Outside The Chute

Episode 64 - Gregg Leather

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with former US Men’s National Team head coach and current New York Gremlins head coach, Gregg Leather.
Gregg has had a fantastic coaching career to date as he has won 6 ASA National Titles, 2 ISC World Titles and a Pan Am Silver, just to name a few.
We’re gonna talk to Gregg about how he got his start in the game, his transition from modified to Fastpitch, the formation of the New York Gremlins, of course his time with the US National Team and much, much more.
Gregg was such a treat to chat with and it was a pleasure for Hopey and myself to be able to talk to one of the premier head coaches in the game today.

Episode 63 - Shawn Rychcik

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with 5 time ISC World Champion, 10 time ISC All World selection and ISC Hall of Famer, Shawn Rychcik.
Shawn had an amazing 23 year playing career in the game which included an eight year stint on the USA Men’s National Team, producing a gold medal, 2 silver medals, and a bronze medal. He was twice named United States Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year in Men’s Softball. He was able to walk away with 2 ASA National Championships, an MVP and 8 All-American selections. And finally, he left the ISC circuit, as previously mentioned, 5 World Championship rings and 10 ISC All-World honors.
Shawn would also go on to coach in the NCAA for 14 seasons combined, as the Head Coach at NC State University and Boston University.  He amassed almost 450 wins at the two schools. His teams captured 4 Conference Championships, making 7 trips to the NCAA Regionals and 1 trip to Super Regionals.  4 times he was named Conference Coach of the Year.
We’re gonna talk to Shawn about getting his start in the game, getting to play down in New Zealand for a season, his time with the US Men’s National Team, his amazing ISC career that led to a trip to the Hall of Fame in 2012, as well as much, much more.
Shawn was a pleasure to chat with and it was awesome that Hopey and I got the chance to talk to such a legendary player in our game.

Episode 62 - Jordan Taylor

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with University of Michigan alum, and current Japan Pro league Toda Medics member, Jordan Taylor.
Jordan has had a stellar career to date as she was named the 2008 Big Ten Freshman Player of the Year, 2010 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, is a three time All-Big Ten Conference First Team winner, while also being the All time career strikeout leader in the Big Ten.
We’re gonna talk to Jordan about getting her start in the game down in California, her amazing high school career at Valencia High, her time at Michigan, joining the pro ranks and much, much more.
Jordan was so fun to chat with and, trust me, didn’t hold back.  I’ve been wanting to chat with her for a long time and I’m so happy she was able to come on.  If you have social media, I highly recommend following Jordan as she definitely truly speaks her mind and is a very entertaining follow.

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.