Softball: IC Catholic Prep senior Analisa Raffaelli is the Suburban Life Player of the Year

Growing up, Analisa Raffaelli always was the youngest girl on her softball team.

The IC Catholic Prep senior credits her coach, Frank Reaber, for letting her start as a freshman. Seniors that year took Raffaelli under their wing, and she didn’t forget.

She paid it forward.

This season on a team that started three talented freshmen, Raffaelli was the calming influence. She kept the team bonded, always with a positive word after games. She went with the freshmen for workouts at the Bo Dome. She’d send screenshots to Reaber of her and the freshmen at Chipotle doing burrito challenges.

Every day the Knights did tee work. Raffaelli would remain after her session, putting the ball on the tee for other girls.

“She just does everything right,” Reaber said. “The way she carries herself, it’s unbelievable. Every time she walks into a room, the room just lights up.”

Raffaelli indeed was the shining star at the center of a record-breaking Knights team. And she capped a brilliant individual career.

Raffaelli batted .653 with 66 hits, finishing her career with 216, and had 14 doubles, eight triples, 13 homers and 44 RBIs while scoring 72 runs. She broke her own single-season program stolen-base record with 67.

Raffaelli’s numbers put her in the top 15 in IHSA history in runs scored for a career and season as well as stolen bases for a career and season.

A Colgate recruit, Class 2A first-team all-state pick and GCAC Conference Player of the Year, Raffaelli led the Knights to a record 28 wins and a sectional championship.

Raffaelli is the 2024 Suburban Life Softball Player of the Year.

“It’s crazy to think about the last four years. We had a lot of successes. I’m happy to be able to go out with one of the best seasons,” Raffaelli said. “Those upperclassmen set a great example for me, taking me under their wing. I was able to return the favor this year, which was really cool.

“My whole high school experience was surreal. Very blessed.”

Reaber said the first quality he noticed about Raffaelli as an incoming freshman was her leadership. She led by example as a freshman; was not outspoken but learned. She built her teammates back up when Reaber told them what they did wrong and was the calming voice. Harder on herself than anybody, Raffaelli nonetheless never took a mistake in the field to an at-bat or pressed.

With Raffaelli taking the lead, the Knights never had a lull this season. They lost games, but were never defeated in spirit.

“Everything with her is always positive,” Reaber said. “She came to every game with a smile on her face.”

Raffaelli chalks it up to her family for reminding her to always be humble and kind. She said her mom, Claudia, has similar energy that lights up a room with her presence.

Softball came from Raffaelli’s dad, Anthony. A member of the 16-inch softball hall of fame, he was Raffaelli’s tee-ball coach as a young girl.

“He’s always been my No. 1 fan and biggest supporter,” she said.

His successes gave Raffaelli something to chase, and she’s always been blessed with natural speed.

She worked at it, too. Raffaelli made herself an in-home parachute, taking sand bags from her pool, tying a jump rope around her waist and sprinting down the block.

“I would do that literally every day during the summer, try each day to get faster and faster,” Raffaelli said. “I’d go light pole to light pole. It did help me get speed from that.”

Fast and daring, Raffaelli would ask Reaber every time she reached third base if she could steal home. Which she did on a number of occasions, a feeling of pure adrenalin. Reaber estimated that 40 to 60 of her 182 career stolen bases came on delayed steals of third.

“She is fast, and she gets off the base exactly when the pitcher is releasing the ball, not a second late,” Reaber said. “I think she was probably caught stealing seven times over four years, and that’s on the high side.

“Twice she got caught stealing third, and I was there. She did the wraparound slide, and she was safe both times.”

Raffaelli hit just two homers as a freshman, but power came with age – from eight to 14 to 13 homers the next three years. She worked with respected skills coach Jim Donovan at the Bo Dome and worked out.

Against Bishop McNamara in a game at Ruby Park, Raffaelli put one out over the 200-foot fence and another fence 15 feet beyond into a construction pond.

“Honestly, I just started working out like crazy,” Raffaelli said. “By junior year I realized that maybe I could be fast and have some power, getting more explosive with my legs and being in the workout room a lot.

“Colgate has helped me. They have those workouts. Whenever I would see them, I’d pick up on those. I’m just realizing that college is another level, and I want to be ready for that.”

An honor roll student, Raffaelli plans to study political science at Colgate and aspires to be a lawyer.

She’s left quite a legacy at IC Catholic.

“She was the best player in the game in every game we played,” Reaber said.