Hello, my name is Gianna Russo.  I am originally from Mokena, Illinois.  I am now a resident of Fort Myers, Florida.

I attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene Texas for the 2022-2023 school year.   I have been on the Dean's List for both semesters and my cumulative GPA is 3.73 / 4.0.  I intend to major in Business Human Resource Management and a minor in Psychology.  I also played Division 1 Softball for ACU as a 2nd Baseman and Utility Player in the Western Athletic Conference.  Our ACU team played a very difficult schedule that included five Power Five opponents which included playing against Baylor, Texas, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech and Mississippi State.  The ACU team also faced other strong out-of-conference opponents such as UTEP, Texas A&M, Lamar, South Dakota State, Murray State, Dartmouth, Texas Southern, Colorado State, Grand Canyon University (Invitational), and Louisiana -Monroe.  As a freshman, I am grateful to have started in the games against Virginia Tech, Grand Canyon University, and Utah Tech.  I also had pinch-hitting and/or pinch-running appearances against Baylor, Mississippi State, UTSA, Texas Southern, Utah Tech, UT Arlington, and New Mexico State.  

I am searching for a private faith-based university that will be the right "fit" for me with a Division 1 competitive softball team where I can make an impact on and off of the softball field.  I am also willing to consider a university that has a Christian Coach that will lead our softball team. It is very important to me that the college has the following:  challenging academics with the correct degree,  affordable so I will not have tremendous debt,   a competitive softball team with a great coach,  a college with a chapel/ church to keep a vibrant spiritual life,  and be a safe midsized university. In other words, I am looking for a college that will include the correct academic fit, financial fit, athletic fit, spiritual fit, and feel fit because all of these "fits" will help me continue to grow and mature as a person.

Previously, I've played competitive elite travel softball for the Nationals Softball Organization in Rockdale, IL from 14u through 18u.   I saw much success with the Nationals and was  Ranked in Legacy & Legends Top 150 Players Class of 2022,  Ranked in 2020 as a  TOP 300 Softball Prospect for the Class of 2022 by Extra Inning Softball ,  Selected to the Extra Inning Softball "2020 All-Summer Team 16U,"  and was featured in 2 articles by Extra Inning Softball for this softball recruiting website.  Revisiting my travel seasons with the Nationals, we played in many elite out of state tournaments & showcases by PGF, Alliance Fastpitch, Alliance HFL, ASA,  and TC.  It was a really amazing experience because, traveling through the country, has allowed me to be exposed to very tough top-ranked teams from the West Coast, East Coast, Midwest, and the South.  It has helped me realize that we all play the game of softball slightly different and has given me the experience to hit off of some of the best extremely skilled/ fast pitchers in the nation.  Most of my big highlights are listed on the profile page but I do want to mention that on my team, I played with other D1 players that were recruited to Virginia Tech, Texas, Wichita State, Ball State, SLU, Loyola, Evansville, Wagner, and many others. Also, a favorite highlight was that I hit a  Grand Slam against a Texas Glory pitcher marking it as my 3rd Grand Slam and my final 18u home run was in the Allied FP Championship Elite 8 also against a Texas Glory pitcher!   

For some fun background information as an athlete, I began playing t-ball/softball and performance dance when I was 4 years old.  In addition to those activities, I added competitive cheer at 6 and travel volleyball at 11.  I was always very busy, but wanted to be a well  rounded athlete.  I started to love softball when I was consistently chosen as a softball All Star and MVP.  I was very blessed when a softball coach watched me play one day, said he "believed in me" and then asked me to tryout for a travel team.  I tried out for the team and he gave me my first competitive softball opportunity when I was chosen to play on a 16 U “A level” softball team and I was only 13 years old!  I challenged myself by training very hard and earned a starting shortstop position on that team.  The following year, I joined the highly competitive Nationals Softball Premier Club in which I played on the 14U Brzezinski team and was the starting shortstop and catcher.  For Nationals 16U, I was one of only two 15 year old players, on the very tough and ranked Nationals Premier 16U Berg Team in which I played shortstop, catcher and became a power hitter.  I continued to play a second year on the 16U Nationals Premier Berg Team as a 16 year old and never came off of the field earning the starting positions of shortstop, catcher, and the 3-4 batter spot.  For 18U, I was chosen to be on the Nationals 18U Gold Team at the positions of middle infield and catcher.  I played for two years at the 18u level, caught for a Division 1 committed pitcher going to Virginia Tech, and played with eight Division 1 committed teammates.  

