The Ten Rules of Recruiting From the Accomplished Zache Family

“SISTER BATTERY” GOING POWER 5

The Zache family from South Bend, Indiana, includes two college bound softball players in Riley, a 2024 catcher/middle and utility player who is committed to Missouri, and Berkley, a 2025 pitcher who was announced last week at No. 3 in the 2025 Extra Elite 100.

Here’s her bio published Friday as she was honored as being one of the very elite pitchers in the current junior class:

T-3—Berkley Zache, P/UT, Tennessee Mojo – Fisher/Harkness

At 6-foot-1, Berkley commands each of her pitches which include the power game with elite velocity as well as tight spins and the skill to consistently work multiple levels of the zone. Her high ceiling hasn’t gone unnoticed by college coaches, either: Berkley has received more than 40 phone calls from SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 college coaches offering official visits and/or scholarships. She has visited North Carolina State previously, is at Missouri this weekend, Oklahoma next weekend followed by trips to Florida and Michigan. Once those are done, she’ll begin club play with the Mojo Fisher/Harkness team throughout the fall. At St. Joseph (South Bend, Ind.) High this year, Berkley went 16-1 with a miniscule 0.13 ERA, just giving up two earned runs all season while striking out 251 batters, but that was just half the story: Berkley also smashed nine home runs and batted .531. Offensively, Berkley can hit the ball a long way and is a strong run producer as well. The physical tools plus the maturity and understanding of the mental game makes her one of the top prospects in her class. “Berkley is a leader and kids enjoy playing with her,” says Mojo Head Coach Josh Fisher. “We are excited to see where she decides to continue this journey in college. Wherever it is, will be getting one of the best!”

The family just returned this week for Berkley’s official visit to Missouri after visiting North Carolina State previously with scheduled trips planned for Oklahoma this weekend, Florida the following one and then Michigan.

Not too shabby for parents Bobby and Leslie Zache to have two future Power 5 players, but it’s easy to see where the two high school athletes and “sister battery” get their talents from.

Both parents are or have been accomplished coaches as dad has been involved with swimming, volleyball, track and field, baseball and softball at various levels, but mostly focuses his time now on player development and patent design and analysis.

Bobby has advanced degrees in accounting, finance and the law with what he adds are “gobs of certifications in kinesiology, functional training and biomechanics.”

“We own a couple of companies that allow us to do what we love the most,” the family patriarch explains, “and that is to spend time with our two beautiful girls, friends and family.”

Mom has also coached at multiple levels and is currently an assistant softball coach at St. Joseph High in South Bend, Indiana, where her two daughters play.

Softball is truly a family affair for the Zaches.

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INFLUENCERS & SPIRITUAL GROWTH

It hasn’t been easy, though, the parents freely admit.

“A lot of our knowledge evolved from experience that we gained from our incredible support group,” Bobby Zache begins, “including but not limited to our community, our pastors and priests, our teachers and instructors, our grandparents, parents and siblings and through our own, incredibly diverse experiences.”

Spirituality and an appreciation of life and people on a bigger scale has been embedded in the sisters from their parents… their father remembers a defining moment in the two players’ lives.

“When we lost at Regionals this last year,” Bobby explains, “the girls took it very hard, not because they lost, but because high school ball involves a different and unique type of environment from travel.”

“We had a lot of seniors this last year, some of which they, Riley and Berkley, did not like growing up, but later in life, grew to love.  They learned the cardinal rule: ‘You cannot love people in slices.’”

“Anyways, they wanted more time with the seniors, knowing that they would likely not see them again, at least not in that capacity.  The pain was written all over their faces.  They were very reserved for a few days, so we invited the team over for one last ‘hitting session’ in “the barn.”

“The girls discovered something that night, and the next day asked to go to church.  What they all shared was a feeling of team and family, which they later said brought them closer to their spirituality.”

“It was at that point that Leslie and I knew that, as parents, we had shared with them the gift of guidance even when we weren’t there.”

*****

3 RULES OF TRAVEL BALL & 10 IDEAL COACHING TRAITS

That parental guidance first began in the athletic space when the Zache parents introduced their young budding athletes to softball.

“Our first experiences with travel ball were enlightening,” Bobby remembers. “Both Leslie and I had decided that it was time for Riley and Berkley to be coached by others at around age 10.  Although we both felt that we were adequately experienced to coach them ourselves, the ‘echo chamber’ of our coaching philosophies and ideals needed to be challenged with different strategies and ideas.”

“How else would they survive in college and the world if we were always creating an augmented and controlled reality of the world around them?”

“From these experiences we formed our “3 rules for travel ball.’ Simply put, we determined that these three questions were paramount to assessing each opportunity and assuring an even playing field of opportunity free from bias:”

1. Are there any parent coaches or coaches having a familial relationship with a player or players?
2. Are there any coaches that are also high school or college coaches, that have current or prospective players on the team?
3. And finally, are there any coaches on the team that instruct players on the team, outside of the team setting?

The trio of rules proved to be successful for the Zache parents in predicting the types of experiences Riley and Berkley would eventually have with their fastpitch coaching staffs.

