Right for coming.
Yeah, you're very welcome. All here we go, three two one, Hi everyone on Bob Joyce. It's the HUSKYHQ dot COM's Coaches Corner podcast. And now that we can totally focus on the spring sports, I thought it'd be a time to catch up with Laura Valentino and Yukon softball. They're having a very good year at twenty four and fourteen. They're a game out of first in the Big East at eleven and four. They have eleven games left to play,
including three conference weekends. It starts this weekend at DePaul, but they have a little business with Fairfield first in a midweek game on Wednesday. But Laura, first of all, thanks for doing this. And when I think of Yukon softball, I think of speed, stealing a ton of bases and having some decent pitching and good defense to get you wins, get you wins on the season. But this year it's a little different because suddenly the bats have come alive.
And from talking with Adam Jardino, it sounds like you're about to break the school record for home runs not only by a team, but an individual hits runs scored. It's like, Wow, this offense, it's suddenly fun to watch, even more so when you go with the long ball.
Thanks Bob, I appreciate that, and yes, and talking with you and Adam and just you know, every broadcaster that typically talks to me knowing that I came from hops
to softball, which very much was driven by pitching in defense. Well, you know, looking at the past five years here at Yukon and us doing great things and having success, and really coming together with my staff after last year and realizing that we needed to not totally make a change to what we do here because we very much have a specific type of kid, but we definitely put some more time into our offensive production and how we were going to be successful in the Big East this year
was to be able to score runs. Right, the team that wins the Big East Tournament is typically the team that has the strongest offensive production, so we dedicated a lot of time and preparation to that. Coach Max done a great job or our kids are really working hard in the cages and buying in and as you can see, we're very much as tough out at the plate and creating a lot of chaos for a lot of other teams.
Right now, Grace Jenkins obviously and her sister were a great story when you recruited them. Grace Catches plays first base. She's on the verge of breaking the school record for home runs. She's got Caitlin Breslin, who will talk about in a minute behind her in the home run department. But Grace just seems like she's been such a rock as the number two hitter in the order behind Lexi Hastings, who can still steal bases. She's twenty two of twenty four.
But your top four seem to be pretty solid in what they've done this year.
Yes, absolutely, I mean Grace actually this weekend broke the program record for single season RBIs and home runs. So great job by Grace and real she just has, you know, really capitalized on making a small adjustment in her swing and again an extremely hard worker. That's part of our culture here. You know, she's working in the cages. She is really really tough out of the plate. She's hitting the ball for more power this year. And really really proud of her and what she brings to this program.
I mean, if you look at the top four, three out of those four and I would even consider Kaya a later on this team as well. But three out of those four players are captains for us, and they really set the tone for our offense, obviously being in the top four, but also in the locker room and what they're driven to do this year as a team.
What about Grace behind the plate where you've seen the biggest improvement in her game.
Well, ever since Grace came in this year, she you know, we talked about where she wanted to set some goals behind the plate this year, and the biggest thing was her being able to steal strikes. So from the beginning of the season, she comes in and either we do some film and work off of the machine and we're really working on her being able to steal those borderline
pitches for our pitching staff behind the plate. And you know, hey, a lot of people told her ever since she was younger, that she wasn't going to be a division on college catcher because she was lufty, And I would say she's proven a lot of people.
Wrong stealing strikes as an umpire. Okay, I like that, All right, Let's go all right, let's go to players who take big jumps, and you hope that from Saya freshman to a sophomore Caitlin Breslin certainly has done that. She was off the bench last season. Now she's playing right field, hitting four hundred and forty two hits. She's six foot tall, and of course, the big game that everybody's talking about is I think the first or second
game at Creighton when she hit four home runs. I believe it's the seventh player ever to do that in college softball. Talk about the jump that this young lady has taken and how she's really just grab the handle and gone with it.
Absolutely, Brez is a kid that came in this year and took advantage of an opportunity. Obviously, you know, we lost the quite a big senior class, but you know, she knew she had an opportunity in front of her, and she took it with her work ethic, and she's been an extremely coachable kid. You know, It's one of the things that I absolutely love about her. I would consider her a kid that really is extremely consistent, and
you love that as a coach. When you come to practice, you know what you're going to get from Breas, you know what you're going to get from her on game day.
It's the same.
It's a smile. It's a consistent attitude in the way that she approaches the game and that's contributed to a lot of her success. And then in the creating series, you know, it's it's such a joy to coach bred and these kids in moments like that really just fill you with joy because is it's really all their work that they've put in and they deserve it. And to see them celebrate together in such a unique moment that it doesn't happen very very often. I mean, she was
National Player of the Week. How cool for her and this program and to see them be able to celebrate her and her continued success is amazing.
Laura, was she under the radar as far as the recruit goes when you got her.
Well, I you know, I always I joke about this with my dad and you know, I tell him, He's like, who's coming in? You know, wh who's going to be the next player, the next freshman? And are they any good? And you know, ever since I saw Breds, I knew that she was going to be a power threat in the East and she obviously it just wasn't you know, the right time last year and this year she's crushing it.
So you know, I like to say not to you know, pat myself on the back by any means, but I had a lot of belief in her and her ability to be able to do what she's doing this year, and you know, just really saw her as somebody that was going to produce a lot of power in the middle of our lineup since I recruited her. Now would other people say, you know, maybe they didn't think the same, but I really saw something special in her and she
was exactly the type of player that we like. She's athletic, she's team for she's extremely coachable, and that's contributed to what she's doing right here this year and her sophomore year.
Laura, your Biggiest Player of the Year. A Lexie Hastings is back at the leadoff spot. She's twenty two of twenty four in stolen bases, one of the few threats that you have that can steal. But with the change in the lineup and the more power that you have have, you reduced her attempts to steal bases or is she still looking to be as aggressive as possible?
