In the Locker Room With Spencer McCaffrey

During the search process for this week’s ITLR, first-year Spencer McCaffrey was recommended numerous times. True to her reputation, Spencer’s interview was the smoothest yet as she told me about her secret passion for hand-sewn mascots and her obsession with abbreviations.

How long have you been playing softball?
SM: I’ve been playing for as long as I can remember. I started playing baseball when I was five. I played until they found out I was a girl. I had a bowl cut and my name is Spencer, that’s also a boy’s name. Then I started softball and I was really bad; it was so different. I’ve played since then and I got okay. I’m okay now.

That wasn’t the only time you played on a boys’ team?
SM: I played on the guys’ basketball team in 11th grade. Our school was really small and didn’t have enough people for a girls’ team so my friend and I tried out for the boys’ team. We made it.

Did some boys get cut?
SM: Yes. I got some evil looks.

Have you always played third base?
SM: I played short most of my life. Catcher 11th and 12th grade and then third one year. When I came here they liked me at third but occasionally I’ll catch, but we’ve got Big Jules behind the plate so I won’t be doing that for a while.

Third base is known as the “hot spot.” Is that a title you’re proud of?
SM: I definitely like it. I find myself moving closer to home plate because I like the one bounce really fast grounders or line drives that require fast reflexes.

Did you think about playing basketball here?
SM: Coach Champ talked me into playing on the B team. I went to three games and wore my Adidas green shell toed shoes. I wore them in Jones Fieldhouse when we practiced in there.

How was your spring training at Myrtle Beach?
SM: We were rained out the first couple of days and so we were just sitting around getting ogled by guys in our shady motel. Once the sun came out we went to the beach and the team really bonded. We played some good games and some bad games.

Any stories you would care to share?
SM: My favorite story of the entire trip is when Sophie...[Julia “Big Jules” Daher walks up to our table]Hey, Julia. First of all, rewind. I’m going through a bunch of stories but Julia just walked in and whenever I look at her I think “black stallion” because she is a machine and works out all the time and I’m the opposite of that. One time I saw her run in from second base and I think she got out but the way she runs, straight up, it’s so fluid you can just tell she practices running all the time that she looked to me like the black stallion in that book. There’s beauty in a running machine. If you want to come to some softball games come just to see Julia Daher run. Now we call Julia “the Stallion” and I’m going to make her get a tattoo on her arm of a stallion. Actually on her back, just the head of a stallion.

Back to Sophie. She’s one of the funniest people I’ve met in my entire life. We were at this one field and we were surrounded by trees and a ball goes foul. Sarah Johnson goes to get it and she can’t find it. She’s in the trees for eight minutes. Our coach says, “No, Sarah, it’s beyond the clearing.” Our team cracks up because a clearing would mean a farm. Where are we? Myrtle Beach. Sophie turns to me and says, “It’s like Little Prairie Companion.” She got confused between Little House on the Prairie and the NPR talk show Prairie Home Companion. That has become the team mascot. Little Prairie Companion we call her, or him, LPC is at every home game. When you say it you need to run your fingers across the table because LPC is a little running mate that comes and hangs out with you when you are in a clearing. What’s even funnier is that my coach sewed me a doll that is LPC.

Is that the first hand-sewed team mascot?
SM: She sewed Obie, our other mascot that’s a little square ball thing that has a sewn softball inside.

Has LPC taken the place of Obie?
SM: No, they’re friends. Obie is still there. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

You seem to like abbreviations.
SM: I abbreviate everything. I abbrev. the abbreviations. That’s how LPC came about. I’ve gotten everyone to abbreviate. The other day I wanted some Cinnamon Toast Crunch so I asked for some CTC. Alie [Plotsky] got it but Sophie says, “Cuddle Time? Cuddle Time Committee?”

How are the team’s cheers this year?
SM: Softball players are funny. I don’t want to be too broad in my statements but there are definitely two types of softball players. You’ve got the high ponytail, bleached hair, fake tan, cheering constantly girls. But they’re still good. Then there’s our team, which does the “Hey now, big hitter” yell. I also like to make up rhymes for people. Like for Kate Oberg I’ll say, “Hey, Kate, hit it to the gate.”
JD: We made up one for Spencer. “C’mon, Spence, hit it to the fence.”
SM: Everyone says it and I smile. Then I strike out. But the idea is nice. Can I tell you another funny story? Julia and I traded clothes. Let me tell you Julia’s outfit. I have a really tight purple shirt that I used to just wear as a dress. It says “Can’t touch this” and has handprints on the boobs. It’s super tight. Then I have low cut jeans that are super tight. She put on my headband, earings, purse and sunglasses. She looked cute, let me tell you. [See photo] I had on her jeans, a belt, the keychain coming out of the side pocket, a wallet in my back pocket...
JD: Basically what I’m wearing now.
SM: It worked out well except that Julia is a little more muscular. The stallion over there. I told April about the tattoo you’re going to get. Just the horse’s nose on your back with the mane flowing up the neck, around the shoulder. Also, we used each other’s cell phones to call each other. Julia goes, “LOL hey, OMG I need you to come over and tape my ankle now.” And I go, “Uh, hold on I just need to run a mile and then I’ll be over in a second.” We’re sitting right next to each other of course.
 
 

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