RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Last Friday, Extra Inning Softball announced the Top 10 recruits in the Elite 100 2018 rankings and coming out on top is UCLA signee Megan Faraimo, who calls Vista, California home and plays for Cathedral Catholic High in San Diego, one of the top-ranked teams in the country.
The outstanding pitcher plays travel ball for Marty Tyson’s Corona Angels 18U team which will be one of the favorites this summer to win every tournament it enters in large part because of Megan’s ability to dominate a game in the circle.
We’ve covered Megan for years and have seen her emerge as not just a franchise pitcher, but also as one of the nicest young players you’ll ever meet.
It will be fun to see her integrate next year into the Bruins’ rotation along with ace Rachel Garcia, who’s just a redshirt sophomore, and promising true freshman Holly Azevedo (at the time this is published, UCLA has advanced into the Super Regionals and the two pitchers are 25-3 and 15-0, respectively.)
But before then, Megan is a week away from potentially repeating as not just the San Diego Section champs, but possibly winning a National Championship if all the cards fall right as two polls have the Dons ranked in the Top 10 in the country with the possible finalist opponent being San Marcos High led by Notre Dame-bound pitcher Payton Tidd.
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All that being said, here are 15 “Did You Know?” fun facts about Megan, who we promise you’ll be hearing a lot about this summer and beyond!
Did You Know…?
… softball wasn’t her first love when it came to sports.
“I want to say it was basketball,” she confesses, “and when I was really young I remember really enjoying that sport.” I began playing rec softball about age seven, but it wasn’t until I started getting into travel ball around nine (years old) that I really started loving softball.”
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… as a young softball player, Megan was far from the fiery competitor she is today.
“When I was young and starting out, I was just this big girl with chunky cheeks,” she laughs. “I was pretty easy going and my personality was quiet. For me, it was all about going in and having fun with my friends on the field. I didn’t take it serious for a few years after I started.”
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… her first travel ball team was sponsored by one of the legends of the game.
“My first club team was called Team Watley and was sponsored by Natasha Watley (the four-time All-American at UCLA and two-time Olympic Medal winner). She would come out and work with us and talk with us. I still have the shirt signed by her!”
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… even though she played for a travel ball team named after a UCLA legend, the Bruins weren’t a lock to get her.
“UCLA started off as just one of many schools I was looking at,” Megan reveals. “It’s not that they didn’t stand out, it just didn’t hit me that it was the school I was supposed to go to until after a couple trips and camps I went to. Then, one night I woke up and realized, ‘It’s the perfect school for me!’ and now I love everything about the university and can’t wait to go there. What’s funny now is my parents tell me when I was younger UCLA was my dream school and I wore their gear, but I don’t remember that!”
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… Megan first found out about the legendary Lisa Fernandez, the UCLA great and her future pitching coach, not through softball, but because of a toy!
“The way I found out was she was as a little girl when my auntie bought me a make-up kit or a toy with Lisa Fernandez’s name on it. I remember asking, “Who’s that?’ That was my first memory of her! And I remember our first meeting in person, how she had that fiery personality and passion. I admit, I’m still star-struck: “I know Lisa Fernandez!” (laughs). But I’m really excited to learn from her and play for her. I’m just very grateful for the opportunity to work with one of the best of all time.”
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… off the field, you may run into Megan at the movie theaters or a book store.
“When I’m not playing softball, and there’s nothing to do, I love to read or go to the movies with my cousin, Lemuta Faraimo-Laban,” reveals the senior. “We go to the movies all the time and we’ll watch four hours straight, like a Harry Potter marathon. I also have loved reading since I was little and once or twice a month we’ll go hang out in a Barnes & Noble and just read for a couple hours.”
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… Megan has developed a new talent which will come in handy for giving gifts for birthdays or as Christmas presents!
“I recently found my love for making blankets,” she says. “I’ve really gotten into crocheting and doing embroidery. It’s relaxing and fun to make something that you can say you created all on your own.”
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… her birthday is July 14 and she’s always known what she’ll be doing for her birthday.
“My birthday always falls during the week of the Champion’s Cup,” she explains, “and we’re either hosting the snack bar or playing on some field. So I’m always playing on my birthday, but it’s not bad. We have a family dinner the night before, we make cupcakes and I bring them for the team the next day and I’m with all my best friends, so I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
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… she comes from a big (size and numbers!) and athletic family.
Megan’s dad, Bill, was one of seven siblings and all of them were athletes, according to Megan. “A couple played in college and my cousins all play sports,” she says. Her older brother, Matthew (20), is a junior on the USC volleyball team and younger brother, Madden (12), plays Little League baseball. “My dad was a quarterback in high school and my mom (Marcie) played softball and volleyball. Athletics came fairly easy to me and it’s because I was born with a good amount of athleticism in the family. I do know where I got my 6-foot height, though: my dad is 6-foot-2 and my mom is 6-foot-1.”
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… Megan didn’t really think about her being able to play in college until she got her first recruiting letter.
“I didn’t think it was ever that situation for me, being able to play in college,” the pitcher admits. “I always knew I would stick with softball because my passion kept growing in the sport, I always had fun and pitching was such that it was always my feeling that, ‘Wow, I don’t think I could give it up, I love it so much!’ It wasn’t until I got my first letter from a college that I realized playing at that level was a real thing and a real possibility. I remember getting it in the mail and being so excited!”
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… the UCLA signee attributes her pitching development to great coaches she’s had over the last decade she’s been in the circle.
“I was definitely born a competitor and maybe having my brothers had something to do with it, but my progress have been largely because I’ve been blessed over the years to have great coaches, even in rec ball. My first travel ball was Robert Young (long-time club coach in SoCal, now an assistant to his daughter, Marissa Young, at Duke) and he taught me things I still incorporate in my game today. I was on the Batbusters with Ken Briggs—he’s a great guy and was awesome to me; we still keep in touch today. And then I got to Marty Tyson, I’m in my sixth year with him and the Angels and I’m still learning things from him. I’ve had great support from my parents and trainers, for sure, including my pitching coaches: Dana Sorenson and Don Sarno—I go to both at least once a month and they help me with my mechanics if I feel they’re iffy.”
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… for Megan it’s not about what she throws as much as WHERE she throws that is responsible for her success.
“When I was younger I just had a fastball and change,” she recalls, “but over time I grew to believe that the most important part of pitching is hitting your location. If you throw the ball over the plate every time, if it’s dead-red then someone’s going to hit it. The key for me is pinpointing where I want the pitches to go and how I want them to move.
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… being ranked No. 1 in her class is a nice honor, but not hugely important to her.
“The way I see it, I’m very honored to be recognized as No. 1—it’s really cool and a blessing–but ultimately if I kept that in my mind and kept dwelling on it, it would affect my pitching. Being recognized is nice, but it’s not the reason I play.”
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… her Corona Angels team won the PGF 14U Nationals in 2014, but Megan thought at one point she had cost her team the championship (even though Coach Tyson ended up giving her the team trophy after the win saying, “She carried us on her back all week!”)
“Yes, I still have that trophy in my room,” she laughs, “but my strongest memory about that championship is when my team came back and scored after I had given up a home run (the Angels came back to win 7-1). I sat in the dugout and my heart was in my stomach—I thought I lost the game for my team! When we scored so many runs, I was so happy!”
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… although she’s far from set in what she’ll do for a career, she has an idea what she wants to study in Westwood.
“I want to major in Political Science with a minor in African-American studies,” she states. “I think I want to get involved in Law, but I’m not totally sure. I do know I definitely won’t be doing something in Math or Science!”