Im gonna marry this girl: Natasha Cloud and Aleshia Ocasio, a love story that goes beyond s

Publish date: 2022-08-14

CHICAGO and WASHINGTON — On August 16, at a softball diamond just north of O’Hare Airport, wedged between a highway entrance and an outlet mall, Aleshia Ocasio takes batting practice. The Chicago Bandits pitcher and utility player is warming up for the team’s National Pro Fastpitch championship game against USSSA Pride. She stays loose, laughing with her teammates, but her gaze never leaves the ball.

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About 400 miles away, Natasha Cloud dances through warm-ups with the Washington Mystics at Minnesota’s Target Center. Sporting AirPods in her ears and an orange, anti-gun violence shirt instead of her team-issued one, Cloud runs through the layup line, slapping hands with her teammates. Her Mystics have the best record in the WNBA, and the team is expected to win this game against the Minnesota Lynx. In fact, they’re expected to win every game.

Ocasio and Cloud are two of the best in their respective sports. Cloud, 26, is the starting point guard for the Mystics, who have a 1-0 lead over the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals. Ocasio, 23, is a leader not just for the Bandits, but also the Puerto Rican national softball team. Right now, they’re fully dialed into their own games. But when Cloud goes to the locker room at halftime, the first thing she’ll do is check on Ocasio’s game. Ocasio will get updates on Cloud’s game from her trainer between innings.

This is a typical afternoon, balancing their duties as pro athletes and WAGs; living and playing their games hundreds of miles away from each other, but always staying connected.

Just two weeks prior, Cloud surprised Ocasio by proposing to her in Florida in front of their family and friends. They don’t get to see each other often during their seasons, but Cloud took advantage of the All-Star break and a Bandits game in Florida to make it work. Cloud actively planned the proposal for a month. But she knew Ocasio was her future when they first started dating 11 months prior.

“Right off the bat I was like, I’m gonna marry this girl,” Cloud said.

(Courtesy of Natasha Cloud)

This summer, Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird redefined what it means to be an athlete power couple. The two superstars met at the 2016 Rio Olympics — after Bird won the gold medal with USA Basketball — went public with their relationship in 2017, and became fixtures on the national scene after Rapinoe won the World Cup with the U.S. women’s soccer team.

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But Cloud and Ocasio’s is a more modern — and relatable — love story. Cloud first noticed Ocasio when she was watching her pitch for the University of Florida in the College World Series. She followed Ocasio on Instagram and liked a lot of her pictures. It took a while for Ocasio to notice, but once she did, the pitcher took charge.

“She slid into my DMs and said that she was trying to be on ‘Cloud Nine,’” Cloud said. “That’s a line, right? If you knew her dad and her brother, you would understand. They are some smooth talkers for sure.”

A week later, Cloud flew Ocasio to Atlanta for a Mystics-Dream game, and went full “Casanova,” bringing her coffee every morning and flowers before her game.

“I made sure to bring out all my tricks. I knew what I wanted,” Cloud said. “We’re both super similar in our personality and our goofiness. She was a lot more reserved, so she was super nervous. But I could see through it.”

Ocasio was a bit skeptical at first, but it didn’t take long for her to realize she’d met someone special.

“From the very first time I met her, I could tell that she not only has a huge impact on the court, but just in the person she is. She is infectious and inspires everybody who is contact with her,” Ocasio said. “She still inspires me. I feel like we’re so grounded in each other, bring each other back to earth. When we’re having bad days, we know we can come together and talk about it, go about our days and be confident in knowing that we can pick each other up.”

Since the WNBA and NPF seasons run concurrently, Cloud and Ocasio knew the offseason was the time to really give their relationship a chance. After Ocasio graduated from Florida, she moved to Washington, D.C. and got a job as an assistant coach at Howard University. They moved in together and got a dog, Maya. For a few months, they lived like most couples live.

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During this time, they started sharing their relationship with their fans on Instagram. It was the first time Cloud, who is bisexual, was open about her sexuality on social media.

“I think that’s a testament to her and our relationship and how secure she makes me,” Cloud said.

As bisexual women of color, Cloud and Ocasio know that relationships like theirs often aren’t celebrated. They want to change that.

“There’s a lot of people like us who feel like they can’t be comfortable in their own body, so we want to be able to use our platform to make people feel like they are being comfortable with who they are,” Ocasio said. “We want to live out our truth and live our best life, and be unapologetic about that.”