I attended  Providence Catholic High School (PCHS), where we were taught the Augustinian values of Truth, Unity and Love and learned how to try to live out the values in our daily lives.  Providence Catholic is a college preparatory school that is extremely challenging with a difficult grade scale & GPA ranking system.  Every semester, since Freshman year, I’ve achieved First Honors- Honor Roll, which is the highest achievement possible at PCHS.  My cumulative GPA was a  4.38.    I was one of six students chosen to represent PCHS at the Student Augustinian Values Institute (SAVI) leadership conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  After SAVI,  I assisted the Pastoral Staff where I was needed and helped other students by using the knowledge I learned to help implement the core values of Truth, Unity & Love. One example would be that I was selected to create and speak three daily "All School Prayers" for our school and for the "Love, Me." Providence podcast. (Click here to listen to it)   For softball, Providence participates in the difficult "Chicago Catholic League" which demands very high-level athletic competition. Over the years, the PCHS softball team has won several regional and sectional championships and has also achieved two, top three state final finishes.  Unfortunately, Covid-19 affected our softball seasons causing a cancellation of the 2020 season.  In 2021, our Providence team ( 3A) competed against the large public school ( 4A teams) playing 35 games in a condensed 6 -week schedule.  We played almost every day of the week but our hard work paid off and our Providence softball team finished as Regional Champions! As a Senior, I am humbled, grateful, and blessed to be ranked among the best in our 2022 class.  I was selected as a *2022 Illinois ALL STATE -1st Team Infield, GCAC-Chicago Catholic Athlete of the Year, Providence Catholic Most Valuable Player, All Conference, Chicago Tribune/ Shaw News ALL Area Player, on the Chicago Tribune Top 25 Softball Player Watchlist. Additionally,  I'm on the leaderboards for PCHS school records and have broken several records.   As a Junior, I was selected as an Illinois All-State Infielder-3rd team, selected as a Chicago Catholic League Softball All-Conference Infield Player, and am a Chicago Tribune All-Area Honorable Mention.  My most memorable highlights this year include, a 3 Run Walk-Off Home Run against Fenwick which made headlines in the local news.  Also, I rose to the challenge of learning a new position, made some very cool defensive plays at 3rd and earned a All State Infield awards twice.  I lead our team in the most doubles, home runs, the most Rbi's and I have 28 home runs which include 3 Grand Slams and 3 Walk-Off Home Runs!)   Finally, Due to Covid-19, our 2020 softball season was canceled, so my freshman highlights for 2019 included hitting 2 Grand Slams over center field fence, 2 consecutive "back to back" over the fence home runs in 2 innings, and 10 home runs over the fence with 44 Rbi's.   (Click here: High School  for  academic & school softball information.)  

When I am not playing/ training for softball,  I like to hang out with my friends & family, go to the beach, train my two dogs, visit my Grandparents, volunteer with my Grandpa, watch teen drama mini-series on Netflix, swim, go shopping, enjoy photography, dabble in make up artistry, and enjoy a high energy work out. I think it's important to know that I am a non-denominational baptized believer and I attend Hickory Creek Community Church.  Our church mission is to Love God, Love People, and Live it Out.  We learn about the Bible and how to apply it to our lives. We do many community outreach activities such as helping the homeless, working at food pantries, helping the elderly, doing general community landscaping, and packing food for hungry children.  I also help my Grandpa with the Lions Club and volunteer when he needs me to collect donations and help at the local food pantry.  It is very important to me to give back and help others.  I hope to bring this spirit of volunteering to my future softball team.  

 I would really like you to know that I am a very coachable, positive, motivated, versatile,  determined, disciplined, aggressive, energetic, competitive, hardworking individual, and supportive team player with a positive attitude. I fully understand that I always need to hustle, I must earn my spot on the field, and I must train hard.   I  am also a power hitter and a very tough defensive player.  I have been technically trained in the positions of middle infield, catcher, and 3rd base (earned All-State honors for 2 years at 3rd base). I can pretty much play ANYWHERE that I am needed in the infield and would even try to pitch if you needed me...but you probably wouldn't want me to!   Ideally, I would like to play softball as a middle infielder and/or a 3rd baseman but am also open to play wherever I am needed.  Honestly, it is my goal to ALWAYS strive to be the Best person & Player that I can be.... On and Off of the field!  

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read all about me!   I know video is also extremely important, so I added TONS of videos on this site so you can see that I'm the "Real Deal".  If  I am a good fit for your college & softball program, I would LOVE  to hear from you!    

Wishing you all the best!

