This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

JUPITER, Fla. -- There's an early storyline in Season 2 of "Ted Lasso" where we discover recently retired footballer Roy Kent has begun coaching his niece's team.

About seven miles from the Marlins' Spring Training complex, former pitchers Tom Koehler and Steve Cishek are following a similar path, coaching their daughters' 8U and 6U softball teams. Marlins Minor Leaguers at about the same time, the right-handers played together in the big leagues from 2012-15. They settled in Jupiter, Fla., with their families, and have two daughters the same age.

"It was just an easy transition," said Koehler, who began as an assistant coach for his eldest daughter's 5U T-ball team. "I think the day after I retired [in 2020], Riley had a game, so it was perfect."

Postgame Thursday, Koehler opened his speech by reminding the 8U girls about sportsmanship before handing out the "Bomb of the Game." An honor bestowed upon the girl who hits better than she normally does, Cishek's daughter, Emmie, earned it by homering for the first time.

At this age, instruction is kept simple: Pay attention, know where to be, hit the ball hard and make a play. Cishek called the 6U team "glorified sheep herding," but when things progress from coach to kid pitch, Koehler's wife, Ashley, will be called upon, since she played softball at Stony Brook University.

"I think we've got a good cop, bad cop routine going on," said Cishek, who initially helped Koehler for a couple of practices before leaving for Spring Training last year.

Added Koehler: "I found [out] early on, when I started coaching the kids, that you have to talk to them like they're older than they are -- not in the sense of screaming or cursing -- but you've got to be very direct.

“At this age group, it snowballs. Once one kid loses focus, they're all gone. His approach is more like, 'We're going to smile and have fun,' and mine is going to be like, 'Your legs are going to start shaking if you're not in the right position because I'm screaming at you.'"

Koehler and Cishek have been able to stay relatively anonymous. The girls and their parents either don't care or don't bring it up. One time, another coach mentioned how he wanted to run things, then glibly mentioned how Koehler and Cishek probably played something -- ignorant to whom he was talking.

Regardless, the two’s mentoring seems to be paying off.

"One of the moms doing all the photography there was like, 'I've got to check your kids' birth certificates,'" Cishek said. "I started laughing. 'These were like the bad news bears last year, and this year, they grew up and they know how to play now.'"