“What we have discovered through trial and error,” Bobby continues, “is that the coaches that build confident young women and build championship teams, possess 10 key characteristics:

1. They have clearly defined and set of rules and expectations.  They communicate those rules and expectations in a manner that is clearly understood by parents and players.  They apportion the enforcement of rules unapologetically to all players equally, no matter who the player is.
2. They are self-aware, and capable of diagnosing their own emotions, placing those emotions in check when necessary and then clearly communicating with and mentoring their players.  They demand this out of the players as well.
3. They trust their own experience, with an eye on the past but always evolving with the game.  trusting who they have selected to mentor and coach.
4. They ask questions, and limit assumptions.
5. They are confident and possess a level of emotional security that allows them to mentor and coach different personalities.
6. They unabashedly resist hidden agendas, back door discussions, and side cart deals, mortgaging one players’ opportunity in favor of a player or group of players due to factors other than the rules and expectations set forth.
7. They are fiercely compassionate about their players.
8. They are punctual, approachable and either individually or together, organized.
9. They are accountable, taking ownership when a mistake has occurred.
10. And finally, they are real.  They always present who they are as a person.

As this awareness of what they wanted for their softball-playing daughters continued to grow, the parents developed a set of 10 rules when it came to the recruiting process which had two primary goals, according to the father of the family:

“One, help us as parents give guidance, but not interference, in their girls’ lives, and two, like the Ten Commandments, give them a guide for life in everything they do.”

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THE 10 RECRUITING RULES

As the softball sisters approached the ages to be evaluated and recruited, Bobby and Leslie developed a set of “10 rules for recruiting” which Bobby explains “give Berkley and Riley the autonomy to regulate her own recruiting, taking pride in the process, but within a logical and pragmatic framework that gives them the greatest opportunity for personal growth and a safety valve if needed.”

The athletes’ mother adds:

“I think going though this recruiting process can be a bit overwhelming for these young athletes,” Leslie believes.

“Bobby and I felt that it was our duty to come up with a good logical approach for the girls to follow otherwise it was going to be very easy for all of us to lose sight of what was really important to and for the girls. To me the ‘Ten Rules’ are a great roadmap not just for recruiting but for how you live your life and your approach to it.”

Here they are and are great concepts for current recruits and their families to consider as they approach the recruiting process:

1. Make a list of all of the things that you are looking for in a program and prioritize them.

How do you personally value your education, training, nutrition, rest, player development, winning, teamwork, comradely, your relationship with the staff, etc.?  Always keep these in mind and shape your visits and conversations around them.  Do not let anyone else, including your parents, tell you what your priorities are.  This is your decision.  We will always be there to guide you if asked.

2. Ask thorough questions and retrieve satisfactory answers.

You have a responsibility to yourself to ask these questions.  Make no assumptions and take no leaps of faith on the answers.  If you are unclear, ask.  Always answer a coach’s question truthfully.  If you tell them what you think they want to hear as opposed to what you want to say, rest assured your experience will be a very bad one.

3. Do not get caught up in the history of the program.

Keep your eyes on what is happening currently.  Just because one program has been historically bad or historically good, does not guarantee that either will continue.

4. Get to know the coaches on a personal level and let them get to know you.

Your success or failure emotionally, and as a player, hinges on your self-assurance that a prospective Coach is open and honest and possesses integrity.

5. Call around you network and see if there are any inconsistencies.

This starts with those with whom you have already established trust.  Hearsay can be a good guide, but it never establishes fact until it comes from the source or someone that has first-hand knowledge.  Always remember that opinions can different, it doesn’t make them right or wrong, they may just not be right for you.

6. Be humble, make good eye contact, show confidence and be yourself.  If they don’t like you, move on.

Have enough confidence in yourself that your worth is not predicated on someone else’s opinion.   Show interest in what is being said and express attentiveness by making good eye contact.  The eyes are the windows to the soul.  Additionally, you cannot analyze body language absent eye contact.  Finally, always be respectful, but remember what Dr. Seuss taught you: “Be who you are and say what you feel, those that matter don’t mind, and those that mind don’t matter.”

7. Be respectful to all of the people that believe in you both enough to put the time in to acknowledge you. 

This includes your family, your friends, your community, your teachers, the coaches that have taken the time to recruit you, the coaches, instructors and directors that have been a part of your growth, and the media outlets and reporting agencies that have taken the time to acknowledge you.

8. DO NOT EVER build personal value by mortgaging someone else’s.

Do not ever attempt to leverage one coach’s trust, time, and willingness to extend an opportunity, against another coach.  When you make your choice, be thankful, privately acknowledge those that you have not chosen, and do not ever try to garner attention by making a media circus out of that choice to boost your popularity.  Remember how disrespectful and immature we all thought it was when we watched players announce their choice, with five hats from five different colleges in front of them, making a big production out of the one chosen.  This is incredibly childish and tells a lot about the athletes’ core values.

9. Do not let your subconscious emotions overtake your conscious logic.  If you experience an overpowering emotion, ask yourself why.

Emotions can be deceptive.  They are responses based on your experiences of the past and they may or may not have a bearing on what is happening in the present.  If you want to be successful, you have to make a conscious effort to ask yourself why you are feeling the way you are.

10. Do not share your personal life on social media. 

The number of “followers” that you have does not define who you are, nor does softball.  It doesn’t define who Mom and I are, and it doesn’t define our love for you both.  If you choose not to play this game, we will love you for the rest of our lives and yours.  Remember what John Candy said in the movie Cool Runnings, “A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you aren’t good enough without one, you will never be good enough with one.”

— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball

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