The story below is reproduced with permission from Calkins Media.
By Mary Jane Souder, correspondent
Michelle Delloso had big dreams as a youngster growing up in Quakertown. In fact, many would have fallen under the category of impossible dreams.
Playing professional baseball in major league stadiums? Unlikely for a young girl who -- at the age of 12 -- was told she could no longer play baseball with the boys.
Fast forward to the spring of 1994.
Delloso signed a contract to play professional baseball for the all-female Silver Bullets, who spent the summer playing against men’s teams in major league stadiums. In an exhibition game before an Oakland A’s game at Oakland Coliseum, Delloso’s defensive plays at third base were so spectacular they not only were shown on the Jumbotron during the A’s game, but All-Star third baseman Scott Brosius handed Delloso his glove and said, “You should be playing third base for us today.”
Delloso, who now calls Utah home, has spent a lifetime making seemingly impossible dreams come true, and the Quakertown High School graduate will return to her roots Saturday at 6:30 p.m. to share her story at R.E. Strayer Middle School. The event -- sponsored by the Quakertown Softball Booster Club -- will represent the launch of her self-published book Brand-Loyal, and money raised (tickets are $10) will benefit the high school softball team.
Hers is an inspiring story that proves the impossible is possible. If, that is, you honor your calling and listen to your inner voice.
“I remember coming across this quote -- ‘When money and recognition no longer matter, that’s when the real living begins,’ and I think that’s all I ever wanted in my life,” Delloso said. “I know what I want.
“It’s an inner calling, and it’s evident, and I try to get people to really hear it. For me, the only way to hear it sometimes is hiking because of all the clutter, because of the social media. There are so many influencers.
“As a kid I remember being soulful, well beyond my years. I wasn’t chasing the All-American title, the Olympics. Certain things happened. My love was baseball, and I made a choice for the love, not the title. I didn’t want to stop at 12. I wanted to go back to that, and I did, but that dream wasn’t what I thought it would be.”
The founder and owner of the Go Girl Futures Program, Delloso was uncertain of her future when -- as co-president of the Class of 1987 -- she spoke to her graduating class. The one thing Delloso knew for certain was that softball would be part of it. Her options at the time were walking on at East Carolina or going to Onondaga Community College as a recruit.
Delloso didn’t do either.
The Quakertown graduate’s improbable journey took her to the University of South Carolina where she went on to play in the College World Series and was a three-time All-American. The three-year captain was a Honda-Broderick Cup Nominee. Although just 5-foot-4, Delloso set the all-time record for a female athlete during the annual weight lifting competition at USC by squatting 340 pounds in addition to running a 5:20 mile that same year.
How did it happen?
It began with the purchase of a beat-up car for $500 with money Delloso had received from graduation awards and earned waitressing at Pizza Randa. The car, a lemon, took her to just one tournament, and that was the ASA State Softball Tournament in Newtown in July. University of South Carolina coach Joyce Compton -- at the recommendation of the father of USC standout Gretchen Koenig -- was one of a handful of people in the stands. Two days later, Delloso made a recruiting trip to South Carolina and her future took a 180-degree turn.
“I wasn’t given the golden ticket,” Delloso said. “I’m validation that hard works pays off. I had to work for my scholarship. I even had to waitress while I was in college because I bought into, ‘We need a pitcher, Michelle, we need a pitcher to go to the World Series, so you have to take a partial scholarship.’
“I could have got caught up in – ‘Wait a minute, I’m an All-American,’ but I bought into the system, and it served me well. I don’t know any different. I don’t know what a golden ticket looks like. I think that’s why I’m able to survive. I know firsthand that there are Olympians that struggle with life afterwards because their identity has been wrapped up in a title, and I’m not a part of that.”
Delloso, who competed in six varsity sports at Quakertown, is a proponent of athletes competing in more than one sport when they are younger. She has been inducted into the National Softball Association Hall of Fame and is the first women’s softball player to have her name on a Louisville Slugger bat as well as the first female baseball/softball player to sign an endorsement contract with Nike.
She has been a speaker at many events and will be the keynote speaker at this spring’s NJCAA JUCO World Series. Her message -- listen to your heart tugs.
For ticket information, contact Jeff Gray via e-mail Jeffrey.Gray@fedex.com.
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