Gianna Russo  

Luke 1:37 KJV

Email: Gmrusso77@gmail.com

Twitter: @gmrusso77

Instagram: Giannarusso77

P.S. Most of my friends & coaches call me "G."   Also, you might want to turn down the volume on the videos. My Mom is my biggest fan and her cheers are pretty loud on the videos!  Sorry!    : )

This post can be found here: https://www.legacyandlegendssoftball.com/post/gianna-russo-l-ls-elite-150-commits-to-d1-abilene-christian-university

Recruiting Success: In These COVID/Quarantine Times, Junior Gianna Russo’s Impressive Self-Marketing Gets Her a Scholarship!

December 8, 2020

Gianna Russo’s proactive approach in promoting herself during this year of COVID-19 restrictions led to her getting a scholarship to play softball at one of the top national universities in her major.

When handed lemons, make lemonade.

You have to feel bad for the Classes of 2021 and ’22 as their opportunities to be recruiting has diminished over the last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, both for college coaches and athletes trying to impress them on the field.

Fortunately, innovative people always find solutions; for example, live streaming of events has become the new go-to for college coaches a la national systems such as AthletesGoLive and regional like what is done by the Arizona Hotshots.

It’s made it tougher on players to get their name and skills out to be recognized, but a successful blueprint has been established by several self-starters including 2022 infielder Gianna Russo, who created a website that any Marketing executive would be proud of!

In May, we did a spotlight on Gianna and her website site (see the article below) and we’re happy to report that it worked out very well.

Click HERE to go to the home page of Gianna’s recruiting website

Gianna is ecstatic to be committed to a school that checks all the boxes for her.

“I committed on Friday, December 4th,” she wrote us this week. “I will be receiving a scholarship to attend Detroit Mercy and play softball. It was truly amazing because, after speaking to Coach (Marc) Gillis, I actually received a personal email from President Antoine Garibaldi of UDM expressing how much he loved my website.”

She continues, “Ultimately, I chose UDM because they have strong academics, they are the 2019 Horizon League conference champions and Coach Gills is a great person!  Also, I did not know this at first but did you know that UDM is ranked #25 in the U.S. for their Business Management program, #1 in the USA for CPA pass rate in 2018,and is an AACSB accredited top 5% Business School in the world!”

“I was blown away because I will be pursuing a Human Resource Management Business degree and am planning on entering the five-year BS/MBA Accelerated program.  Competitive softball and strong academics… UDM seems like it is a perfect fit for me!”

Gianna said that she took an admissions tour of the Horizon League program and liked how “the campus is a very nice gated property.” She was unable to meet with Coach Gillis, but was fortunate enough to have a special meeting with President Garibaldi and then the Dean of the College of Business.

“To top it off, it was explained that I could actually start a dual-enrollment program free of charge.  I will start taking classes this January and will have nine credits before I start UDM if I take one class for two more semesters of my senior year.  My parents and I were seriously surprised at all of this!”

Having already done her homework on what she wanted in a university, Gianna added: “My family and I went over the “college fits” categories: academic, financial, feel, spiritual and athletic fit.  Detroit Mercy is definitely the correct fit!  I’m super excited to attend UDM and will work hard to make a positive impact on and off the field!

Her video helped convince schools of her talents offensively and defensively.

And she’s already being proactive, as is her nature, in trying to build her future program stating: “If you know some awesome softball players that would like UDM…send them our way!”

She’s also aware of how big of an impact her website had in attracting attention and strongly recommends her peers do something similar to market themselves to coaches.

“It allowed the college coaches that were recruiting me to see everything they needed to know about me in one central place so that they could determine if I was a good fit for their softball program and college,” she explains.

“They were able to assess my skill level by checking out my profile, watch offensive hitting/ base running videos, watch defensive middle infield/ catcher position videos, view all of my tournament videos, and verify that I am a power hitter by watching the grand slams on my home run video. I received very positive feedback and was told that the website was especially helpful because of the pandemic issues and the dead period extensions.”

Does she recommend others in the recruiting process follow her example? Oh yea!

“This free website helped me a ton so I thought it would be a good idea to help others, suggests the 2022 grad who attends Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Illinois. “I hope my website can be a good resource example or used as a template for anyone who would like some ideas for their own recruiting website.”

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

*****

Softball Recruiting: Gianna Russo Creates Her Own Free Softball Profile Website (4.39 GPA & Power Hitter…Interested?)

Originally published May 24, 2020 on Extra Inning Softball

Gianna Russo, a Class of 2022 player, did some research to find a way to create a free Google site promoting her softball and academic accomplishments.

I never cease to be amazed at the talent, creativity and ingenuity of the softball community.

One such example literally popped up in my email box last month when I got a well-written note from softball player Gianna Russo, an incoming junior at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, Illinois.

