The Surprise Storyline: Jackson Olson and Sophie
“Sunny” Martinez
When Jackson Olson joined the Savannah Bananas, he expected his life to be all about baseball and performance. Known as one of the team’s biggest personalities, Olson was already a social media sensation, a showman on the field, and a player who blurred the line between athlete and entertainer. For him, the Bananas weren’t just a team; they were a lifestyle. Baseball consumed his schedule, his thoughts, his energy. Romance? It wasn’t even on the radar.
But then came Sophie “Sunny” Martinez.
Sophie wasn’t the kind of person Olson had pictured in his orbit. A dancer-turned-entertainer from Florida, she had joined the Bananas’ cheer group, bringing her bright energy, sequined sneakers, and signature “Banana Wave” routine to the stadium. At first, Olson barely noticed her—he was too busy perfecting infield dance moves, juggling the whirlwind of tours, and balancing the demands of being one of the team’s most recognizable faces online.
“I’ll be honest—I didn’t think too much of it when I first met her,” Olson admits. “I was so locked in on baseball, the traveling, the crazy schedule. She wasn’t what I expected at all. But then she started showing up in these little moments—cheering, leading chants, hyping the crowd—and suddenly she was impossible to ignore.”
Their story didn’t begin with fireworks or love at first sight. It started with playful banter. Sophie would tease Jackson about being “too serious” when he choreographed routines into his pregame warmups. He, in turn, would joke that she stole the spotlight from him during her high-energy dance breaks. Somewhere between the laughter and the competition for crowd attention, something changed.
“I think the moment it clicked was during a game in Savannah,” Sophie recalls. “Jackson scooped up a foul ball, looked around for a kid to toss it to, and then—out of nowhere—lobbed it straight to me. The crowd went crazy. It was like the fans saw something we hadn’t quite admitted yet.”
From then on, fans began to notice a pattern. Olson’s infield showmanship seemed to sync perfectly with Sophie’s routines. During the “Banana Wave,” he would play along, waving dramatically from shortstop. Between innings, he’d toss her props for her dances. Even the Man-Nanas, the team’s all-male hype squad, got in on the joke, chanting “Olson and Sunny!” from the sidelines.
It wasn’t long before the playful chemistry off the field turned into something more serious away from the spotlight. For Olson, who had always kept romance secondary to the game, the shift was surprising. “I didn’t expect someone to walk in and completely change the script,” he says. “But she did. She became this undeniable presence—not just in the ballpark, but in my life.”
For Sophie, the connection came from watching how Olson handled the chaos of Banana Ball with both professionalism and joy. “It’s easy to see the crazy dances, the TikToks, the energy,” she says. “But what people don’t see is the discipline behind it. He works so hard to make it fun for everyone else. That’s what drew me in—the heart behind the show.”
Together, they’ve become an unofficial storyline of the Bananas’ world tour. Fans ask for photos of them, chant their names together, and follow their interactions online as if they’re part of the show. Some call them the “First Couple of Banana Ball.” Olson laughs at the nickname but admits there’s some truth in it.
“What makes the Bananas special is the way we connect with people—how the game is more than just baseball,” he says. “Sophie and I, we kind of became our own little version of that. Unexpected, joyful, and maybe a little over the top. But that’s exactly what this team is about.”
Looking back, Olson sees their story as a twist he never saw coming. “When I first met Sophie, I wasn’t expecting much,” he says. “Baseball was everything. But then she showed up—unexpected and undeniable. Now she’s part of the story I never knew I needed.”
As for Sophie? She just smiles and says, “The Bananas are all about making memories people never forget. I guess we just ended up making one of our own.”