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Nobody would have blamed Christina Toniolo if she allowed the call on her cell phone that said it was from “Italy” to go straight to voicemail.
But picking up that random call has led Toniolo, a Crystal Lake South graduate, on some memorable adventures, including trips this summer to play softball in Canada and Italy, where both sets of her grandparents were born.
“It all just lined up in a weird way,” said Toniolo, a pitcher at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Last month, Toniolo pitched for Team Italy in both the Canada Cup International Softball Championship in British Columbia, where she and her teammates won a bronze medal, and in group play for the 2024 World Cup in Italy, in which the team earned a top-two finish to qualify.
“Playing for a country is unlike anything else,” Toniolo said. “After one game, I looked up in the stands and I saw it was filled with people rooting for us, the Italian flag [everywhere], Italy across their chests. It almost brought me to tears.”
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How did this all happen?
On Feb. 21, 2020, Toniolo was UIC’s pitcher in a 1-0 loss at Fresno State. She struck out nine in six innings and allowed only three hits. She later learned that Team Italy was scouting Fresno’s pitcher, who was not able to get Italian citizenship.
Noticing her last name, a representative of Team Italy made that memorable call.
“I thought, ‘Should I answer it, or should I not?’ ” she recalled. “It was kind of like fate.”
When discussing the ability to gain dual citizenship, Toniolo told the team representative that both sets of her grandparents were born in Italy.
“Luckily, my family had kept all of their paperwork, so I had everything that I needed,” Toniolo said.
Although the process dragged for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, she eventually was able to earn Italian citizenship.
“Playing for a country is unlike anything else. After one game, I looked up in the stands and I saw it was filled with people rooting for us, the Italian flag [everywhere], Italy across their chests. It almost brought me to tears.”
— Christina Toniolo, Crystal Lake South graduate
Toniolo said she doesn’t speak Italian but was able to connect with teammates through playing the game.
“I try my best to learn the language around the game of softball and work with that,” she said. “They are all very accommodating.”
As part of a team that included a few American college players, several athletes who play professionally in the U.S. and pro players from Italy, the group was able to bond quickly.
“We were all very like-minded and hard-working, and we wanted to win,” said Toniolo, who will play a fifth season at UIC next spring and plans to plays when Italy hosts the World Cup in July.
“I’m very fortunate to have softball to bring me to all of these places,” Toniolo said. “If it takes a little bit of jet lag and time getting used to the surroundings, so be it.”
Evans named to Maxwell list: Prairie Ridge graduate Samson Evans, a senior running back at Eastern Michigan, was named Monday to the 2023 Maxwell Award Watchlist. The award is given annually to the top player in college football.
Evans, one of only five Mid-American Conference players named to the list, rushed for 1,166 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall for the Eagles, which led the conference. He posted four 100-yard rushing games a year ago and moved into first place all-time at EMU in rushing touchdowns with No. 27, which came Nov. 25 against Central Michigan.
Evans previously was named preseason All-MAC first-team by Athlon Sports and second-team preseason all-conference by Phil Steele’s college football preview publication.
Maxwell Award semifinalists will be announced Nov. 13, with the winner announced Dec. 7 on ESPN. Evans and EMU open the season Sept. 1 with a home game against Howard University.
Rummell picks Ole Miss: After starting 178 softball games over the past four seasons at Illinois, Hampshire graduate Delaney Rummell has transferred to the University of Mississippi for her final year of eligibility.
Rummell earned Big Ten Conference All-Defensive Team honors at third base in the spring for the Illini, with a .986 fielding percentage and only two errors in 148 chances. At the plate, Rummell hit .271 this spring with a career-best 48 hits. She also drove in 31 runs.
During her time in Champaign. Rummell collected 24 home runs and 111 RBIs.
Ole Miss finished 32-28 this season and advanced to the NCAA tournament, where the Rebels posted a 2-2 record in the Salt Lake City Regional.
Albright off to Peoria: Tyler Albright, who was the hitting coach last season for NJCAA Heartland Community College’s baseball team, was hired July 20 as an assistant coach at Bradley University in Peoria.
Albright, a Huntley graduate, helped develop a Heartland offense that led the team to the NJCAA Division II national title this spring and back-to-back JUCO world series appearances.
Heartland’s championship was the first in school history for the Hawks, who finished the season 57-5. As a team, Heartland batted .382 this season and scored 739 runs, an average of 11.9 a game.
Albright spent the past four seasons at Heartland and also coached previously at Tennessee-Martin.
• Barry Bottino writes about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.