{"id":2244,"date":"2018-11-19T19:26:16","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=2244"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T22:22:50","slug":"softballs-california-pipeline-brings-native-american-to-wilmu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2018\/11\/19\/softballs-california-pipeline-brings-native-american-to-wilmu\/","title":{"rendered":"Softball\u2019s California Pipeline Brings Native American to WilmU"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column2244_d6c757-37 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2244_1f1b9e-d0\">Alyssa Velasquez, shortstop on the Wilmington University softball team, hails from California. Which, believe it or not, is not at all unusual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft is-resized wp-image-6062\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Alyssa-Velasquez-AI.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6062\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Native American softball player Alyssa Velasquez.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Coach Mike Shehorn has created a California pipeline, and eight members of the 2018 squad list the Golden State as home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What makes Velasquez unique is her heritage: She is the only Native American on the team \u2014 perhaps in the entire University. She is Kumeyaay\/Diegueno from the Barona Band of Mission Indians on her great-grandmother\u2019s side and Luise\u00f1o from the La Jolla Band of Luise\u00f1o Indians on her great-grandfather\u2019s side. If you\u2019ve never heard of those tribes, don\u2019t be surprised. Velasquez says there are more than 500 officially recognized tribes in the U.S. Born and raised in Indio, California, she says that her great grand-father moved to Indio for work \u201cbecause he was in the golf course business and that is where the majority of the golf courses were at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince then,\u201d she says, \u201cmy family hasn\u2019t moved back to the reservation, which is two-and-a-half hours away from Indio.\u201d Coached by her dad, Velasquez has been playing softball since the age of 4. She was influenced to come to WilmU by teammate Caitlyn Whiteside, another California product who is one year ahead of Velasquez, a junior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI love Wilmington University,\u201d she says. \u201cThe campus is beautiful, the softball field is great, and the softball program is amazing. I love my coaches and teammates. They are my second family. My coaches are awesome and funny, and my teammates are my softball sisters. It\u2019s my home away from home.\u201d Shehorn explains the California connection this way: \u201cWhen I took over as the head coach in 2013 I wanted to see how far I could stretch the boundaries of recruiting. Subsequently we were able to land a couple Cali kids and they have had great experiences. And they have been our best recruiters; they spread the word about us on the West Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs for Alyssa,\u201d he adds, \u201cshe\u2019s an amazing person, player, and teammate. She\u2019s a student of the game who has been raised around the game. Her dad and summer coaches have taught her how to play the game rather than allowing the game play her. She has started at shortstop for us since her freshman year and has continued to blossom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Health Sciences major, Velasquez helped her father coach her sister\u2019s 10-and-under team and her cousin\u2019s 12-and-under team during the summer. \u201cI enjoy teaching these young girls this wonderful sport and I tried to be a good role model for them,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I hope I can inspire them to continue their education and pursue their dreams of playing college softball. Maybe even play or attend Wilmington University. Go Wildcats!\u201d \u00ad<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014Bob Yearic<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alyssa Velasquez, shortstop on the Wilmington University softball team, hails from California. Which, believe it or not, is not at all unusual. Coach Mike Shehorn&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135,143],"tags":[652],"class_list":["post-2244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-sports","tag-magazine-fall-2018"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"},{"value":143,"label":"SPORTS"}],"post_tag":[{"value":652,"label":"Magazine Fall 2018"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Alyssa-Velasquez-AI-380x480.jpg",380,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Mumford","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/eric\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0},{"term_id":143,"name":"SPORTS","slug":"sports","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":700,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":36,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":143,"category_count":36,"category_description":"","cat_name":"SPORTS","category_nicename":"sports","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":652,"name":"Magazine Fall 2018","slug":"magazine-fall-2018","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1209,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":20,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14800,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions\/14800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}