I know many of you are starting to ramp up towards your seasons well. With the start of season no doubt come a hand full of injuries: knee problems, hip problems, shoulder/elbow flare ups, low back pain, etc. There are some injuries that are unavoidable, like a broken bone after getting hit by a pitch, but most injuries can be prevented by following a few relatively simple guidelines in season.

If you are a softball player, you know pressure. Being up with the bases loaded and 2 outs, trying to get a hit in your last at bat after going 0 for 3 in your first ones, needing a big strikeout to win the game, getting a pinch hit opportunity, etc all increase our heart rate and let us feel the pressure. So how do you combat it? How do you find a way to find success in those big moments? How can you be clutch?

As I begin to transition into more of a coach than a player in my career (working camps and clinics, giving private instruction, and even being a captain at Athletes Unlimited), I often have to remind myself that the best way I can help people is to love them before I try to “correct” anything that I see wrong.

I make no apologies for being a baseball junkie. This is without a doubt the second-most wonderful time of the year for me, now that the MLB postseason has started. The most wonderul time of the year obviously being the Women's College World Series in June.

The past two weeks I have been traveling around the country and have been fortunate enough to teach hitting to some really amazing athletes. I love camps and clinics and love coaching. I am eagerly always anticipating a moment when something “clicks” for a hitter, a feeling I know many of you coaches and parents share.

What an awesome couple of weeks it has been for me! After finishing up my season at #3 on the Athletes Unlimited Leaderboard, I got to enjoy some much needed vacation with family and was able to completely unplug. I didn't check social media for over a week and honestly can say it was so refreshing.

Now that I'm back at home, finally, it is around that time to start my offseason training regimen. I often use this time to reflect on the season that was and see how I can improve heading into next year.

Softball is the wildest sport ever created. Prime example: Team McCleney last week at Athletes Unlimited. On Saturday, our team put on an absolute offensive clinic. We set a record for most runs scored in a game, a final score of 20-5 and win for us. TWENTY RUNS. Then, on Sunday, we had one hit as a team. ONE. Zero runs.

In what other sport does that happen? In what other sport do things change that quickly and that drastically? It's just ours. We can hate it, complain about it, be frustrated about it, or we can lean into the challenge of being consistent in an inconsistent game. I choose the latter.

I was talking with some of my teammates about just how crazy this Athletes Unlimited system is. I was named "Mover of the Week" from week 2 to week 3, which means I climbed up the most spots on the leaderboard that week (35 spots). The conclusion of all those conversations I had with my teammates boiled down to was "it really all can change at any point."

Well, in case you missed it, I was named Captain of Team Orange this week after shooting up to number 2 on the leaderboard at Athletes Unlimited! This is a reminder to keep working even when things are not going your way. Your results can and will change at the drop of a hat if you just trust the process. I'll talk about that more maybe next week, so stay tuned, but Team McCleney takes the field Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the ESPN family of networks, so make sure you tune in and are cheering for Team Orange! Here is the full schedule of games for the weekend!

My question is - as a coach, do you value competitiveness? Young women are often told to not show their emotions, not to be upset or angry if they have a bad game, that they are being selfish if they decide to show those emotions. I say to hell with that. Let young women be angry. It's being competitive. That quality is what drives athletes to greatness (just watch The Last Dance or The Captain). You think mindsets like that only apply to male athletes? Come into the Athletes Unlimited dugouts, the Team USA dugouts... You are going to see the same intense mentalities. The only difference is the paychecks (that's a topic for another day).

Wow. To say I have been crazy busy the last few weeks would be an understatement. In case you missed it, Team USA and I won Gold at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama . We defeated Japan in the Gold Medal game 3-2 with over 10,000 fans in the stands to watch! I still get chills just thinking about hearing the "U-S-A, U-S-A!" chants all week long. I will have a lot more to say about that Gold Medal game in a few weeks when I really get a chance to process it, but it may just be my favorite softball memory to date so far.

Besides having so many friends and family in the stands ( I literally grew up 20 minutes from the stadium we competed at), one of the reasons that week is going to stand out in my mind is because I was so motivated. Motivated to lead, motivated to win, motivated to compete, and to perform. After reflecting, I realized that this motivation came from a completely new set of coaches that I had never played for, and I thought how they motivated me could really help a lot of coaches out there

Thank you to all of those that tuned in to watch the AUX season in San Diego! What a fun 3 weeks it was getting to compete against some of the best competition in the world! I wanted to share something that I thought was extremely critical to mine and some of my teammates success while we were competing and that is re-watching our at bats after every game. In fact, my roommate Sam Fischer (who had an INCREDIBLE AUX season), would often stay awake later in the night and discuss each other's approaches and what we saw from the game film.

