Chamberlain Relishes ESPYs Experience

NORMAN – It was two years ago that Lauren Chamberlain was invited along with teammate Keilani Ricketts and the OU coaching staff to the 2013 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, an annual awards show presented by ESPN to honor excellence in sports performance and achievements.

Ricketts was nominated for Best Female College Athlete, while Chamberlain and the OU coaches were there representing the Sooners, who had been nominated for Best Team after winning the 2013 National Championship.

Most would think that would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But not for Chamberlain. She was invited back this year after being nominated for Best Record Breaking Performance after smashing the NCAA's all-time home run record.

The nomination itself was a surprise to Chamberlain, who has been playing for the USSSA Pride in the National Pro Fastpitch League after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2015 NPF Draft.

“It was fun to find out I was nominated because I had so much fun when I went the first time so I was excited to go back,” she said in a phone interview Friday.

“I was a little surprised just because I've been playing pro ball and thinking about other things that I almost 'forgot' about my senior year and what happened. It was nice to be reminded of my hard work and that someone was paying attention to it and appreciated it, as well.”

The 2015 ESPY Awards were held Wednesday night in Los Angeles and aired live on ABC with Joel McHale as host. Chamberlain was allowed to bring one guest, and she chose her sister, Danielle.

“She had always put up with my softball career and had always been in the background supporting me,” Chamberlain explained. “She's had to sacrifice a lot in her own life because of my sports and its demands, so it was fun to take her and have her experience some of the benefits of it with me.”

Despite being in the middle of the NPF season, Chamberlain explained the opportunity to the Pride and she said they understood and were supportive of her, granting her two days off.

A native of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., Chamberlain's family lives about an hour from her hotel, so when she arrived in Los Angeles early Tuesday morning she took advantage of the close proximity to return home to see her family, her dog and a couple of friends.

After doing some shopping in Los Angeles during the day, Chamberlain was invited to ESPN's “Body Issue” party Tuesday night. It was there that she met one of her fellow nominees, Peyton Manning, leading to a memorable moment for Chamberlain, and maybe for Manning, as well.

Chamberlain was not able to meet the other two nominees in her category, Devin Hester and Klay Thompson, but she did get to meet other celebrities, including little league pitcher Mo'ne Davis and UFC champion Ronda Rousey.

“Every time I got in the hotel elevator I met someone new; it was like the magical elevator,” Chamberlain said with a laugh. “I went in and saw Ronda and she was so down to earth and nice and talkative and wasn't too cool to talk to me, which was great. It's nice to see people like that.”

On Wednesday morning, Chamberlain went to pick up her tickets and free gifts from the ESPYs, which included TOMS sunglasses, a watch, a three-day trip to Cabo San Lucas and the one-time use of a private jet. Chamberlain was most excited about the trips because since she won't be playing softball in the fall or spring, she can take trips she's always wanted.

Her time to take the red carpet was 3:45 p.m. local time, which proved to be unfortunate timing since she went right after the United States Women's National Soccer Team.

“No one wanted to take my picture,” Chamberlain joked. “I didn't take it personally, and it was my own fault. I picked the wrong place to stand at the wrong time. They were awesome. Those girls were cool; I got to talk to a couple of them.”

After taking her seat, Chamberlain's category was the first award presented. A montage played highlighting the accomplishments of each of the four nominees.

“It was pretty cool,” Chamberlain said of seeing herself in the montage. “It was like I was watching an ESPN highlight reel and I pop up in there and I was just like 'No way; this is so cool.' And it wasn't just a quick snippet of what I had done; they had spent a lot of time on it and gave me a good amount of attention which was cool to see that they didn't just brush by it.

“It was cool because everyone around me, including some of those NFL guys, were turning around during it like 'Yeah, I see you working.'”

Ultimately, the honor went to Manning for setting the NFL record for most career touchdown passes. However, Manning made a point to recognize each of his fellow nominees by name, leading to another surreal moment for Chamberlain.

“That was awesome,” she said. “I think that's a good personal touch and I appreciate him for doing that because you have some so talented and they're not too big to recognize the talent that surrounds them and they're not too high up to personally say my name. A lot of people commented on that like, 'He said your name!' and I said 'Yeah we're tight; we're buddies now.'”

Chamberlain said that a benefit of having the first category meant that she could relax for the rest of the show. Afterward, she attended the after-party where she spotted celebrities like Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, singer Ciara, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., and former New York Yankee Derek Jeter.

The experience of her second ESPYs was different than the first go-around. After having multiple people there with her to tell her where to be and when, she was now in charge of getting around and being on time.

“And with no longer being part of college softball I could get the gifts and not feel bad about going to the parties so it was a little bit more adult this time, Chamberlain said. “It was nice but it brought back memories of my sophomore year when I had such a good time.”

A twice-in-a-lifetime experience for the greatest home run hitter in college softball history.