There aren’t many places where a song from a 1994 Disney movie shares air time with rap ballads, but Hillenbrand Stadium is one of them.
Each Arizona softball player selects two songs to play after her name is announced when she comes up to bat. Walk-up song No. 1 is for the first and third games of a three-game series, and song two is for the second.
Junior centerfielder Alex Lavine’s first song is “Space Jam” by Quad City DJ’s, and her second is “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” by Jason Weaver, from the movie “The Lion King.”
“Whenever I watched ‘Space Jam’ when I was little, I just remembered the opening song,” Lavine said, “and it always got me so pumped to watch the movie. So it just got me really excited, and I always wanted it as my walk-up song.”
Lavine isn’t just a “Lion King” fan at home.
“I love Disney movies, and I have a lot of memories with ‘Lion King’ — I actually have a Simba that travels with me,” Lavine said. “So I decided to pick it.”
There isn’t a specific time for each song to play; it just has to be off when both feet are in the batter’s box.
Lavine said her mother had hoped for a different song.
“My team likes them; my parents hate them,” Lavine said. “My mom hates my walk-up song. She says that I should have done something to do with fire since I’m a redhead, but I like mine because they fit me, I think.”
Sophomore first baseman Hallie Wilson’s lead-off song is a clip from “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz, and her second is from “Fireman” by Lil Wayne.
“I like to pick songs that pump me up or that I’m really enjoying at the time,” Wilson said. “One is kind of more special to me in the way it pumps me up, and one is kind of more fun and outgoing.”
Wilson said she doesn’t look for too much meaning in the songs.
“I don’t take them too serious,” Wilson said. “I think they’re just walk-up songs.”
Senior shortstop Brigette Del Ponte’s two musical choices are “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons and “Let’s Go” by Trick Daddy featuring Lil Jon and Twista.
“Whatever gets the blood going, gets the juices going, you know?” Del Ponte said. “I let my friends pick mine out.”
Junior pitcher Estela Piñon said that because she is of Mexican descent and from Tucson, she wanted both her songs to be Spanish.
Piñon’s walk-up songs are “Intentalo” by 3Ball MTY, featuring El Bebeto and América Sierra, and “Danza Kudoro” by Don Omar, featuring Lucenzo.
Piñon’s father helped her choose Danza Kudoro.
“My dad is the one that helped me pick that song out,” Piñon said. “That’s one of our favorite songs, so I feel like I kind of had to put that in there, and that shows my personality and what I’m proud of.”
Both Del Ponte and Wilson said Piñon’s songs are the team’s favorites.
“I think everyone really likes Stela’s, just because it’s really out there and different for us,” Wilson said. “We enjoy getting to clap to the music and that kind of stuff.”
As a hurler, Piñon’s songs also get played when she comes in to pitch.
During a home game earlier in the season, a fan wanted to know what Piñon’s walk-up song was called but didn’t know which batter she was, so he signaled across the field from the outfield bleachers and then ran up the stadium steps to get the name.
Softball sports information director Danny Martinez said fans have also asked about freshman left fielder Mandie Perez’s songs. Hers are “This is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan and “Here Comes the Hot Stepper” by Ini Kamoze.