For sure, I think a little bit of the game has changed, and also just playing to our strength just in the sense of why are we going to steal when there's a possibility that we're going to hit the ball over the fence or just hit a double and be able to score that way versus the risk of getting thrown out. So I think that's definitely been part of some of the change in her stealing a little bit less. And then obviously you have the replay, being
able to replay leaving early. It's a really tough play. I mean, I think it's obviously changed the game. If you look around the country, there's a lot less stolen bases now because of that rule, because it's such a small margin of error, and you know, I don't like to say we got away with it in the past, but it was definitely a lot tougher to call. So that's definitely changed her game slightly. But you know what, she is just a kid that starts with setting the
tone for our chaos in our offense. And what's so tough about her is she can bunch, she can slap. She'd hit the ball in the gap or over the fence, So try defending that and look at where the defense has to play her. Crazy. The other day, the infield was in and the outfield was on the warning track. So it's pretty incredible to watch her play, and I'm just soaking in and being extremely grateful to coach her every day. You know, she's a senior, but I can tell you she's definitely even a mark on.
This program, right Laura Valentino with us yukon softball coach, you mentioned you graduated a large senior class pitching, took a little bit of a hip of Peyton Kenny and Hope Jenkins anchor a relatively young staff. But then you've got some youth defensively too. I know you have a new shortstop.
Yes, yeah, So Peyton and Hope are really stepping up really nicely in the starting role. And what's so great is they compliment each other really well. And then you know, the rest of the staff obviously, Sidney Amber and Stella. What's so great about our staff is we're getting better as we go throughout the season, which I'm really excited about.
We compliment each other really well, have some different tools there on the mounds, and you know, obviously it's been very exciting to see them, you know, get better with coach g She's been a great addition to the staff and just being able to have her knowledge and her mindset of winning championships on our staff has been an extremely huge asset, Laura.
After you open the conference season with three against Villanova, and by the way, you kind of not lost the series this season, They've taken two out of three in everyone but one where they swept. You went to Tennessee to play the seventh rank Lady Vols, lost the opener in a run rule game, then lost four, three and ten and six to three where they scored I think three runs at the bottom of the six to a
take charge. What did you take out of that series that maybe has given this team a boost of confidence heading back in a conference play.
Well, when your team competes against the top team in the country, a top ten team in the country, why can't we dominate in Big East play? I think it was a tremendous spoos to our players' confidence and belief in themselves and what they have the capability to do.
I mean, you.
Look at every Big East conference series and like you said, outside of Villanova, we're putting up a lot of runs. We've run ruled every team at least once, so we have the capability to when we show up, we're a
really tough team to beat. One through nine. Offensively, pitching, defense, all three aspects of our game really showed up big time in that series against Tennessee, and it showed and just to go back to cat Pettis, I think she has grown tremendously since that series because she's a kid that you know, every freshman you come in and you are talented, and she's extremely athletic, and you know, she's made some mistakes early on in her career and she
knows she can make those plays. But I've challenged her to make the plays at a higher level and that's what's going to put her over the top of being not only an amazing hitter, but an amazing shortstop. And she has extreme potential. She's a joy to coach. You can really push her and challenge her, and I think that Tennessee weekend was a turning point for her of hey, I can make a mistake, but really it's about how I bounce back and bring the energy to the team.
Because I'm the shortstop and it doesn't matter that I have the label freshman next to my name.
I understand that all right. Schedule wise, you have eleven games left Fairfield on Wednesday. Then you go to the Pall, you host Georgetown, you get one with BC, and then there's a little carrot at the end dangling sitting there. As long as you take care of business with a
three game home series with Saint John's. I know you can't look ahead, it's one game at a time, but it seems like with the leadership that you have, the focus seems to be there that as long as you guys do what you're capable of, you should be able to take care of business heading into that final weekend.
Yes, absolutely, I mean we are going to continue to play Yukon softball and work to get better every single game. Right it's on paper we're playing the worst two teams in the conference, but it's going to be really about us continuing to climb the ladder and move the needle. For us and for our program, that's been the emphasis emphasis this year is keeping our foot on the gas
pedal and never letting up. So we're going to continue to have that be our focus going into the upcoming couple of weekends, and then it's great to finish up at home and a big home series and obviously get some moment I'm going into the tournament.
Laura, Finally, I imagine some of your young ladies paid attention to the women's basketball team.
Yeah, just a little, yes, Yes, absolutely. It was definitely an extremely exciting time for us and for Yukon and women's sports here on campus. And it was funny, you know, our reporter said, you know, it's not often that the folk gets taken off of Paige Becker's, but Caitlin Breslin,
it's four home runs. You know, that's pretty exciting. But you know, I just am extremely proud and just grateful to be a part of the atmosphere here at Yukon and what Gino has done for the athletic department and the support that he's given me and my program is really special, and I am excited to spend some time with him hopefully here over the next month and cms the softball games.
And if I'm not mistaken, I think Paige used to go to softball games.
Right, of course he'll be there. I wouldn't doubt it that she'll be at one of our home series down the stretch here because she's also been a great supporter.
All right, Hey, Laura, thanks for a couple of minutes. We appreciate it always and go kick some button the next few weeks.
Awesome. Thanks so much, Bob, go.
Husky's always great to catch up with Yukon softball coach Laura Valentino. Most of the remaining games are at home Fairfield Wednesday, the weekend of the twenty fifth, twenty sixth, and twenty seventh against Georgetown, home against BC on the twenty ninth, and then the first week in in May. It's three against Saint John's that could decide the regular season Biggies Championship. Go to Yukonusky's dot com and check out softball for more information. That'll do it for another
edition of a Coach's Corner podcast with Laura Valentino. I'm Bob Joyce. Thanks for listening.