Chloe Lesko was ranked in the Top 15 of the 2023 Extra Elite 100 published last spring and is not just a dangerous power hitter as a first baseman/outfielder for the California Cruisers 18U team coached by Mel Sievers, she’s also an outstanding student with a 4.8 GPA (with the possibility of having a 5.0 GPA by the end of this semester thanks to her taking all college level/AP classes).
Chloe ended up being a 1st Team All-CIF honoree and her great balance as a student-athlete led to her having recently committed to the University of Pennsylvania.
The junior explained:
“I will be continuing my studies at the Wharton School of Business while playing D1 softball at an Ivy League… very exciting to say the least!”
So what is it that has made Chloe such an impressive student-athlete on and off the field?
You can get her insights in previous blogs she’s written for Extra Inning Softball including “Getting Mental” and her “Theories of Hitting” and today she talks about the importance of togetherness on a team and being unified in the desire to want that win!
Check it out…
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“Keep your palm up through the zone and your hands inside the ball.”
A repeated token of advice my father, my life-long coach, which he has said to me prior to nearly every game since before I was able to fully understand what the phrase meant.
This phrase, along with a few other tidbits of guidance provided by various coaches over the years, were some of the last things that ran through my head right before I hit my first home run while batting out of the leadoff spot for my new team (California Cruisers Sievers 18u Gold).
As exciting as that was, our last game of the day, then became memorable for an entirely different reason.
Following my homer, the opposing team’s coaches reignited a quarrel with the umpires that started prior to the game’s first pitch.
The “spirited discussions” lasted for more than 30 minutes in total, and the bickering started to remind my teammates and me of the “girl drama” that we sometimes endure in high school (almost entertaining, to say the least!).
While my teammates and I continued to watch the evening’s events unfold, we also worked hard to stay “locked in” on the task at hand. While my home run provided us with a spark, we knew we would have to focus on staying in our “mental bubble” if we wanted to maintain our tempo and momentum.
The flames of the arguments grew as the tournament director arrived on site in his golf cart. At that point, my coach addressed our team with words of advice that included:
- “Don’t feed the fire.”
- “Play our game.”
- “Don’t fall into the drama.”
These reminders helped my teammates and me sustain our tunnel-vision and provided us with a simple but effective roadmap to victory. That game, I never took a wasted swing.
I wanted that win.
That game, my teammates made diving plays across the diamond.
They wanted that win.
We all wanted that win, so we stayed focused and accomplished our goal. That night, in that
moment, all that mattered was getting the win. It didn’t matter that it was our fourth game of the day. It didn’t matter that we had been at the fields for more than 10 hours before the game’s start.
We all played that game as if we had collectively pushed our “reset button” right before
first pitch.
I believe the key to my team winning that game was our ability to stay together, stay focused, and stay composed. More than playing WITH each other, we played FOR each other.
While our energy, enthusiasm, and effort were all incredible, it was our TOGETHERNESS that led us to victory that night.
Our coach was able to use an in-game controversy to galvanize our team through words of advice and encouragement. Like most teams this time of year, we are a relatively new group searching for ways to “put the pieces of the puzzle” together.
That night, several of the puzzle pieces slid into place, as we learned that playing for EACH OTHER is a powerful way to rise above the competition, and battle through the chaos of any game!
— Chloe Lesko
