It’s been a great month of recruiting for the Newtown Rock Gold 18U team led by Head Coach Joe Garvey as the squad wrapped up its 2026 class with a fourth commit and third overall to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

This weekend, infielder Sophia Santinelli pulled the trigger and verballed to Syracuse, following in the ACC-bound footsteps of her 2026 teammates Abbi Call, a pitcher/first baseman committed to Clemson, and Callee Leffler, an outfielder headed to Florida State.

Hannah Chipego, a pitcher/outfielder, has also announced she will play at James Madison Univ. in the Sun Belt Conference.

The infielder says her decision to commit to Syracuse, which is a four-hour drive from her home in Pennsylvania, became clear after her campus visit two weekends ago.

“I knew after my visit that Syracuse was a place I could see myself because Coach (Shannon) Doepking has created a positive and family-based culture on and off the field.”

The athlete says that committing to the Orange fulfilled a lifelong dream.

“I committed to Syracuse this past weekend after my last college visit,” Sophia explained, “because I wanted to achieve my childhood dream of playing in the ACC.”

Another key: the 2026 standout says the Syracuse staff felt she could “come in as an impact player to the team,” because she’s an “aggressive infielder who can hit for power but also a high average.”

“Sophia was a key addition to our roster this fall,” Assistant Head Coach Dan Santelli told Line Drive Softball.

“She has extensive experience playing at the national level and we expect her to immediately be an impact player for us. Sophia can play third as well as both middle infield positions.”

The current junior was ranked No. 36 in the 2026 Line Drive HOT 100 Rankings which were released last month. 

Here’s an excerpt from her player bio published on Sept. 17, 2024:

T-36—Sophia Santinelli, MIF/3B, Newtown Rock 18U – Garvey
Sophia was honored as a PGF All-American Regional Finalist this year and Head Coach Joe Garvey said: “We are very excited to add Sophia to our roster and expect her to make an immediate impact.” The lefty hitter has gap power and also hits for a high average. For the travel season, Sophia had a .468 batting average, a .522 on-base percentage, a 1.345 OPS and her six home runs were part of her .823 slugging percentage. Sophia has garnered significant interest from many D1 and Power 5 schools and earlier this year helped lead The Episcopal Academy (Newtown Square, Pa.) team to a perfect 20-0 season as she hit .617 with a 1.952 OPS, slugged nine homers and drove in 37 runs.

The 2026 standout was also ranked No. 21 overall in the Northeast Region and as a Top 25 Infielder in her class.

When asked what she learned from the recruiting process and what advice she’d give to upcoming talent, Sophia underscored her belief that dreams do come true.

“I would tell the younger generation to stay true to what is important to yourself on and off the field,” she concluded, “and that your dreams are never out of reach.”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball