{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fin-conversation-with-lesley-visser.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fjessica-mendoza-Inv0E4vH","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Jessica Mendoza","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/3c9c3c2a-a53f-40bd-9d24-bdb387b03fb1/24a3b524-7363-4c55-82e2-d2b1cc6974cd/inconversationwithlesleyvisser-1920x1920-1136-sxm.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/01ac0fb3-1c43-474a-ad8b-d0c26a55cec2\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"Jessica Mendoza\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"Jessica Mendoza is one of those people who make you want to, as Vin Scully says, \"pull up a chair.\"   Throw out a topic, and she's there. Olympic softball?  Mendoza won a Gold medal in 2004 in Athens, then watched while the sport was jerked in and out of the Games for more than a decade.  Softball won't be included in Paris in 2024, but Mendoza will be tenacious about it being added to the Games in LA in 2028. From her roots as a 4-year-old dragging a bat around the backyard, Mendoza's been a captivating pioneer.  A beneficiary of Title IX, she squeezed every opportunity out of the landmark legislation - a scholarship to Stanford (plus a Masters), the US National Team, network television (including calling Jake Arrieta's no-hitter on Sunday Night Baseball), and most recently, the Women's College World Series, aka the Oklahoma Invitational.  All this, plus why, as a child of the Dodgers, Brett Butler was her idol.  More, please!\n"}