Former Arizona Wildcats pitcher Danielle O’Toole sat on the third-base side and paid particular attention to current UA catcher Sharlize Palacios when she approached the batter’s box in the second inning of Arizona’s game against Ole Miss on Saturday.
The bases were loaded and after battling a few pitches, Palacios knocked it out of the park.
“I knew that was coming,” O’Toole said.
That’s what happens when you are a student of the game, a professional pitcher who played against the Wildcats as part of Team Mexico in April.
You just know.
O’Toole was in Tucson to watch her former teammates, now seniors, play their final games at Hillenbrand Stadium in the NCAA Regionals. The former UA ace was a combined 56-17 in two seasons with the Wildcats, striking out 402 hitters in 435 innings to go with a 1.69 ERA.
The Star talked to her about what she’s learned from being a pitching coach at the University of San Diego and Cal State Fullerton, what it means to play for Team Mexico and how good the Wildcats really were in 2017.
Danielle O'Toole pitched UA to two Super Regionals in her two seasons in Tucson.
What do you like about being a pitching coach at Cal State Fullerton?
A: “There are just a bunch of gritty kids. They are a higher-level mid-major. They are in a regional tournament, usually. This year was a little bit funky. The kids learn how to compete. I think they’re really great athletes. It’s just it’s been a very different experience than before. I feel like I learned something every day. Constantly teaching people how to do what I do, I learn something else. It’s fun. I really like it.”
What is something you’ve taken from this experience that you will use for Team Mexico in the Olympics?
A: “Just going back to basics — understanding where I come from, why I’m good at what I do. And riding that into just pitching well at the Olympics.”
You were here in April with Team Mexico. What was it like for you to be in the opposing dugout at Hillenbrand?
A: “It was awesome. I think it was a great opportunity — an opportunity to play at my home. We love our school. And I would have loved to play in front of full capacity. But, it was good and I was super happy that it happened.”
What does it feel like to put on that uniform and represent Mexico for the Olympics?
A: “It’s really important my family. Obviously, no matter what I do, they’re proud of me. For my family, I know that this milestone is something that they really never expected for me. You can ask my mom. She just says,’ I always wished you would do it, I just never thought that you would.’ It’s a really great experience for me. The work that we put in for the past however many years is really going to help win a medal over there. It a pretty cool experience.
What do you think about the opportunity to throw to Dejah Mulipola again in Athletes Unlimited?
A: “I’ve said to her, ‘Imagine throwing to you now.’ I threw to her when she was a freshman. She’s got four more years under her belt. She’s had the ability to learn, she played the game, she has more experience, she’s on a great team — Team USA. After the Olympic time, we’re going to be able to talk about anything. I love talking the game; I love brainstorming, I love being really cerebral about it. I’m super excited for that opportunity.”
Danielle O'Toole deals a pitch against South Carolina in the fourth inning of their NCAA Regional game at Hillenbrand Stadium in 2017.
When you played with Jessie Harper did you think she would have 90 homers and be chasing the all-time NCAA record?
A: “One-hundred percent. I knew because in practice, she wouldn’t lay off the rise ball. I never had a good rise ball; it’s not something that I ever threw her. Nancy (Bowling) and Taylor (McQuillin) throw rise balls, and the kid was swinging it balls up here. But she hit them. I felt like at one point people are just going to throw that to her and it’s going to go far. Somebody asked me one of my favorite memories, and one of them was when we were playing Oregon and Kati (Mauga) hit the record home run. Kati is smiling running around the bases. To have two people on the same team at one point, who are both record holders in the NCAA for home runs is unreal. I knew she was going do it. I’m super happy I was here for it. That’s part of the reason why I came (this weekend).”
Your senior year, that team was so good. When you think back, was it as good as you thought it was at the time?
A: “I think it seems better now than when we played. We shouldn’t have lost (in the Super Regionals to Baylor). Honestly, every day, sometimes I’ll turn on the TV or I see Twitter and I think like, man, we should not have lost. I see that 2007 (Pac-12 championship flag) up there (on the press box) and I think we could have done it. We should have done it. Everybody here knows that. Everybody here thinks that. Imagine being that person, that was sad. On the other end of it, now that I look back, we were really freaking good. We were so talented. We were great people. I had people in the dugout, who never played supporting all of us on the field. You don’t really get that very often.
“We were good. I definitely tell all my kids now — any of my younger kids or any of my college kids (that I coach) or anybody that asks — that there is more after. Just because you don’t make it or just because you lose, like there’s more you’re going to go through in life. I’m looking forward to being a mom in a couple of years. That’s going to take priority over anything I’ve ever done. Because being a mom is what I’ve always wanted. There’s so much more in life than this. It is such an important milestone. It’s such an important book — it’s not even a chapter, the whole book. It’s just … this makes you who you are. That man down there (coach Mike Candrea) makes you who you are.”
