Host Erin Foley welcomes softball icon Michele Smith! This episode was originally recorded in 2019 and it was an instant classic! Michele is a legendary softball pitcher and trailblazing broadcaster. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, she helped lead Team USA to victories in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000), dominating with a combined 0.51 ERA and 60 strikeouts across 41.2 innings. Smith also captured three ISF World Championships and two Pan American Games golds.

At Oklahoma State University from 1986 to 1989, she compiled an 82–20 record, earned two NFCA First-Team All-American honors, and set numerous school and conference records—all after overcoming a devastating arm injury in 1986.

Since 1998, Smith has been ESPN’s lead college softball analyst, and in 2012, she broke new ground as the first woman to commentate a nationally televised MLB game. She was inducted into the USA Softball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Foley and Smith discuss her fight to get the sport back in the Olympics, her playing days in Japan, career highs and lows, commentating for ESPN and how nobody should ever swing at a rise ball. Enjoy!

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Email the show: erin@herlights.com

Athletes Unlimited Softball League: https://theausl.com/

Host Erin Foley welcomes Jane McManus, a distinguished sports journalist, author, and educator. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. McManus spent nearly a decade at ESPN, covering the NFL and as a columnist for espnW. She also hosted two ESPN Radio shows and was a frequent analyst for SportsCenter.

Her work has appeared in Newsday, The New York Times, USA Today and recently authored The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women’s Sports, a book that explores the economic growth and cultural impact of women's athletics.

And most importantly, she skated with Suburbia Roller Derby under the pseudonym Leslie E. Visserate for 7 years, retiring in 2014.

Foley & McManus discuss the scope of her book, her writing process, the investment and media coverage surrounding women’s sports, and of course, her Roller derby days.

Follow Erin on Social! Instagram: @erinkfoley Bluesky: @erinfoleycomic.bsky.social

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@erinfoleycomic

Email the show: erin@herlights.com

Jane McManus on IG: @janesports

Host Erin Foley welcomes Shea Ralph, the head coach of Vanderbilt women’s basketball and former UConn star. A standout multi-sport athlete in high school, she set 17 state basketball records and was named USA Today’s National High School Player of the Year in 1996. At UConn, she led the Huskies to a national title in 2000 and earned NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors, despite a career marked by multiple ACL injuries. After assistant coaching stints at Pitt and UConn, Ralph took over at Vanderbilt in 2021, quickly revitalizing the program and leading the Commodores to their first NCAA Tournament in a decade.

Foley and Ralph talk about her basketball lineage, ACL injuries, playing and coaching at UCONN, building the Vandy program, navigating NIL challenges and more. Enjoy!

Follow Erin on Social! Instagram: @erinkfoley Bluesky: @erinfoleycomic.bsky.social

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@erinfoleycomic

Email the show: erin@herlights.com

Follow Shea Ralph: https://www.instagram.com/coachshearalph/