ALLIANCE FASTPITCH BLOG

Mia Vannelli Recognized as NEFL Player of the Month for Her January Performance

By Alexa Pagano:

The Northeast Fastpitch League (NEFL) is thrilled to announce Mia Vannelli as the NEFL Player of the Month. For the remainder of the 2021 Season, we will highlight top performing NEFL players in our different age groups.

2024 graduate Mia Vannelli aka “Mama” as her team would call her, is our NEFL player of the month. She is a force to be reckoned with when representing the Starz Premier 06 team.

Mia is from Depew, New York where she is a freshman at Depew High School which is located right outside of Buffalo. Showing off her athleticism, aside from softball Mia she also plays basketball and has been on the Varsity team since 7^th grade. However, her passion is and always has been softball, which she started playing at the age of 5 for a local house league.

One of Mia’s many attributes is how aggressive she is. She said that her first travel coach watched her slide into first base and knew right away what kind of player she was. Mia played for two other organizations before finding a home with the Starz two years ago.

Since joining the team, her stats have proven Mia’s talents. She hit .374 with a slugging percentage of .595. She is the clean-up hitter and is a consistent and powerful threat at all times. On the defensive side, Mia is a catcher, but will occasionally play 3^rd. She states, “I enjoy the challenge of being a catcher and perfecting my defensive skills, while also having the opportunity to play other positions.” Mia’s goal is be to be recruited to play Division 1 softball.

Coach Tony Farina says, “Mia is a rock and a leader on our team, working tirelessly to improve her game. With great size and athleticism, Mia has aspirations of playing college softball at Oregon.”

One of Mia’s favorite softball memories is hitting a walkoff home run in the fall of 2019 against a very talented Texas Glory team.

Congratulations to Mia Vannelli from the Starz Premier 06 team for being recognized as the Player of the Month for the NEFL.

What is the Alliance Fastpitch Player Recognition Program?

The Player Recognition Program was built to recognize and spotlight our individual players in each Member League. Starting this Spring, each League will name a Player of the Month for different age divisions.

Registered Alliance Fastpitch players will be placed in a pool based on verified stats from AthletesGoLive (AGL). AthletesGoLive(AGL) will run monthly reports and submit to the player selection committee for each League.  Additionally, registered Alliance Fastpitch coaches will have the opportunity to submit a player for consideration. Committee members will review verified stats and consider coach feedback to name League Players of the Month. 

Following the announcement of each League’s Players of the Month, the Alliance Fastpitch will recognize a National Player of the Month. To be considered for Player of the Month, your team must score League games in AGL so her stats are considered in the monthly reports.