Outside The Chute

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with University of Alabama alum, 2016 All-American and the owner of one of the best curveballs in the game, Sydney Littlejohn Watkins.

Syd had a stellar 4 years with the Crimson Tide at the University of Alabama.  She was a 4 year letter winner, raking up 67 wins and a career 1.77 ERA which puts her ranked 6th of all time in program history for both those stats.  Like I mentioned earlier, she was a 2016 NFCA All-American, as well as, a NFCA All-Region First Team.  She was also the first player to throw a perfect game at Rhodes Stadium.  Syd then would take some time off before making her return in the Netherlands for the Euro Cup in 2021 and placing third.  She’d then move on to AUX this past spring and play so well it earned her a contract for Season 3 of AU in Chicago that finished up in August.  Syd currently works as a registered dietician at the University of Florida.

We’re gonna talk to Syd about getting her start in the game back in Texas, her time at Alabama, the journey back to the game she had after retirement and , of course, her time with Athletes Unlimited.

Syd was an absolute treat to chat with.  I can’t thank her enough for taking the time to come on and chat, especially the day before a massive hurricane was on its way.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with University of Texas Longhorns Head Coach, the legendary, Mike White.

Mike’s list of accomplishments in the game are astounding.  Here’s an example of some –

• 8 Hall of Fame Inductions

Now there are a lot more but we kind of have to get to this podcast.

We’re gonna talk to Mike about getting his start in the game down in New Zealand, his storied ISC career, his time with the New Zealand Black Sox, of course, getting into the coaching side of things and much, much more.

This was an absolute pleasure for Hopey and I to chat with such a legend in our game.  I know for a fact everyone is going to enjoy this episode.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with 4 time WBSC World Champion, WBSC Hall of Famer and ISC Hall of Famer, Thomas Makea

Thomas no doubt goes down as one of the best to ever play the game.  Of course, as mentioned with the WBSC title’s and Hall of Fame induction, he is also a 5 time ISC Champion, 6 time ISC All World selection and the Most Valuable Player at the 2000 ISC’s.

We’re gonna talk to Thomas about getting his start in the game down in New Zealand, where the nickname Larry came from, his storied 20 year career with the New Zealand Black Sox, his time on the ISC circuit, and much, much more.

Thomas was an absolute pleasure to chat with.  We’re so grateful he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to sit down and chat with us.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Texas A&M alum, Athletes Unlimited star and 2020 Olympian, Tori Vidales. 

Outside The Chute sat down and first talked with the Head Coach of the Silver Medal winning, Nova Scotia Canada Games Team, Jeff Fraser.  We talked about the journey it took to get to that point and the outcome that was a silver medal for the province of Nova Scotia. 

We then chat with the Marketing Manager at Softball City in Surrey, BC, Matt Van Eeuwen.  Matt tells about what is in store for the softball world leading into the 2023 Canadian Senior Men's Championships and the 2024 ISC World Championships that will be played at Softball City.

Finally, we chatted with past guest of the show and the VP of Communications and Operations for the ISC's, Blair Setford.  Blair gives us a run down of what took place at the recent ISC's in Moline, Illinois, and then a brief chat at what's in store for the 2022 Canadian Senior Nats in St John's, Newfoundland, starting this week.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Millsaps College alum and current lead photographer with Athletes Unlimited, Jade Hewitt.

Jade has been someone I’ve wanted to chat with for a while now and I’m so happy she found time out of her busy schedule, especially in the middle of the AU season, to come on and chat with us.  This was such a great interview.

We talk to Jade about her 4 years playing at Millsaps College, her start in photography in the NPF with the Dallas Charge, her time with USA Softball and the 2021 Olympics and much, much more.

Jade was such a pleasure to chat, I had such a great time talking with her. She is definitely the GOAT of photography when it comes to our world of softball.  You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @jadehewittmedia and check out all her amazing work.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with Arizona State Sun Devils alum and current Head Coach at Central Arizona College, Maddi Hackbarth.

Maddi had a stellar NCAA career, getting her start at Fresno State before transferring to Arizona State where she would go on to become an All American.  She most recently competed in Athlete’s Unlimited AUX in San Diego where she finished an impressive 21st in the point standings.

We’re gonna talk to Maddi about getting her start in the game, her recruiting process, the transfer to Arizona State, an epic game that her and twin sister, Kindra had, her time at Athlete’s Unlimited and much, much more.

Maddi was an absolute pleasure to chat with and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for her moving forward.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with ISC and Softball New Zealand Hall of Famer, one of the greats in our game, Patrick Shannon.

Paddy has had a spectacular career to date as he has won 4 ISC World Titles, 2 WBSC Titles, been named to 10 ISC All World Teams, as well as previously mentioned, inducted into both the ISC and Softball New Zealand Hall of Fames.

We’re gonna talk to Paddy about getting his start in the game down in New Zealand, his very well known batting stance and how that all came about, his time on the ISC circuit, what it was like winning 2 WBSC Titles on home soil and much, much, more.

Paddy was an absolute pleasure to chat with and both Hopey and myself are excited to see him back in the ISC this summer playing with Niagara Stompers.

Hard to believe we hit 100 episodes and I have to thank all of our listeners for getting us to this point. If you had of told me two years ago that I’d have a podcast with 100 episodes and over 50,000 downloads I would have called you crazy, but here we are.

Its only fitting that we got two of our most popular guests ever on the podcast back on for this special episode as we got the hosts of Dust Up with Hilly and Lolly, Newfoundland natives, Jason Hill and Steve Mullaley.

This was such a fun episode to do with 2 guys that will go down as absolute legends in our game.  If you haven’t listened to Dust Up yet, (which I’m sure everyone has) I highly advise everyone to go check it out wherever you listen to us at.  They have amazing stories with some of the best to ever play the men’s side of the game and it’s just an awesome podcast to listen to that will have you laughing your ass off.

Outside The Chute sat down and chatted with University of Georgia and University of Louisiana Alum, and current member of the Smash It Sports Vipers of the WPF, Ciara Bryan.