Angel Jasso develops hitting power through workouts

By Zak Wolf asst. digital editor

At eight years old, Angel Jasso’s softball coach recommended she do 100 pushups a day. Her father, Carlos Jasso, said she wasn’t too fond of that.

Like most young kids, she was hesitant to listen to her coach. But Carlos encouraged her to get stronger, which was needed as she transitioned from 8U to 10U softball. Carlos sacrificed a lot to put Jasso in a position to succeed, and he didn’t want to see it go to waste.

A junior outfielder for Syracuse, Carlos described Jasso as scrawny and bony from a young age. Jasso didn’t always have the motivation to workout. It wasn’t until high school when she got serious about her strength and conditioning. Jasso developed a relationship with her hitting coach, Nicole Sardelich, who worked on strength training with her. Jasso’s time in the gym grew her frame, leading her to become one of Syracuse’s most prolific hitters.

“She lived at the gym,” Carlos said.

The two were similar. Sardelich wasn’t a naturally gifted athlete, either, and the relatively small age gap — nine years — made it easy to communicate. Jasso absorbed everything Sardelich said to her, saying she sometimes listened to her more than her parents.

“Oftentimes, Nicole would tell her things that we were telling her, but it was the fact that it wasn’t her mom and dad telling her that made her listen,” said Elizabeth Jasso, Sardelich’s stepmom. “It was coming from somebody…who already went through the recruiting process, who played college softball and already did the things that Angel’s trying to achieve.” men’s basketball

By Connor Smith senior staff writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Moments after Syracuse’s three-point, buzzer-beating loss to Wake Forest in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Jim Boeheim took the podium for his postgame press conference. With a 17-15 record, the loss likely ended the Orange’s season, meaning they won’t play in the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since 1969-70.

Eventually, the question was posed. Has Boeheim thought about his plans for next season? What does the future look like? The answer, Boeheim said, is up to SU. Hours later, though, Syracuse announced Boeheim’s retirement, and the plan for Adrian Autry to succeed him as head coach.

Boeheim noted that it’s been “great” to see Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Roy Williams (North Carolina) and Mike Brey (Notre Dame) sign on to post-retirement roles at their respective schools. He said he hasn’t had any conversations about that with Syracuse — but hopes he will.

“The university hasn’t offered me anything, whether to work or do anything at the university. That’s their choice,” Boeheim said. “I think you missed it, I gave my retirement speech on the court last Saturday, and I gave men’s lacrosse

Elizabeth added that the money they spent on training was worth “every penny,” and that Sardelich pushed Jasso harder than other trainers had.

Jasso and Sardelich first met through mutual connections. When Jasso transitioned from coach to kid pitch, one of Jasso’s coaches mentioned Sardelich — their oldest daughter played with Sardelich at Angleton High School. She was an experienced catcher that could help the players transition to higher levels.

When Jasso was 10, Sardelich started giving her hitting lessons, having her hit off the tee to perfect her mechanics. Elizabeth said that before meeting Sardelich, Jasso worked with several trainers, but she connected best with Sardelich.

Sardelich played four seasons at a Division-II school, St. Mary’s College in Texas. But whenever Sardelich returned on break, she went right back to work with Jasso. After graduating in 2017, Sardelich opened up her own gym, “The Backyard,” where Jasso got involved immediately.

Jasso’s main goal was to become a more powerful hitter, Sardelich said. Carlos always talked about how Jasso was a great contact hitter when she was younger, but Sardelich wanted to work on her power.

Workouts typically lasted two hours, starting with a 15 to 20 minute warmup. Certain days, Jasso worked on legs with squats and box jumps. Other days, Sardelich focused on her upper body with power lifts. The one day that Jasso never looked forward to was conditioning workouts, Sardelich said.

Jasso did suicides — sprinting from one end of the gym to the other. She jumped rope, used the erg machine, did squats, pushups and used the rowing machine. They were simple things, but longtime domains, Sardelich said.

“I’m not going to make her do anything that’s ridiculous,” Sardelich said. “When it comes to overheads or anything she doesn’t need to do, I would tweak it to something that would make sense for her.”

The workouts were meant to be specific to singular sports, featuring quick and powerful movements. Sometimes in the summer, Sardelich took Jasso swimming, too.

Jasso didn’t miss a day at the gym. After school, Elizabeth took Jasso’s three younger sisters to their extra-curricular activities and dropped Jasso off at the gym. Elizabeth would pick her up two or three hours later on her way back. Sometimes, Jasso also even did her homework in the gym, Elizabeth said.

Jasso’s motivation wasn’t always high. Elizabeth remembered Jasso being lazy when she was younger when the two worked out together. When she saw Jasso not working hard enough, she threatened to take her phone away.

Sardelich said the parental discipline only benefited Jasso. Elizabeth said Jasso was the one they were the hardest on. Talking about Jasso’s Syracuse scholarship, Elizabeth joked that Jasso’s three younger siblings will probably be “living with us for the rest of our lives,” explaining that Jasso set herself apart.

Sardelich and Jasso’s parents started seeing a difference in the way she carried herself when she was a junior in high school. Jasso still didn’t know whether she would play D-I softball with new transfer rules that made it harder to fit on a roster. Everything rode on a scholarship, so Jasso kicked it into high gear.