Gianna plays travel softball for the 16U Nationals – Berg/ Brzezinski Team in Joliet, Illinois and was recently ranked as a Top 300 prospect in our Class of 2022 rankings.

Gianna plays for the Nationals 16U Berg/Brzezinski  team out of Illinois.

Let me interject that almost every day we get emails asking our staff at Extra Inning Softball how a player can get evaluated or receive exposure to be considered for our rankings and also to be recruited by college coaches.

Gianna cleverly showed one brilliant way she “grabbed the bull by the horns” during the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic: the talented prospect created the Gianna Russo Softball softball site promoting herself and organizing her accomplishments in once central place.

“I have watched the news and know many people are suffering financially because they are not working,” Gianna explained in her initial email.

“However, what we do have is free time and lots of it! I’m writing to share my free website recruiting idea to help others so they showcase their talents for free too. I think it is very important to let you know that (my site) was made with Google sites and it was made completely free.”

The reason she did it, Gianna explained, was so coaches could “see everything they need to know about me all in one place without separate e-mails.”

Below is what she sent us which we’re sure will impress you like it did us and, as an update, Gianna wrote us this week to say she is continuing to add to the site.

“On the bright side, I am still training for softball at our house and was recently able to go to a batting cage in my friends ‘barn.’  I was so excited to be there that I even added a very short video to my site! I am really looking forward to going to our first softball tournament!  I was recently chosen to be in an 18U tournament in Chattanooga, Tennessee in June and I honestly can’t wait to play!”

One thing is for sure: after her softball career is over, Gianna will have a very bright future in Marketing, PR, Communications, Sales. Entrepreneurship or whatever she wants to do!

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

*****

Currently, in Illinois, we have a “stay at home order” in place so we are doing e-school online and our high school softball season was just cancelled.  During my extra time at home, I am still working hard at my studies and with my softball training.  I am doing a good job with remote learning but honestly, I definitely prefer going to actual school!

For my softball training, because everything is currently closed, we set up a hitting station in our garage and I work on my batting by hitting at least six buckets of balls each day.  I also work on catching and throwing with my dad, work out in my basement gym and run a mile almost every day.

The 2022 grad can play the infield as well as catch.

On the bright side, staying at home has allowed me to research many college websites. While reviewing them, I thought about creating my own personal recruiting site that would help coaches’ identity if I was a good fit for their college too.

I’m happy to say that I have completed a personal recruiting website, so now they can see everything they need to know about me all in one place without separate e-mails.

The site will help them get a snapshot of who I am in my profile, learn about who I am as a softball player, provide details about my high school academics/ activities, detail my club affiliations / training experience, provide schedule updates and allow them to watch videos to see how I play offense and defense.

For example, in the site, you will see that I am a Christian, I am an above average student at a very tough college prep high school with a recent 3rd quarter GPA of 4.39 and  I enjoy volunteering.

I am also on an elite travel softball team, I’m considered a power hitter, and I’m a trained softball shortstop and catcher but can also play 2nd base, 3rd base and outfield.  You will see this past fall that I had a .418 batting average and watch videos of me:

• hitting a walk off double scoring two runs to win the game 7-6,

• watch a three-run home run at the Colorado Fireworks,

• watch a triple at TC USA Nationals,

• watch two home runs in one day at the PGF Qualifier in Crown Point,

• watch a three-run over the fence home run in Chattanooga

• watch me hitting two stand up triples in Orlando.

Finally, you will know that last year my high school batting average was .454 with 44 RBI’s  and can watch videos which include hitting two Grand Slams, two over the fence home runs in 2 innings, and other home runs.

I’m very excited to reveal my  “Gianna Russo Softball” recruiting site because I know that after I send out an email with the link, I will have given access to everything a college coach will need to know about recruiting me… all in one place.

You can access the site by clicking on this main link: Gianna Russo Softball and navigate the website by clicking on the page headings or multiple page links.

For your convenience, below my name, there are individual page links allowing you to access each site page directly. I think it looks best on the computer, but you can also access the site by tablet or cell phone.

I sure hope that you like the site and are interested in viewing it.

— Gianna Russo, Class of 2022

*****

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site!

I  hope you like this About Me page that describes Who I am as a Person & Softball Player!

Check out my other pages by clicking on the underlined page tabs: 

Profile        Videos(Offense)        Videos(Defense)      Training & Teams       Schedule        High School 

QUICK  LINKS:      PROFILE     VIDEOS (OFFENSE)     VIDEOS (DEFENSE-SS / 2nd)     VIDEOS (DEFENSE-3RD/ CATCH)     

 TRAINING & TEAMS   ABOUT  ME           SCHEDULE    HIGH  SCHOOL