In case you can't spare the 30 minutes to listen, I tried to transcribe the podcast below - at least the highlights.

Difference between this summer and last:
*Little less hectic. Last summer was trying to get acclimated, figure out the roster, etc. This year was just trying to fill in the holes

Last Year Notes:
*Saw a lot of potential early last year, and the team just kept improving. The buy-in from the seniors last year was the key to the whole year. Can’t thank them enough for believing. Going to the regionals is a goal and going to the regional and winning is a goal so it was good experience for the future.

Last Year’s Home Run Total:
*Would never put a number on HRs – just want the players to hit the ball hard. Just get a good pitch and hit it hard, good things will happen

First Post-Season Thoughts:
*Who’s going to replace Emma Strouth and who’s going to replace Caitlyn Nolan. Those are two kids that you don’t replace easily. They were both just leaders. They just put their head down and went to work. They were good kids, good students, good students. They’re the epitome of the type of kids I want here.

Transfer of Kelsey Brown from JMU, the VHSL career stolen base leader with 133 stolen bases:
*She called when she went into the portal and I told her we have a really good outfield coming back. That we have a space open in left field, but there are other players that will be vying for that position and there will be competition. I’ve found out that Kelsey likes competition – she has a really high motor. She’s one of the fastest players I’ve ever coached and I’ve coached some All-Americans before. We kept stats during fall ball and inter-squad scrimmages and she hit .520 or so with a bunch of stolen bases. The surprising thing is that she has some pop in her bat and has 9 or 10 doubles. She’s a threat to steal any time. She’s definitely a weapon.

Thoughts on his first recruiting class:
*There’s a toughness about them. They’re student athletes, of course, but they take their studies seriously, and they take their softball seriously as well. On the field, there’s a lot of athleticism, a lot of speed, and you’ve got some power and good base running. And you’ve got some pitching.

How do you tell the twins Ashley and Ansley Whitley apart:
*Well, my go-to is just to call out one of their names and then that one answers, I know who’s who…Their hitting style is a little different, so I can tell that way. I’m getting close to being able to tell them apart. There’s an internal competitiveness with each other and they push each other very hard. They can both run and they can both throw. Ansley has a little more power, she has about 7 home runs this fall. Ashley is more of a contact hitter, but she’s got pop, too. I think Ansley is more of an infielder, Ashley is a utility player, probably our number 2 catcher at this point. They can play anywhere. They don’t get pigeon-holed anywhere.

Freshman Pitcher Kaylee Hewitt, Under Armour Player of the Year contender
*Well, any freshman has a learning curve in college. I think pitchers have more of a learning curve because they’re involved with every pitch, every play. Kaylee came in this summer and worked hard and got herself healthy. She’s healthy now, she’s been healthy for about a month, but she’s about a month behind everyone else. She has a lot of potential, but I have to keep reminding myself and her that she’s about a month behind everyone else. She’s 6’2” and throws in the mid to upper 60s, good up, good down, good change. She has the potential to be pretty good.

Volunteer Coach Andrew Stover
*It was going to be hard to fill Matt’s shoes. I made some calls to people I respect and one of the first names that came up with Andrew Stover. I actually played fast pitch softball with him in a tournament in 2007. He was in the army. He brings a toughness to the program. A good dude – holds the kids accountable, knows the game, works hard. He’s been a really good asset to the program.

Caitlyn Nolan
*I’m thankful that she stuck around. She came into my office last year and said she had learned a lot and wanted to coach and she wanted to stay with the program and learn more. She has declared a minor so she’s actually an undergrad, student assistant.

How the team looked in filling in the holes
*I’m fairly confident in our outfield. Defensively, we’re really, really strong. Offensively, we have some options. I’m fairly confident in our outfield. Middle infield, we have Olivia back.

*That’s a big plus for us. At shortstop, it’s going to come down to Maddie Banks and Ansley Whitley. I met with them the other day and said “go win your spot.” I’m not prepared to say it’s one or the other at this point. One thing that people don’t realize is that at shortstop, you could hit zero and you’re going to stay in the lineup as long as you make every play. That’s huge for me.

As far as they whole team goes, I saw improvement week-to-week. We’re better now than we wewre September 1st. What that translates to in the spring, I don’t know, but we’re definitely better now than when we got here.

Olivia Lattin
*I would think she’s probably 85% back. Offensively, she’s starting to turn the corner. She’s starting to trust herself more. She’s hit better the last couple of weeks. I’m not worried about her offensively at all. Defensively, she’s still a little bit tentative. I’m not worried about ‘ Liv. She puts the work in and she cares. She’ll be fine.

Keely Rochard
*Keely is one of the leaders on the team. All the pitchers look up to her. She’s doing a good job....
*It’s her team now. She’s going to take a lot of innings this spring. She wants the ball. She’s another kid that’s gotten substantially better than last spring. She pitched the last couple innings in our last fall game and it was lights out. It was just different. She’s added another pitch. She’s more confident in the other two. I’m really excited about her this year. She’s going to have a big year.

Fan Support
*The girls feed off of it. If they see fans in the stands, they seem to play better. One of the biggest compliments that I get is that we play like a major league baseball team. Our fans gravitate to that. We’re not the rah rah, home run chain team. That’s not who we are. That’s not to say other teams can’t be that. That’s fine. There’s a certain blue collarness to Blacksburg that we try to fit and that’s how we play.

The Rest of the Semester
*We’re in our 4 hour weeks now, so we’re not technically done. The players can do 4 hours of softball a week now and we’ll take advantage of those 4 hours. For example, today we did defense and we hit for an hour. We’ll go at it until the week before Thanksgiving. We’ll see them back a week before the student body comes back, so they get a week without classes.

There were some fun conversations that ended the podcast including the non-softball games that they girls play like dodgeball and hockey. Coach likes to just watch and laugh, but it also tells him something about their competitiveness.