Every Memorial Day, Jasso started doing

“The Murph” workout with Elizabeth. It’s a one mile run at the start, 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats along and ending with another onemile run. Jasso didn’t love it at first, but eventually got really into it, Elizabeth said.

“She was going to let her laziness take over,” Elizabeth said. “All the fears and things that we had that we were trying to prevent from happening changed because of her work ethic. Not only did she listen to what we were trying to teach and instill in her, but she’s also applying it.”

Jasso didn’t need anyone to tell her to workout. She did it on her own.

“She sees the big picture now that she’s kind of gone through it …. I told her you’re either going to go all out and use it, or you’re just going to let it go to waste,” Sardelich said.

Carlos started seeing the difference in her power after a while. Before, Jasso was more of a contact hitter, someone who “put the ball in play,” Carlos said. Jasso still has the ability to get on base, leading Syracuse in batting average last season with .365, but she’s added the power to her arsenal.

Before coming to Syracuse, Jasso had only hit one or two home runs in her life, Carlos said. In her freshman season, she hit four. Jasso increased that total to five in her sophomore season, which was third on the team. She recorded 18 extra-base hits, more than double her total from the year before.

“You can tell from freshman year to sophomore year, she’s just getting better and better,” Carlos said. “That’s just from her determination, which makes me proud as a father to see that.” zakwolf784254@gmail.com

@ZakWolf22 it in the press conference afterwards.”

When pressed further on whether he was announcing his retirement, Boeheim reiterated that it’s “up to the university,” and wouldn’t confirm if he wanted to return next season. When asked how he’ll decide if he’s coming back to coach Syracuse, Boeheim said “you’re talking to the wrong guy.” of Athletics John Wildhack on those questions — including if Wildhack and SU Athletics wanted Boeheim to return next season — wasn’t immediately answered. Boeheim told ESPN in February that he will “probably” return next season, saying he had no other plans, and that it’s “his choice” when he steps away. He later clarified those comments during a meeting with Wildhack.

“No, I said it’s up to the university,” Boeheim said when asked if he was announcing his retirement without actually announcing his retirement. “They have to make their decision, and it’s up to them. I hope we can come to a good agreement. I mean, that remains to be seen.”

Jim Boeheim former men s basketball head coach

It’s unclear if Boeheim was under contract next season, or was in discussion for a new contract — or an extension. A request for comment from Director

Opponent Preview:

By Anthony Alandt senior staff writer

Syracuse forced overtime against then-No. 6 Duke, storming back to reclaim a lead it lost in the third quarter at the end of regulation. A final goal from Finn Thomson in front of the crease sent the Orange into the first overtime period with momentum, and a 13-13 tie. But after a strong defensive effort and two of Will Mark’s 27 saves in the afternoon, Charles Balsamo sent in a shot from about 10 yards away that flew behind Mark. Now, on a three-game losing streak and out of the top 20 for the first time since week two, SU will welcome No. 10 Johns Hopkins to the JMA Wireless Dome.

The Blue Jays jumped five spots in the latest Inside Lacrosse rankings following a onegoal win over Saint Joseph’s, and they enter Saturday’s game at 4-3 with other wins over Georgetown, Jacksonville and Utah. But they are coming off an 18-13 loss to No. 1 Virginia on Tuesday. The Blue Jays stand as the final ranked opponent for Syracuse before it takes on three unranked teams.

Here is everything you need to know about Johns Hopkins (4-3, 0-0 Big Ten).

All-time series

Johns Hopkins leads 31-28.

Last time they played

Last year, Syracuse fell to 2-4 after a 10-7 loss

Boeheim said that while recruiting the six members of this year’s freshman class, he decided he would coach them. Before that, he was unsure if he would retire or not. But between that class — which included starters Judah Mintz and Chris Bell — and the returns of Joe Girard III, Jesse Edwards and Benny Williams, Boeheim said he knew Syracuse had a chance for a good team this season.

“I wanted to come back and coach these guys, and that’s what I was able to do,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim said he’s been lucky to play and coach at Syracuse for several decades, and hopes to live in the city for a “long time into the future.” He referenced having the chance to coach his two sons, Jimmy and Buddy, last season, and making a run to the Sweet 16 in 2021.

Syracuse learned from the close games it played throughout this season, Boeheim said, pointing specifically to the Notre Dame and Louisville wins. He said SU closed the loss Wednesday offensively — making three strong plays, including Williams’ 3-pointer with a minute left that put the Orange up two — but they were unable to get a defensive stop.

“We were close. I’m happy with what we did,” Boeheim said. “It’s not that easy. There’s some teams that were picked very high in the country and in the league that didn’t fare so well.”

Still, even after Boeheim continued to answer questions about his future while the ACC’s moderators tried to end the press conference, it’s unclear whether this — after 47 years, over 1,000 wins and a national championship — was his last game as Syracuse’s head coach.

“I always have the choice of retiring,” Boeheim said. “But it’s (the school’s) decision as to whether I coach or not, and always has been.” csmith49@syr.edu @csmith17_