I recognize that everyone isn't going to have immediate access to this at all times, but in the age of technology, watching your at bats from the outfield angle so you can see the strike zone and et a sense of how much of the plate you are covering can be a huge tool for finding success.

It's no secret that softball is a sport that actively requires great team chemistry and elite culture to win games. This is true at all levels of our game from travel ball, all the way up to the Olympics and where I currently am at AUX in San Diego. For those of you that are not familiar with the Athletes Unlimited AUX format, here is a brief synopsis of what we are dealing with here:

We switch teams after 3 days of games together. We get ONE team practice before we play a 4-game series. There are no coaches (only captains, whoever is highest on the leaderboard). If you want more specifics about the scoring system, review it here. So needless to say, for us to build a team culture in literally one day, there are some things we do to expedite the process. These 3 things you can implement on your teams TODAY to experience a better team chemistry and a better experience overall (plus more wins)

With not playing in a real game in so long, sometimes we don't start out as great as we want to. For me just yesterday, we played a doubleheader and I didn't have a single hit, but I climbed the leaderboard by earning some walks in scrappy at bats. It may not be pretty, but I was able to pass the bat for my team. Yesterday I kind of felt like I was in a "mini slump" if you will. Where things just weren't going my way. I wanted to share 3 mottos I kept saying to myself over and over to keep my head in the right space.

As many of you are kicking off your wild summer softball schedules, so am I. Today is my travel day to San Diego to start my busy summer competition schedule with Team USA and Athletes Unlimited. I have spent the week getting the house ready to leave by adulting a little bit more than usual and I have to say for a millennial, I am slowly but surely improving at things like chores and home improvement. If you have a second, say a prayer for the palm trees I planted yesterday as I and my fiance both have black thumbs (my inbox is open to plant lovers out there with any advice).

While I was preparing my home to go compete, I was also preparing my mind. Me hitting the road to play isn't as glamorous as it sounds. It is a lot of sacrifice, especially on my fiance and my family back home. It's a lot of facetimes and missing out on some of life's most fun and important memories. It's not easy and I have to mentally prepare for it. In my preparation I came back across the book One Word That Will Change Your Life by Jon Gordon.

We live in an era where nothing is really ever enough. We are always seeking more. More practice time, more coaches, more hits, more lessons, more on our resume, more more more. It's no wonder kids get burnt out. I myself was one of these kids at 12 years old.

The Best Tip for Better Focus

I can give you a ton of advice on lifting weights, hitting drills, outfield drills, and the mental game. That's what I am here for and that's my job description. I'm all about improving and developing as an athlete and as a human being. However, if I can't get you to be present and focus on what you are doing to improve, well really it is a lost cause.

This week I have had a lot on my plate just in terms of training, running my business and managing other obligations. My schedule has been packed. I'm grateful for it, but that doesn't mean the stress didn't take a toll on me. When I decided to take a step back I realized I was overstimulated and decided to take a break from a few things.

2 Drills for Power

It's not a secret that power hitting is what makes softball and baseball so exciting. People want to see the big homeruns, the doubles, the walk-offs. I was always more of a speedster growing up. I stole a lot of bases, I slapped, and primarily got on base with the single. I was this type of hitter through my freshman year of college and then Coach Murphy told me I needed to hit for more power because that is what the team was going to need from me the next season.

I took that into my offseason and made gaining power my goal. It worked. It is still working even into my career now and I'm going to share with you the two things that made my power numbers shoot up.

Recruiting 101

Recently on my TikTok page I posted a video asking for people to comment on any questions they had regarding my time as a D1 college softball player. I should have expected that nearly every other question was "How do I get recruited?"

First of all I would like to say that if you are under the age of 14 and you are worried about recruiting you are focusing on the wrong things. My first piece of advice to anyone that wants to continue to play softball in college is that you prioritize DEVELOPMENT and let the recruiting process take care of itself. Am I saying ignore the recruiting process all together? Absolutely not. I'm saying focus on improving as a player, as a leader, and as a student every day and I really do believe the right fit will find you. If you want to play, THERE IS A SCHOOL OUT THERE FOR YOU.