Tori Vidales Brightens Softball World, On And Off The Field

Tori Vidales’s softball career was not even close to ending once she graduated from Texas A&M in 2018. Since then, the two-time All-American has continued to stay involved in the sport in pretty much every way possible.

But Vidales could have called it a career once she finished college and she still would have been one of the most decorated softball players to ever come out of Jo Evans’ program. She left Texas A&M with her name in the record books, holding school records for RBI (219), runs scored (198) and total bases (480). She also has the second-most career home runs in the school’s history with 65.

Following her graduation, Vidales traded in her bat and glove for a headset and microphone when she was hired by ESPN as an SEC Network softball analyst. There, she continued to be involved in the softball world by serving as a color commentator for SEC softball games that were shown on the network.

“It is so much harder than people make it seem,” Vidales said of broadcasting. “Amanda Scarborough, Danielle Lawrie, Kayla Braud—all those girls who have called games and played games—they make it sound so easy.”

Despite the challenges of broadcasting, Vidales now considers it to be something she really enjoys and hopes to do for many years to come.

In the meantime, however, Vidales has continued to shine on the field at both the professional and international levels.

She has been a member of the Mexican national softball team since 2016 and has had many opportunities to travel internationally with the team, while playing the sport she loves. Recently, she competed for Mexico at the Tokyo Olympics and helped her squad to a fourth-place finish after picking up wins over Italy and Australia.

Vidales also plays professionally for Athletes Unlimited, and earned herself the opportunity to be named a team captain for Week 2 of the 2021 season. Because of the unique format of professional softball with Athletes Unlimited, after being named captain, Vidales got to draft her dream team from scratch to form “Team Vidales.”

Even after taking on managerial duties, Vidales continued to perform at high levels on the field. She finished the season ranked No. 16 on the leaderboard with 1336 total points. She also posted a .375 batting average, .650 slugging percentage and 10 RBI, including three home runs.

Based on all the success she's had during and after college, we expect Vidales to continue to succeed in every part of softball for many years to come. 

Team USA Wins 2022 Pan American Championship

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