The Pacific Coast Fastpitch League (PCFL) is excited to spotlight Victoria Guzman as the August Co Player of the Month. The California native is an outfielder for Athletics Mercado Tidd.
In August, Guzman showed up at the dish with a batting average of .609, a 0.679 OBP, 1.592 OPS and an impressive .913 slugging percentage. Guzman tallied 7 RBIs with 10 singles, a double and 3 triples!
How did you get started?
At the age of 3 years old watching my older sister play softball, made the game more and more interesting for me. The game just stuck with me and knew I was born to be a softball player. As I started getting older, my love for the game kept on increasing and still hasn’t stopped till this day. I started playing in t-ball with an all-boys group, so going up against boys made me gain more competitiveness for the game. I always grew up tough and would hate when I failed. Moving up to softball was an easy switch for me, at the age of 8 I was playing with 12-year-olds. This made me get mentally and physically tough on myself from such a young age. I had many successes at a young age from getting MVP to best stats so I knew it was time to level up the competition for me. I started playing in a travel ball team at the age of 12 years old and our team wasn’t the best, so I would get frustrated at myself. I started to understand I’m not going to be at my best all the time. As I went through many failures, sadness, anger, and the want it wanted to be perfect. All of that made me realize I needed to push myself more and more to stop all of that. I made great friendships from the softball world which one of them helped me get to where I’m at now. She was from the valley but was playing with my team now “Athletics Mercado”. She put her faith and trust on me to take me to a team tryout. From there, my competitiveness and IQ for the game completely changed. I started playing with Athletics Mercado for almost 2 years now and since then softball has been a success for me as an athlete. When I first joined the academy, I had many failures but that didn’t stop me from wanting to be the best I can be. I started becoming more observant and understanding about taking the game to a whole different level. As I started developing as an athlete, I was pushing myself to get better and to not give up. I started getting noticed by other coaches which changed everything for me. I joined “Tidd Dark team” and knew I had to put in the work to stay on the lineup. I was able to work on myself more physically and mentally by just being coached by the best. After dark season, I got my opportunity to play with Athletics Mercado Tidd 2025. I saw this as a great accomplishment because I knew if I’m on this team, I’m going to really have to push myself. I was able to create more friendships on a personal level as well as play with top athletes. I had to work my way into the lineup because from day one nothing was given to me. I was the 2nd batter and starter left fielder for my team, but I still wanted more accomplishments. The reason I loved being coached by Tidd was because if I had a bad day, he would push me and take me out when needed. By him doing that, it helped me mentally and I never wanted to make the same mistake again. During summer season, I was tested physically and mentally by handling wins and losses. I was able to get more accomplishments by getting ranked, all tournament plaques, and winning first place with my squad. With that being said I knew my job wasn’t done I had one more tournament to be the best I can and prove everyone wrong. As alliance started, my team was doing great and went into championship day. The day before the championship, I had to talk to myself mentally to not psych myself out of anything. During the championship game, I had many successes but also failures. As an athlete I learned how to accept the failures and instead of complaining to do something about it. Ending the season off I’m glad I got to have life lessons along the way. I’m proud the way I ended my 14u season as an individual. I’m proud to say I’m now on Athletics Mercado Hoovermale, to start of my 16u season.
Favorite softball memory –
My favorite softball memory was just being able to experience playing on a College Softball field with the girls I love the most. I loved every single moment with them and there isn’t no other group of girls I’d wanted to do it with. Even if we didn’t have the outcome we wanted, we were all there for each other day after day. Having them push me to my limits and cheer me on to get my job done on the field is the reason why I choose this as my favorite memory.
Coach feedback –
Vicki was a large catalyst to the success of our season. She put the work in to be a starter on a very talented team and earned everything she accomplished. Her softball IQ went from good to elite this summer. Offensively she hit over .500 for the summer competing against the best teams and best pitchers in the country. She has every tool needed to succeed as a leadoff or 2 hitter with quick hands, 2.6 speed, short game and pop. Defensively she has great speed in the outfield with a great arm. She was awesome to coach as she wanted to learn and get better every day. I love her for what she brought to the field every day, she made me better and our players better. I look forward to seeing her growth and what she will accomplishes in our academy in the next few years.
What is the Alliance Fastpitch Player Recognition Program?
The Player Recognition Program was built to recognize and spotlight our individual players in each Member League. Each month, registered Alliance Fastpitch coaches can nominate a player from their age division. League Leadership will review nominations and a monthly stats report from AthletesGoLive (AGL) to determine the League’s Player of the Month.
Following the announcement of each League’s Players of the Month, the Alliance Fastpitch will recognize a National Player of the Month.
To be considered for Player of the Month, your team must score League games in AGL so your stats will be included in the League’s monthly report.