on base (40). She was the first freshman at UW to be named to the All-BigTen team, as well as the first three-time selection to the All-BigTen team in school history. She was also named to the 2017 All-BigTen Defensive Team.  Kels made her debut with the National Team in 2015 as a member of the Canadian Junior Women's National Team at the WBSC World Championship in Oklahoma City. Since then, she has represented Canada at multiple international events, including the Olympic Games this past summer in Tokyo where they took home the bronze medal.
We’re gonna talk to Kels about getting her start in the game, the influence her mother and aunts played in her development, her time with the Badgers, of course, the bronze medal win in Tokyo and much, much more.
Kelsey was an absolute pleasure to chat with and I’m definitely looking forward to what she has in store moving forward with everything she does.

Episode 76 - Jeremy Spear

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with the creator of Fastpitch the Movie himself, Jeremy Spear.
Jeremy got into the game of Fastpitch after playing Baseball growing up, which included 4 years at Yale where he would play Division I with the Bulldogs. Later on down the road after spending time on the New York Art scene, the competitive juices for sport were missing and he jumped into the game full force and decided to document that journey which resulted in the creation of what we all know as Fastpitch the Movie.
We’re gonna talk to Jeremy about getting his start in the game, how big of an adjustment there was going from baseball to softball, the epic NCAA pitching dual between Frank Viola and Ron Darling that he was a part of and, of course, all the ins and outs of the movie that he created.
It was an absolute pleasure for Hopey and I to talk to Jeremy as he played a huge part in this game at showing everyone just how the game was back in the 90’s with his documentary.  We’ve said it on here many times.  If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and do so!

Episode 75 - Shane Hunuhunu

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with former Ashland Merchant and one of the star’s from Fastpitch The Movie, New Zealand native, Shane Hunuhunu.
Shane was a force on the ISC circuit back in the 90’s while playing with Ashland, Ohio, terrorizing opposing pitchers with his heavy bat.  He was selected to the ISC All World Team back in 1992 in his very first ISC World Tournament.  Huny also captured the 1989 ISF World Junior Title in Summerside, PEI while competing with New Zealand.
We’re gonna talk to Shane about getting his start in the game back in New Zealand, moving to the US to play on the ISC circuit and of course, all about the Fastpitch Movie made by next week’s guest Jeremy Spear.
Huny was a treat to chat with and his very personable attitude shines through in this episode.  It was a pleasure for Hopey and I to chat with such a great guy from our game.

Episode 74 - Bill Hillhouse

Outside The Chute we sat down and chatted with former USA Men’s National Team member and recently inducted ASA/USA Softball of PA Hall of Famer, Bill Hillhouse.
Billy has had a fantastic career, playing all over the world.  He spent 8 season playing down in New Zealand, one in Australia and numerous back home in the US.  In 1993 he became the youngest pitcher to play on the US Men’s National Team and proceeded to win the Most Valuable Pitcher award at the Pan Am Tournament that same season.  During his playing career he also became an ISC Commissioner from 1997 until 2013 and now runs his own his own pitching instruction business called House of Pitching.
We’re gonna talk to Bill about getting his start in the game back in Pennsylvania, what it was like to travel the world at a young age, being named to the US Men’s National Team and much, much more.
Bill was so awesome to chat with as the guy is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to our great game. 

Episode 73- Emma Entzminger

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with San Jose State alum and Canadian Olympic Bronze medalist, Emma Entzminger.
Emma has had a fantastic career to date.  She played four seasons (2014-18) with the Spartans while studying at San Jose State University, starting in 191 of her 207 games played over that span. Over her career with the Spartans she had a .287 batting average, .434 OBP, 17 doubles, three triples, four home runs and 70 RBIs. She finished at SJSU ranked third all-time in runs scored (142), fourth in walks (85) and OBP (.434)
Emma competed at her first Pan American Games at Lima 2019 and tied for the team lead with five RBIs as Canada won the silver medal. Just a few weeks later, she posted a .429 batting average at the WBSC Americas Olympic Qualifier as the team booked its ticket to Tokyo. In her Olympic debut, Emma recorded two hits and three RBI as Canada won the bronze medal.
We’re gonna talk to Emma about getting her late start in the game, her time at San Jose State, a great story of adversity and reflection after being released from the National Team in 2017 and of course the epic bronze medal win this past summer at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Emma was a pleasure to chat with and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for our country down the road.

Episode 72 - Nick McCurry

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Assistant Coach of both the New York Gremlins and US Men’s National Team, the legendary, Nick McCurry.
Nick has been known in this game for almost 50 years and brings a love and dedication to it that is unmatched.  He would start the Ashland Merchants E.S.S. team back in 1981 and became one of the best low budget teams in the US.  Nick had the daunting tasks of running everything from fielding the team to getting the funds to provide the opportunity for players to play.   A lot of people in the game will definitely recognize Nick from the Jeremy Spear, 2000 film, Fastpitch, where we got a first hand look at just what Nick had to go through to make his team survive.
Nick still remains active in the game where he is an assistant coach with the power house New York Gremlins, as well as, the US Men’s National Team.
We’re gonna talk to Nick about anything and everything from his time in the game.  This honestly will go down as one of my favorite episodes we’ve done as Nick’s positivity and love for the game is very infectious.  Hopey and I were very honored to get to sit down and talk ball with such a legend in our game, I know everyone is going to enjoy this episode.

Episode 71 - Jen Gilbert

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Ball State University alum and Canadian Olympic Bronze Medalist, Jen Gilbert.
Jen has had an amazing career as she has been with the Canadian National Team program dating back to the U16 National Team in 2009.  She has won a Pan Am Games silver in 2019 and, of course, an Olympic Bronze this past summer in Tokyo.  At Ball State, she helped guide the Cardinals to three Mid-American Conference regular season championships (2012-14). She holds nearly all of Ball State’s single season offensive records and is at or near the top in every career category. With 75 homeruns, she holds the NCAA record for a Canadian-born player. 
We’re gonna talk to Jen about getting her start in the game down in Texas, how she told her Mom she wanted to play in the Olympics for Team Canada when she was 8 years old, her amazing career at Ball State, the roller coaster of emotions leading up to Tokyo, as well as, her newest endeavor, Jen Gilbert Softball Academy.
This was such a fun chat as Jen was an absolute joy to talk too.  I’m sure shes going to have tremendous success in everything she does

Episode 70 - Jeff Cameron

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with former Halifax Jaguar and owner of Prodigy Sports, Sheet Harbour native, Jeff Cameron.
Jeff had an extensive playing career which spanned almost 20 years, seeing him get his start in his home town of Sheet Harbour, and then getting the chance to play in countries all over the world like New Zealand, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.  Jeff was also a key part of the 1998 Halifax Jaguars that would win the Canadian Men’s Senior National Championship on home soil in Nova Scotia.
We’re gonna talk to Jeff about getting his start in the game, travelling the world to play this great sport, some amazing stories from his time in Venezuela, of course his sports store that he owns to this day, Prodigy Sports, and much, much more.
Jeff was an absolute beauty to chat with and Hopey and I shared some good laughs with him over this episode.