Addonizio Spiriti Had a Spectacular Softball Career at RHS, Saint Anselm College

For Annamaria Addonizio Spiriti, the Reds’ Revere Youth Baseball League championship season rekindled memories of her competing in the Cal Ripken Baseball League at St. Mary’s Field as a youth.

“They didn’t have softball at St. Mary’s when I first started at 9 years old,” recalled Addonizio Spiriti. “I was on the Minor League Yankees for one year and played for the Major League Cardinals for Coach Robichaud. The first time I ever played softball was in the eighth grade.”

Addonizio would go on to become a four-year starting varsity shortstop and one of Revere High School’s greatest softball players, batting a phenomenal .692 in her senior season in 1993.

After graduating from Revere High, Addonizio Spiriti became an All-New England softball player at Saint Anselm College, where she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

During her senior year at Saint Anselm, Addonizio Spiriti was offered a tryout with Italy’s Olympic softball team, but she politely declined.

“The Italian coach had been at my games in my senior year, and he asked me if I’d be interested in going to Italy for a tryout,” said Anna, whose parents were originally from Italy. “I was 21 at the time, and I guess I didn’t quite understand it [the magnitude of the international honor that was being presented to her]. When I was watching Italy play softball in this year’s Olympics, I thought about what might have been.”

Annamaria Addonizio Spiriti is back on the Revere fields, coaching her sons, Marco and Rocco, and her nephew, Anthony Addonizio, all of whom got a true sense of what a superstar she was, when they were in the audience for her Hall of Fame induction ceremony four years ago.

Looking back at her team’s RYBSL championship season from a coach and a parent’s perspective, Addonizio Spiriti said, “I told my sons to not get too excited and stay humble and you can be happy, but this doesn’t happen all the time – so just appreciate this time right now.”