Now if only Falcons ace could juggle

Pitcher Rachel Nasland led Torrey Pines to its first San Diego Section softball championship last season.
Pitcher Rachel Nasland led Torrey Pines to its first San Diego Section softball championship last season. — Peggy Peattie

When Julia Yacker doubled in the bottom of the 10th inning for the winning run in the Division I championship game last spring, it was the first time Torrey Pines High had won a San Diego Section softball title.

And 5-foot-8 Rachel Nasland, who pitched all 10 innings in the 1-0 win over Carlsbad at UC San Diego, was one of the first Falcons to reach Yacker to start the celebration.

It was the culmination of a dream that started when Nasland, now 17, was just 5 and her mom saw a flier and signed her up to play softball.

She found her passion two years later when she began pitching.

Q: How did the championship celebration start for you?

A: I was on the field before the outfielder even picked up Julia’s hit. My mind just went blank. I couldn’t believe it. We had just won CIF for the first time ever.

Q: How long did the partying last that night?

A: No one wanted to go home and do homework. The next morning everyone knew what we had done. It was a great day in school.

Q: There isn’t much room left in the Torrey Pines gym for your banner, is there?

A: If I have to climb up there myself, our banner is going up in the rafters. My kids won’t believe that’s my banner when I show it to them. They certainly won’t take my word for it without the banner as proof.

Q: Why did you opt to become a pitcher?

A: I liked being the center of attention in a game. I’ve always liked to entertain people. I’m a little louder personality in the real world anyway, so being the center of attention in softball really isn’t anything new.

Q: Your first three years have been marked by some great moments like being named Pitcher of the Year in the Palomar League as a freshman and winning a section title as a junior as well as some not-so-great moments, right?

A: Sophomore year was really hard to just sit down and not play until the very end. I had overused my elbow and rest, a lot of rest, got rid of all the swelling. I tried to be involved like being in charge of playing music between innings or keeping the scorebook.

Q: But for someone who loves the attention, didn’t that hurt?

A: At the time, yes. Fortunately, I knew I still had two years left. Had that been my senior year, I don’t know what I would have done.

Q: Can you describe what last year was like when your team went 31-2 and won a title?

A: Great season. It was awesome from start to finish. The playoffs were wild. I was so pumped up for the finals and then to have them postponed because of a power failure and then come back two days later was strange. We were bummed, but we rejuvenated. Did you see how many fans were there when we finally did play? It was amazing.


