Terraka Garner
Staff Writer
She is admired by fellow softball players, she is dreaded by her opponents and she has a current batting average of .425 along with a total of 15 home runs in the 36 games that the Idaho State University Bengals have played this year.
As a senior catcher for the ISU women’s softball team, Vicky Galasso is one of a kind.
“She’s just the definition of a beast, pretty much,” said right fielder Sarah Hayes. “She is very consistent. She pretty much has a home run a game and she has so much power. Behind the plate too, as a catcher she’s fantastic, as you can see, she almost picked off like everyone here taking leads. On both sides of the game she’s just solid, very dominant.”
Galasso has recently been recognized as the ESPNW softball player of the week as of April 1. She was said by ESPNW staff writer, Graham Hays to be an idol for college softball players.
“They might not have known it, but just about every hitter in college softball wanted to trade places with Vicky Galasso this past week,” said Graham.
“It feels good. It feels really good,” said Galasso.
Galasso’s passion and overall love for softball began in her childhood years.
She started her journey by scoping out different sports and by making decisions about what she did and did not like about each sport. At the young age of six years old she started playing tee ball and then at eight years old she made the transition into softball.
“I tried a bunch of different sports when I was a kid,” said Galasso. “Soccer and volleyball had too much running, so I didn’t like it. I just tried softball and I liked it. My brother played baseball so I wanted to do that.”
Galasso played for her high school softball team, the Orange County Oilers, for all four years of high school.
Prior to that, she played for and worked for a club softball team called Pure Fast Pitch.
Galasso’s dream is to one day play professionally, but for now she is a senior student in the exercise science program at ISU.
“I want to be either like an assistant softball coach somewhere or a strength coach,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll get to go play professionally somewhere but I don’t know any of that stuff yet.”
Galasso is fond of the relationship she has built with her team members and with her coach. She believes that this team, unlike other competitive sports teams, is focused on the “person not only the player.”
“I really like how it’s a big family with all of us,” said Galasso.
Patience and perseverance are two of Galasso’s well-established traits. She is said by several of her teammates to be able to handle whatever flies her way. This may be because in her down time, Galasso typically goes low key by “hanging out”, trying to relax and trying to get a lot of sleep.
“I think she does well. She did very well today as far as keeping herself without pressure,” said designated player, Gabby Lopez in reference to the April 3 game versus Weber state. “I think she’s a great player. I think she just handles it really well. She handles the game really well.”