But mostly, they share their love for the same reason that most couples do.

“For me, why would I not post about the love of my life?” Cloud said.

(Courtesy of Natasha Cloud)

As elite athletes, Cloud and Ocasio help motivate each other to train harder and stay mentally focused. Occasionally, they even share observations about what the other could do better — “I was telling her the other day, she’s better when she’s not off the dribble, shooting,” Ocasio said.

But as elite female athletes, they push one another to fight for a better future for women in sports.

In the WNBA, salaries start at $41,695 and top out at $117,500. In February, Cloud signed a max contract with the Mystics, which means she earned $115,000 this season. That’s about 237 times less than the max NBA salary for players who have six years of experience or fewer. But it’s also about 12 times the salary of the average NPF player. The salary cap for each NPF team is $150,000, which must be split between 18 players.

The WNBA, which was founded by the NBA and still receives partial support from the league, is in its 23rd season. The NPF, on the other hand, was independently founded in 2004. Cloud — the Mystics’ player representative for the WNBA Players Association and an outspoken advocate for pay equity — has seen up close how NPF players are treated and is horrified by it.

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“Their league is filled up with amazing athletes, just as ours is. But they haven’t been given the benefit of the doubt yet. The MLB doesn’t support them, which is asinine to me,” Cloud said.

“You know, when you’re talking about us arguing for better salaries, we deserve it, absolutely. In the WNBA, we deserve it. But when you’re comparing my salary to my fiancée’s salary, it’s not even close.”

The WNBA is in the middle of collective bargaining negotiations after the players opted out of the CBA last November. Seeing, through Cloud’s eyes, what it’s like to have a union protecting its players has been revealing for Ocasio. The NPF recently appointed Sharonda McDonald, a veteran player and coach, to be the league’s player representative, but Ocasio sees McDonald as only the start.

“Players can come together and help out with making decisions, voice their opinions, voice what they think can help grow the teams, the league, the sport. That’s one thing that’s come into conversation a lot,” Ocasio said. “But we still don’t have a definitive union.”

Cloud — who threw out the opening pitch for a NPF game this season — wants to see the NPF become a much more sustainable league, one whose future isn’t in jeopardy every season.

“I want her to have the same opportunities that we have,” Cloud said. “I want other female athletes to be secure in their professions and be secure in their talents. It’s just not happening.”

Cloud scored 13 points in the Mystics’ Finals Game 1 win, with Ocasio watching from the stands. (Ned Dishman / NBAE via Getty Images)

Like many female athletes, Ocasio and Cloud deal with the harsh reality that they can make more money playing professionally overseas. So this fall and winter, Ocasio is playing softball in Japan, while Cloud will head to China at the conclusion of the WNBA Finals. Cloud signed with a team in China specifically so she could be on the same continent as Ocasio during their overseas seasons. But seeing each other still won’t be easy, as China’s entry and exit demands on Americans are so stringent that Ocasio had to start applying for a visa in August.

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The distance is never easy. In late August, after the Bandits lost in the NPF championship series, Ocasio flew to Surrey, Canada, to play for Puerto Rico in a key Olympic qualifying tournament. From there, she went straight to Japan. That means she was forced to follow the Mystics’ semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces via unreliable streams, live scores and social media updates.

But last Thursday morning, two days after Cloud and the Mystics booked their second consecutive trip to the WNBA Finals, Ocasio texted Cloud and said she was on her way to Washington. The softball star hopped on a 15-hour flight so she could spend three days with her fiancée, and watch Game 1 in person.

“It’s been about a month and some change since we last saw each other, so I was extremely happy,” Cloud said.

For the next few years, as they both chase their athletic dreams, this is just how it’s going to be. Carving out days here and there, going the extra mile. Literally.

“You fall into kind of selfish ways of thinking, like, all right, don’t go overseas to play, just stay here, and we’ll take care of each other,” Cloud said. “But you know, something that we always fall back on — for her, too — I’m her biggest fan, and I want nothing more than for her to chase her dreams and do whatever makes her happy. It’s her career and I want her to be successful. And that comes with a sacrifice.”

Being apart during such important life moments is hard, even excruciating at times. But, for them, it’s worth it.

“She left this morning early as hell, which sucks, but I’m glad she got to see one game and be a part of this Finals journey,” Cloud said on Monday. “We’re each other’s rock, so it’s really hard doing this without her, but she holds me down, even from Japan.”

(Top photo courtesy of Natasha Cloud)

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