Sashel & Sharlize Palacios' storybook season

Sashel’s curtain call

With teams changing every week across the five-week season, they were bound to end up together at some point. What they didn’t know was that Sashel would become a first-time captain and get to draft Sharlize herself.

Sashel is a veteran in pro softball, starting her career in 2018 with the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch League. She was an Olympian on Team Mexico in 2020, helping her national team qualify for the first time.

She’s been with AU since its inception and her role within AU teams has fluctuated over the years. She was part of a notable battery with Danielle O’Toole who, with Sashel behind the plate, became the 2022 AUX Champion. On the other hand, sometimes Sashel has been a late pick in the draft, sharing time as a catcher or just a designated player in the lineup.

“I usually am more of a middle-of-the-pack, fly-under-the-radar girl,” Sashel said. “I’ve finally come to a place in my career [where] I know what I do bring to the table and I’m just ready for my opportunity.”

She had decided that 2024 would be her last year as a pro softball player and had gone in grateful for a chance to play with Sharlize. But this season was destined to be different.

Sashel was voted the Defensive MVP twice during Week One for how great of a game she called behind the dish. Then she was the third pick to Team Wallace in Week Two and the starting catcher for all three of those games. With a solidified spot in the lineup, she had more opportunities to hit.

Last season she only had six at-bats.

After six games this season, she’d logged six hits in 17 at-bats for a .352 average.

Her performances propelled her to fourth overall on the leaderboard and a captain for the first time in her career.

‘With my second pick, my sister, Sharlize Palacios’

It only took until her second pick for Sashel to seal her and Sharlize’s fate. Team Palacios in Week Three would feature the two sisters on the same team for the first time.

The draft process has always unnerved Sashel. She’s likened waiting for your name to be called to playground games where you’re standing as the last one left. She was determined that no one on her roster would feel that way.

Team Palacios traveled to Greenville and although they were slated to start the week on Wednesday at the Little League Softball World Series, rain delayed their game until Saturday, Aug. 10. The date couldn’t have been more significant for the two. It’s the second “heavenly birthday” for their late grandmother Lorenz Barajas, who passed away a year and a half prior.

Their grandmother was born in Sinaloa, Mexico, and lived most of her life in San Diego, California. She was traditional, deeply religious, and had a close bond with Sashel and Sharlize. Barajas didn’t quite understand this softball dream that Sashel and Sharlize pursued so fiercely. Women playing sports, especially at the highest level possible, wasn’t something she understood from her Mexican background. But through her love of Sashel and Sharlize she became their ultimate fan.

Barajas would be too nervous to watch their college games live, recording them on her TV and only going back to watch once she knew they’d won.

With their parents, Kiko and Soida in the stands — they’d flown in to surprise the girls — and feeling their grandmother looking down on them, Sashel and Sharlize stepped onto the field for the first time.

Lineup: 4, Palacios – 5, Palacios

Sashel put them back-to-back in the lineup: Sharlize hit fourth and Sashel hit in the five-hole.

In their first game on Saturday, their team never fell behind on the scoreboard, putting up three runs in the first inning. Sis Bates drove in the game’s first run with a double to right center field before coming around to score on a ground out by Sashel.

On Sunday, Sharlize launched a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to win the game. It proved to be the difference as it elevated Team Palacios to a 3-1 victory in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.

Monday was an absolute slugfest. The team hit three home runs, including a grand slam from Sharlize to put up 13 runs. Team Palacios was a perfect 3-0 on the week.

Both sisters are catchers and Sashel split time at the plate with Sharlize, switching the two of them between calling games and the designated player position. There’s no competition between the two of them, no jealousy. They said there never really has been.

“Our support is so strong,” Sharlize said. “When all is said and done with a game I have her to go home to and I have her to call and nothing that I ever do on the field can ever make her love me more or less. If I’m lost, Sashel is my compass.” The beauty of their bond translated to the softball field.

A storybook season

Sashel has finished 54th, 47th twice, and 34th on the AU Pro Softball leaderboard. This season she’s in contention for not only a medal but possibly the championship. Going into Week Four in second place, she trails Gold Team Captain Amanda Lorenz by just four points.

But it’s not about that. Sashel doesn’t even care if she wins or medals.

Her goal in her final season was to enjoy the little details. Soak in every moment of being with Sharlize; take advantage of any opportunities she was given; and pour into her pitchers and teammates.

“I have to tell myself constantly float, breathe, and enjoy,” Sashel said. “Before I would just rush into the box and not even hear my walk-up song.”

Even at the end of Week One, Sashel said she’d be happy if she’d retired right then and there. She had no clue how much more was in store for her over the coming weeks.

“It’s such a beautiful blessing that God placed in our life [for us] to be here,” Sashel said. “And I can feel like my grandma is with us too… she’s protecting us.”

The Palacios sisters’ story so far this season couldn’t have been written better than how it’s unfolded. All that was left was to tell it.