Mariah Lopez and Dejah Mulipola will be Arizona teammates for the first time this season, but they first crossed paths when they were preteens growing up in Southern California.
Lopez attended a private tryout for Victory USA, and Mulipola—the team’s star backstop at the time—was asked to catch her bullpen session.
Flanked by her mother, father and then-Victory coach Mark Campbell, Lopez pumped pitch after pitch into Mulipola’s mitt. It was pretty clear that she was something special.
“I don’t know how fast 12-year-olds throw now,” Mulipola said, “but Mariah threw pretty fast.