Former Cougar softball pitcher Angel Shamblin is playing for the Akron Racers of the Women’s Fastpitch Professional softball league, but will return to UH in the fall to finish her degree.
The Daily Cougar: How have you been since your college softball career ended?
Angel Shamblin: It’s just constantly busy, busy, busy.
The Daily Cougar: How soon after the season ended did you start playing professionally?
Shamblin: That Monday after Super Regionals I contacted people and I was out here pretty much a week after we got done playing.
The Daily Cougar: Are you traveling a lot?
Shamblin: We haven’t started traveling, actually. We traveled the first weekend I was out here, and then we’ve been home the rest of the time. But we’re actually about to hit the road. We travel tomorrow and then we play Team USA on Tuesday, and travel again next Wednesday.
The Daily Cougar: So you haven’t really had any downtime this summer yet.
Shamblin: It’s pretty laid back as far as you don’t have school and stuff like that, but we’re constantly doing clinics or camps. When we do have downtime it’s usually during the day (because) we play at night.
The Daily Cougar: How’s the transition from being in college and playing pro softball been for you?
Shamblin: It’s definitely different, because in college you have a set routine every day and you have pretty much a schedule laid out for you. You have class at this time, you have practice, eat this time, you have weight at this time. Here it’s more like when do you want to practice, how much do you want to practice, do you want to practice, type of thing. Here also, you don’t play every day. Especially being a pitcher, I don’t have to pitch every day, anymore. You start one day, and then (the other days) you show up, and if they need you in relief, you go in for relief, but there’s definitely no structure.
The Daily Cougar: What was it like going from knowing everyone on the UH team to joining a new team? Did you know anyone before you got there?
Shamblin: There’s a lot of people that I play with here that I knew their names, and I knew a couple of people. One of my roommates (Kristen Butler) is actually from Florida. She grew up with me (and we played) against each other. We get along, so it’s fun.
The Daily Cougar: Does everyone on the team live together?
Shamblin: In the pro league, they have to supply you with a place to live. We’re all in the same apartment complex. Everything’s furnished. We have couches, desks, TVs, beds, dressers, all your utensils for cooking. It was all here when we walked into the apartment. Our manger did really well with that.
The Daily Cougar: What was it like playing in your first pro game?
Shamblin: I was nervous before the game! I always have that…excitement before a game. (In college) if you make a mistake, you might have gotten away with it. Here, if you make a mistake, you’re going to pay for it for the most part.
The Daily Cougar: You played Team USA with the Cougars last season. Are you looking forward to facing them again?
Shamblin: It’s always an honor to play them, because they’re such a great team. It’s going to be at home and it’s going to be a great crowd. We sold out, so I think we’re going to have 6000 people coming out. I think everybody’s going to get a chance to play and I think it’s going to be interesting to see how I match up against them again, too. It’s going be a fun game regardless of the outcome because I think the atmosphere is going to be huge.
The Daily Cougar: Are you excited about coming back to UH next year after your summer playing in the pros?
Shamblin: I’m definitely looking forward to working with the team again and being around the girls. I’m still a student, so I’ll be a volunteer assistant. Instead of playing I’ll be coaching more, so I’ll be kind of be seeing the standpoint of what our coaches see, because I do want to coach when I graduate.
The Daily Cougar: Would you want to play more professionally or go straight into coaching?
Shamblin: I want to continue to play as long as possible and find a college coaching job somewhere, so I’ll just kind of see how it plays out and get my name out there. Definitely working a year as a student assistant, sitting back and observing and seeing the kinds of things you don’t always see every day ’cause you’re playing (will be helpful).
