Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here

Angel Jasso was 10 years old when her parents, Carlos and Elizabeth, sat down with her at their home in Angleton, Texas and asked her to choose softball or soccer. She had balanced both sports simultaneously for nearly four years, but the cost of playing softball alone was a financial burden on the family.

“I just broke down in tears,” Jasso said. “I was like, ‘You can’t take this away from me.’”

After seeing his daughter’s devotion to softball, Carlos began working as a transport operator. His long hours away from home were heartbreaking for the family, but it also meant Jasso could continue playing softball.

Eight years later, Jasso became the first person in her family to graduate high school and attend college, committing to Syracuse to play softball. Now in her rookie season with the Orange (15-15, 8-12 Atlantic Coast), Jasso leads the team with 14 RBIs and is tied for third in home runs, with four. She even picked up a SportsCenter Top 10 catch on April 6 against Buffalo.

In October 2019, Jasso and her parents made the 28-hour drive to Syracuse to participate in a recruiting camp. SU assistant coach Michael Steuerwald, a former coach for Jasso’s Scrap Yard Internationals club team, invited Jasso after watching her at the Junior Olympic Cup in South Carolina that summer.

The Jassos made the nearly 1700-mile trek back to Angleton without a direct offer to join the program. Two weeks after the camp, Jasso had not heard from the SU coaching staff. They began questioning why they made the long trip, Carlos said.

“She didn’t do bad, but she didn’t do anything that would’ve left a huge impression,” Elizabeth said.

Jasso didn’t have a backup plan if Syracuse didn’t extend an offer, and her dream of playing Division I softball would’ve been an afterthought. She originally only considered playing at schools two or three hours from Angleton but wanted to go further from home after visiting Syracuse, Elizabeth said. When she received an offer from Steuerwald a few days later, Jasso accepted without hesitation.

 

Jasso received her first offer during her sophomore season from Blinn College, a NJCAA school roughly two hours from Angleton. Going into her senior year, it was the only offer she had received. But she, as well as her coaches, knew that she was good enough to play at the D-I level.

“Me and my family prayed on it, and I was like, ‘I can’t take this offer from Blinn’ because I just didn’t want to settle,” Jasso said.

She put in extra work by hitting off a tee everyday and doing 100 pushups every night when her parents couldn’t afford a personal coach. But when Jasso’s longtime friend and trainer Nicole Sardelich opened The Backyard, a softball-oriented workout facility in Angleton, in 2017, Jasso made that her second home. Sardelich was Jasso’s hitting coach when she made the switch to batting left-handed at 10 years old. She joked that Jasso basically lived at the gym on days she didn’t have games or practices.

Jasso became Sardelich’s “mini protégé,” learning useful lessons that would improve her mental awareness and prepare her for high-pressure situations.

“I love that lady,” Jasso said. “I always looked up to her because she did go on to play college softball and she was one of the biggest motivators in my life.”

Like every game Jasso played, Carlos and Jasso’s extended family took time off of work and made the trip up to Austin, Texas to watch her in a University Interscholastic League state semifinal game.

Angleton was down 6-4 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jasso, the team’s designated hitter, singled into right field, using her speed to safely reach first. She was then brought home on a game-tying two-run home run by current LSU infielder Danieca Coffey, leading to a 7-6 victory in the 11th inning. Angleton capped off a 40-2 season by winning the state championship, its first since 1994.

Carlos and Elizabeth watched the extra-inning game, then drove back down to Angleton that night for work the following day.

“Growing up financially was just a struggle,” Jasso said. “I would see my dad just go to work day and night. He would leave and be gone for a while just to support our family. Seeing him not home all the time … pushed me to work hard.”

Two hour trips to practice twice a week and month-long summer trips to softball showcases came with the support and sacrifice of the entire Angleton community. Seeing Jasso leave the small town to play for an ACC program turned her into a role model.

Jasso plays far from home, but her family watches her televised games. The Angleton community has rallied around her and watched her “blossom” into a collegiate softball player and a confident person even though she’s miles away, Elizabeth said.

“It’s a big thing there in Angleton. They’re pretty proud,” Carlos said.

Published on April 21, 2021 at 10:29 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu