Madison Shipman knows what it is like to compete for glory, and she hopes to impart the knowledge she learned from the softball field to baseball fans this season. Taking a swing to enter baseball was a calculated risk for Shipman, who had previously been contributing to softball coverage on ESPN and the SEC Network. It took immense preparation and an alacrity to make adjustments to her process in order to give herself a broad pedagogy into Major League Baseball at large.
“It’s been really fun to kind of dive into a different sport the same way that I would softball,” Shipman said, “[and] just getting to learn these players on a different level. You know that they play on such a high level every single day [and also] hearing the background stories of how they got to that point and the hard work that they put in the offseason.”
At a glance, baseball and softball are two sports based on a similar premise: scoring more runs than the other team. While similar principles apply, the means in which they are executed differ in softball because of the sizes of equipment, the underhand delivery of pitches and distance between the bases. Moreover, there are subtleties within the sport that Shipman is attempting to discern, such as the evolution of swings, approach towards fielding and physics of pitching. The analysis process is similar in and of itself, but expressing a comprehensive and logical point comes from understanding the game and combining it with unique, proprietary experience.
All of it, however, has arguably been sped up due to the strict enforcement of the pitch clock, a new part of the game absent from when Shipman consumed baseball in her youth. It has impacted both pitchers and hitters and provided the sport a more paradigmatic rhythm, favorable towards younger demographics. Combined with the young star power of the game with transcendent athletes including Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Sandy Alcántara, baseball is making a conscious effort to adapt to changes in media consumption and distribution. At the same time, it does not want to let go of the tradition that rendered it one of the world’s most popular and sustainable sports, and is endeavoring to amalgamate innovation with the innate purity of the game.
“I try to put myself back into my player shoes and try to think of how much time I was taking in-between pitches as a batter,” Shipman said. “I was somebody that never liked to step out of the box really, so I’m not sure it would have affected me a ton, but I think there are some players who have a very routine-oriented way that they step into the box. They kind of have to adjust how they do their routine up at the plate.”
Shipman played softball throughout her time as a student at Valencia High School and was named the No. 2 national recruit in the United States by ESPN and RISE Softball in 2010. In high school, she was named to the first team All-California Interscholastic Federation and received honors from The Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News among other publications.
By the time she took the field at the University of Tennessee, Shipman was quickly inserted into the starting lineup as the starting shortstop. She hit .292 as a freshman. Every game she played from the time she was a sophomore to a senior was as the starting shortstop, and helped lead the team to back-to-back Women’s College World Series appearances. Every year, her statistics gradually improved, so much so that she hit .416 as a senior with 18 home runs and an .833 slugging percentage. Her performance merited various honors at the season’s end, taking home the SEC Player of the Year award, along with the Senior CLASS Award and the Honda Sports Award as the top softball player in the country. Through the various tournaments, her team competed in, along with her abilities as a player, Shipman was frequently interviewed by those covering softball for major television networks.
“We got to do stuff with Holly Rowe and Jessica Mendoza and Michele Smith and Beth Mowins just to kind of prepare for the World Series [in 2013],” Shipman said. “I always tried to do my best in those interviews, and now when I look back at some of those interviews, I cringe just a little bit just because I was so young and so new to everything. Still, we made it a point of emphasis to be as poised as possible in those interviews.”
Following her senior season, Shipman remained in Knoxville, Tenn. with the Volunteers as a volunteer assistant coaching, offering her expertise to players and helping the team continue to improve as a whole. One of the means through which she achieved that goal was by repeatedly engaging in film study in an effort to extrapolate the tendencies and strategies of opponents. As a versatile broadcaster, she takes a similar approach into learning about both softball and baseball teams, and employs her observations in order to make clear and effective points.
“I tap back into the coaching side of things, and I will just watch game after game after game,” Shipman said. “I love diving into the hitters specifically and maybe something that they do in their swing that makes them successful.”
Shipman spent the ensuing four seasons as a volunteer assistant coach, but experienced an ostensible change of heart prior to the 2018 season and proceeded to move away from the game entirely. It turns out that executives at SEC Network had been keeping an eye on her for many years, viewing Shipman as a personality who could easily make the transition to sports media and invited her to audition. It was an opportunity she never thought of passing up despite having no experience on television and being handed a rundown at the audition with terminology that was all very new to her.
