Competitive fire turns Niagara Wheatfield’s Elyssa Giannini from fierce figure skater to softball standout

SANBORN — When Elyssa Giannini turns a game-changing double play or smacks a critical hit, her expression doesn’t change much. But anyone familiar with her knows there’s a fire burning under the surface.

Giannini has dedicated her high school years to softball, but honed her athletic talents in a sport not known for outward physical emotion.

Giannini began ice skating at 18 months old and, for over a decade, took her talents across the country, becoming a two-time USA All-American and competing at national events in Michigan and Virginia. With the help of her family, Giannini would skate two to three hours a day and head straight to softball practice, five to seven days a week.

But eventually, balancing the two sports became too much. And, with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 causing all indoor sports to shut down, the path towards which activity to pursue became clearer for Giannini.

By solely devoting to softball the last four years, Giannini has transformed from an all-Niagara Frontier League second-team selection to now continuing her career at East Stroudsburg University next year. She still skates for fun, to see if she can still land her old jumps, but doesn’t regret making her choice.

“I learned that softball is really where I want to focus all of my time,” Giannini said. “When you start getting into high school, it becomes a lot more competitive and I decided to focus my time to softball.”

Members of the Seneca Nation Bear clan, competing on both the ice and on the diamond is part of the Giannini family tradition. Her grandfather, Harold Maracle Jr., played hockey and baseball and was inducted into the Fort Erie Sports Wall of Fame in 2015.

Elyssa’s mom, Michele, competed around the world, including Sweden and Finland, as a figure skater and was a third baseman in softball during her scholastic career. And once Elyssa began skating, Michele became her coach, teaching the fundamentals and having her join Niagara University Skating Club at 2 years old through 2020, including competing at the annual Empire State Games.

While Giannini transferred skills over from skating to softball like visualizing her routine, the latter sport is where she began putting more energy towards as she got older, before officially pivoting. In recent years, Giannini played for national level softball teams in Pennsylvania and Ohio and now with the NY Inferno Righetti travel team her senior year.

At the plate, Giannini looks to reach base with a single, resulting in a .440 average and eight RBIs this season, but what she enjoys the most is being in the field. Giannini is listed as a utility player, shortstop is where she thrives, having recorded 13 assists and two putouts this season.

Along with increasing her arm strength since eighth grade, the drive towards wanting to continue improving isn’t an area of concern for Schucker. Because of her past motivation to do well on the ice, Giannini has the experience to perform at a high level on the field.

“She’s just got range,” Schucker said. “And, she can make throws kids can’t make. If it goes in the hole, she can backhand it, turn around and throw it and still get the girl at first base. ... I think it’s a lot of this conditioning and speed work that she puts in.”

Looking back, there are pros and cons to Giannini’s time as a competitive figure skater. She enjoyed the spinning and the footwork techniques but was not a fan of the routines.

But what’s helped her the most in softball is the mental focus she developed from competing in big crowds on the ice. Now, she’s able to find success with teammates.

“I think it’s helped me transfer over to contribute positively to my team,” Giannini said. “Because figure skating was such an individual thing. There really wasn’t anybody else to come and pick you up. And with softball, you got everybody else there for you.”