Inside Pitch: Grace White On Sophia Vlahos of Texas Glory 2K7 Playing for the Greek National Team & Greek Junior Team This Summer

Grace White, a longtime blogger for Extra Inning Softball’s “Inside Pitch” series, finished her college career this spring as a senior for her Division II Union University Bulldogs and, last month, received her diploma after she majored in Journalism.

She is now “entering the big girl world!” as she puts it after also being the Sports Editor for the Cardinal & Cream, the school’s student publication, and has a younger sister who plays in the Virginia Unity club organization.

Today’s “Inside Pitch” spotlight’s a young pitcher who is not only playing for the Greece Junior Team, she’ll also compete for the Greek National Team this Summer… here’s her story…

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Sophia Vlahos, a 2025 pitcher and middle infielder for Texas Glory 2K7 from McKinney, Texas, will be competing on the Greek National Team this summer in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, from July 30^th to August 5^th. She will also play on the Greek Junior Team in Colorado June 23^rd through June 25^th.

Although Sophia was born in the U.S., she is basically 100 percent Greek with her grandparents on both sides being born on Greek islands. One of the things that Sophia is looking forward to the most from this experience is getting to represent the country of her heritage. There will also be a camp prior to the tournament in Prague which will give her the opportunity to see Greece for the first time.

“My mom just passed away this year,” said Sophia’s dad Nick Vlahos. “My dad’s been gone for a while. And just her being able to do that, I think it in some way keeps the spirit alive with them for me. That this is still home. All four of her grandparents came from Greece, and she kind of embraces that which I think is amazing. She keeps wanting to learn more about her heritage.”

This process wasn’t a walk in the park for Sophia and her family. Originally, one of Sophia’s older sisters was going to play on the Greek National Team. However, an injury prevented her from having the chance. Tony Foti, the head coach of the national team, saw footage of Sophia and invited her to attend a workout right after Christmas of 2022. They liked what they saw there and decided they wanted her on both the junior team and the national team.

Because the Vlahos family was going to be going to Greece for her older sister anyway, they had already begun the process of getting Sophia her Greek citizenship. This was very difficult because the records in Greece aren’t kept as well as they are in the U.S.

Nick explained that the country had misspelled Sophia’s maternal grandfather’s name, so they couldn’t find his birth certificate and other records. Once they found it, they had to certify that Sophia’s grandfather and grandmother were married in the States and then prove that they had a child (Sophia’s mother). Finally, they had to certify that Sophia is their grandchild. It was a very difficult process, but it was worth it for Sophia to represent her country playing a sport that she loves.

The chance to play for the Greek Junior Team and Greek National Team is also a great opportunity for Sophia as she continues her journey as a softball player. She grew up playing soccer. However, Sophia saw her older sister playing softball and when she was around eleven or twelve, decided that it was something she wanted to try.

“Honesty, I remember when I would watch her games just being so fascinated by the pitching especially,” Sophia said. “Just the pitching aspect of it really made me drawn to it and all the philosophies of softball just made me pick it over soccer because I felt that it was a more mentally challenging sport.”

Now, several years later, Sophia is a pitcher herself. She’s 5’11” and is able to generate a lot of power with her lanky frame. But Sophia is not confined to just pitching. Her coach Jeff Martin gave Sophia high praise in his assessment of her.

“She’s obviously a right-handed pitcher with elite length, but that’s not all about Sophia,” Coach Martin said. “She’s a unique athlete in the fact that she has a very good bat and is a very good baserunner and a very good defensive player in the middle infield. She’s a very well-rounded athlete and can probably do more than one thing at the D1 level.”

Sophia is one of those athletes that is never going to be satisfied. This opportunity isn’t going to cause her to be complacent, which is evident in the high school awards she received this year, including Most Valuable Player for McKinney Boyd, 1st Team All-District 5-6A, Academic All-District 5-6A, and the Heart of the Bronco Spirit Award.

Sophia’s long-term goal is to play at the Division I level and to represent Greece in the 2028 Olympics should softball return to the games.

“She’s all in,” Nick said. “The best I ever tell her is ‘Never too high, never too low.’ She’s one of those high competitors, super hard on herself. The other thing I always tell her is ‘As good as you’re doing, there’s always someone behind you trying to catch you, and there’s those folks in front of you that you’re trying to catch.’ So it’s that grinder mentality that I try to give her.”

Sophia definitely embraces the advice that her dad gives her, and because of that and her work ethic, she is one to watch as she continues on her quest for greatness.

— Grace White, Extra Inning Softball correspondent

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