Once she landed the role, Shipman expeditiously immersed herself into softball coverage both as a studio analyst and color commentator for select Tennessee Volunteers games on linear and digital platforms. Personalities at the SEC Network, including Amanda Scarborough and Kayla Braud, took the time to reach out to Shipman and offer her assistance in learning how to discuss the game and experience success on television. Additionally, Laura Rutledge inspired Shipman to continue to work at her craft when they worked together at an SEC Tournament, especially when she quickly shifted from talking about softball to doing live golf hits for ESPN.
“I feel in my element because I get to talk about a game that I absolutely love and have been playing or coaching and been around for my entire life,” Shipman said.
Shipman believes her fastidious preparation for studio coverage helps her in being adept to move over to calling games and vice versa. It is in how the information she has learned and the perspectives she brings are delivered that differentiates one from the other. Nonetheless, it is all predicated on watching film, conversing with athletes and coaches around the sport and developing rapport with her colleagues.
Through learning the style of different play-by-play announcers, Shipman has been able to adapt her style to fit the broadcast. At the same time, her broadcast partners have taken the time to learn more about how she approaches analysis. In describing her style, Shipman expressed how it was influenced by her father, who enjoyed watching baseball games where it felt like the announcers were sitting in the living room having a laidback conversation.
“I want to be teaching you maybe something about the game that you didn’t know before you started watching the game, or teaching you something about one of the players that’s on the field that maybe you didn’t know, but to do it in such a casual way and even in a fun way,” Shipman said. “I tend to be sarcastic at times every once in a while just so you’re fully enjoying the game, but also learning something about that particular team or player; whatever it might be.”
Over the last several years, the trajectory of women’s sports in terms of viewership has been steadily increasing. Last year’s Women’s College World Series averaged approximately 1 million viewers per game for the third consecutive year. Additionally, two games aired on ABC for the first time in the history of the tournament, giving linear television viewers an opportunity to be exposed to new athletes and new voices alike. Similarly, the 2022 Little League Softball World Series posted record viewership numbers – 294,000 across its two primary linear channels (ESPN; ESPN2) – the most since the tournament’s expansion occurred in 2017.
Outside of media growth, analyzing the changes in attendance reinforces the assertion that softball is on the rise. The Women’s College World Series set attendance records in both its first and second sessions last year, and Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla. added an upper deck to its facility in 2019 to accommodate more fans.
“There’s so many stadiums across the country where you just cannot build enough seats [and] people are trying to pack themselves in,” Shipman said. “It seems this year in particular, record-setting crowds are happening left and right. I think it’s phenomenal that these institutions have invested as much as they have into the sport of softball. Some of the facilities that you’re seeing out there are absolutely incredible, and I don’t think that growth is stopping anytime soon.”
While softball itself is predominantly played by women, professional baseball has seen few women take the field at all, let alone none at the major league level. There are, however, plenty of women working in Major League Baseball and professional sports in roles pertaining to scouting, coaching, game presentation and digital content creation. Unfortunately, many women encounter misogyny from colleagues and consumers; however, the possibility of that has not stopped Shipman and many other women from maintaining their pace and encompassing what it means to be trailblazers.
“I called my first baseball game last year kind of taking advantage of the fact that I live in Knoxville,” Shipman said. “I had asked to jump on a Tennessee baseball broadcast and they absolutely let me do it, and everybody was very welcoming.”
Although she is working remotely on Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts on SportsNet, Shipman has assimilated into the role and with it, become more comfortable discussing baseball. There are challenges she faces broadcasting in this way, largely due to the delay between the moment she speaks and hears from the studio host, but she has grown used to it and adapts to make it work. As she continues to penetrate into the industry, Shipman takes a similar approach to her role in sports media as she did as a player or a coach: steadily improving on a daily basis.
“I’m always probably the harshest critic when it comes to my own analysis of stuff. With the growth of the sport, softball in particular, I just always tell my bosses, ‘I want to do as much as possible; I want to do as many games as possible,’ of course for myself, but also to help grow the game.”
Whether it is on the field, in the dugout or perched high in the broadcast booth, Madison Shipman’s infatuation with the game of softball shines through. Now as she pairs her softball experience with an analyst position on Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts, she intends to ensure she continues to flourish both at a local and national level. Through preparation, persistence and passion, she wants more chances to engender the amplification of softball – and she seems to possess the work ethic and dedication to do it.
“Always work hard in whatever it is – whether it’s sports broadcasting or accounting or whatever you want to get into – just putting your full effort into everything every single day, I think is something that I’ve always lived by whether it be softball or something else,” Shipman said. “If your full heart is in it; if you’re passionate about it and you’re working hard, that hard work and passion is definitely going to overflow in the work that you do no matter what it is.”
