By Doug Carroll

You will go wrong underestimating Breona Peralta.

At 5-foot-2 and 110 pounds, the only thing big about Peralta is her ambition. But it's so big that it casts its own shadow. It needs its own seat at the dinner table.

It's so big that it took her from Chandler to Scottsdale Community College and then to Arizona State University — playing high-level softball at each stop with the physique of a gymnast while posting the grades of a genius.

It's still big. Peralta, 28, runs her own softball training business, Mind Over Grind, coaching the next wave of Breonas at an indoor facility in Chandler not far from where she grew up. On the side, she cuts demo videos for softball products and explores online and social media possibilities for her work's expansion.

She makes no small plans.

"I'm a busy lady," Peralta says, squeezing in time for a visitor to her facility before a day's worth of eight lessons. "I'm indecisive only when I'm shopping."

One decision she made early in life was momentous, and no shopping was needed. She was determined to play college softball — and clear on the destination.

"I knew forever that I wanted to go to ASU," she says. "In the sixth grade, that's what I told my friend. I went to their softball games and envisioned myself playing there. 'This would be so cool,' I thought."

Putting in the work

The hard work followed, with young Breona immersing herself in the grind. Her club softball team provided unlimited access to an indoor facility for its players, and her father, Hector Peralta, often pitched to her.

At Mesquite High School, where she was the team's MVP as a senior, she ran the bleachers for extra conditioning and focused on steadily improving her skills.

She took hitting lessons from ASU assistant coach Robert Wagner, who then became SCC's head coach and recruited her to play for the Artichokes.

"He showed me I can do it," Peralta says.

In 2013, she was a starting outfielder for SCC, studying to become a pediatric nurse and working at Chipotle to make ends meet.

The next year was anything but small. As a sophomore, batting in the heart of the lineup, Peralta hit .441 with four home runs and 50 runs batted in during an historic 45-24 season for SCC. The Artichokes advanced to the NJCAA national tournament for the first time and finished with a No. 9 national ranking.

"That team overachieved, without a doubt," says Wagner, now head coach at the University of South Dakota. "It was a good mix of people who worked together and had the belief that they could do it."

Says Peralta: "It was all business. We all trusted in the process of developing and getting better."

Wagner put in a good word for Peralta with ASU, which was then a talent-rich powerhouse that regularly went to the NCAA Women's College World Series. She played in 77 games for the Sun Devils across two seasons and made the Pac-12 Conference All-Academic team, graduating summa cum laude in 2016 with a 3.9 GPA in health sciences.

"I told them she would work hard, make good grades and there would be no issues," recalls Wagner, who was right on all three counts.

Still underestimating what 5-foot-2 can do? He bets that Peralta's young athletes aren't.

"She probably stretches their view of what they can accomplish," Wagner says. "She's a good example for the ones who want to listen and put in the work."

Maximizing her impact

Coaching wasn't on Peralta's radar until she ultimately decided after graduation from ASU that a nursing career wasn't for her. Although she has had stints as an assistant coach with SCC and Mesa Community College, she prefers her current work as a sport-specific trainer.

Along with hitting and fielding, she teaches about nutrition and sports psychology. Some of the psychology involves learning to deal effectively with failure. Even the best hitters make outs 65 to 70 percent of the time. Success requires making adjustments and staying positive.

"I do what I love every day," Peralta says of her work. "I don't feel like I'm working. I enjoy giving back to the girls.

"I can relate to them a lot. I know that you're considered 'not good' by some people if you play junior-college ball. But I tell them that you want to try to get school paid for, while playing the game you love. I loved Scottsdale. It was so much fun, and I had great coaching."

She works with athletes ranging from age 6 through college and says she can spot motivation as well as muscle.

"You can definitely see those who are naturally athletic versus the ones who aren't so athletic but want to do it," she says. "I don't ever tell anyone they can't. If they want to do it, they'll do it."

Mind Over Grind — the name came from a Peralta family brainstorming session — is actually about putting mind before grind.

For optimal success, neither is optional.

"The mind is involved to maintain the focus to succeed," Peralta says. "In order to grind, it starts within the mind."

In other words, think big.