Giada Juritza is a talented 2028 utility player from Shorewood, Illinois who attends Minooka (Ill.) Community High and competes for the GenuWin Reign 18U – JO team coached by Jonathan Olson.

She’s eligible to play 16U but has been playing up since she was 14 years old to, as she puts it: “get better and toughen me up!”

Giada will also be playing for Team Illinois 16U which will compete in January for the Liberty Cup in Space City, Fla.

She describes herself as a “quadruple threat” on the softball field with her abilities to “switch hit, slap and play multiple positions like outfield, catcher, third and shortstop” and then adds a very important comparable: “Kinda like my cousin Scott.”

“Cousin Scott”—or Scott Spiezio— is a famous name to softball fans who know their baseball history.

Spiezo played a dozen seasons in Major League Baseball with stints in Oakland, Seattle and St. Louis, but is probably most famous for being a two-time World Series champion in 2002 and 2006 and hitting a crucial three-run home run in Game 6 of the 2002 championship that helped the Anaheim Angels come back and win their first championship.

Here’s a clip of that home run, one of the most famous in World Series history:

In this first-person account by Giada, she shares how she’s seen her older cousin have the highest of highs, but also hit some touch patches in his life.

However, the legendary baseball star has battled and pushed through life’s challenges and the young softball player relates how that’s been a source of strength in her life in what she describes as:

“A Different Comeback That Inspired Me” 

*****

It’s the bottom of the 7th inning and my team is losing 3-to-2.

I’m up to bat with the bases loaded, the count full at 3-2, the game on the line and I want to make that walk-off game winning hit.

The next pitch comes and (dramatic pause)… I swing and miss. Game over. I’ve just let down my teammates, coaches, parents and, most importantly, myself.

As I walked off the field, I felt defeated.

Moments like this or making an error remind me of something that someone taught me: Failure is not the end of my journey, but responding to it is what’s important.  

The person who taught me to keep battling and moving forward is my cousin, Scott Spiezio.

He has a workout facility in Morris, Illinois, where he’s from and a house there as well. Former MLB teammates used to come there and train with him in the offseason from what he told my father and me.  

He lives 20 minutes from my house, and I got to work with him a lot because my mom knew he was doing lessons for baseball and asked if he would do softball as well. 

Scott agreed and took on some other softball players, also.  He does fielding and throwing with me in his facility.  I also took a catching camp at his place and Scott and Corky Mille—a former MLB catcher—did the camp. 

I think I was the only girl there!

When he pitches batting practice to me, Scott always ends the lesson and says:

“It’s Game 7 of the World Series, bottom of the 9th, you’re up with the bases loaded, full count and two outs.”

I get the walk-off hit to come back and win it and Scott cheers for me, making me feel really special.  

Having a family member like Scott, who played professionally and had many successes, gives me someone I know personally who I’ve always admired and enjoyed training with, but anyone, including him, can have obstacles in their life no matter who they are.  

Towards the end of Scott’s 12 years in pro baseball, he had an injury which almost ended his career and then led him to a struggle with alcohol and drug addiction.

Eventually, he made the most important comeback of his life, becoming sober in 2018—eight years ago. Scott has spoken openly about recovery and using his experiences to help others, including me on and off the field.  

Although his comebacks were more serious, memorable or meaningful than mine with his championships and then addictions, I use that to relate to my setbacks and turn them into a comeback.

I’ve learned along the way as a player and person that things aren’t as bad as they always seem and I have the choice to be resilient, respond and succeed.

The way that you come back and the comeback itself is more important than the championship.   

I realize that one play, one at-bat or one bad inning does not define who I am as a player. 

If I strike out, I will have more at-bats to make a difference in a game.  If I make an error, there will be more chances to make a play that I will make to help my team get the final out and preserve a victory.

My teammates need me and I need them through thick and thin no matter the situation or outcome. Asking for help from my teammates or coaches is not a weakness, it’s a way to make me and them better.

How I respond to these challenges makes me the player and person that I want to be.   

Scott taught me that success isn’t measured only by trophies, statistics or championships. Success is having the courage to face your failures, ask for help, and get back up.

That’s the route he eventually took after years of battling addiction.  He made some serious mistakes, suffered consequences, fought addictions but ultimately chose the road to recovery. 

His faith and spirituality are things that he takes seriously, just like me. Those are the things that I admire the most about him and who he has become.   

What inspires me more isn’t just what Scott accomplished on a baseball field… it’s that he was willing to face some of the hardest parts of his life, accept the failures and work toward becoming a better person.

His recovery reminds me that your worst moment doesn’t have to be your final chapter.

After years of struggles, he finally faced adversity and it bought him a ticket to a place he couldn’t have gone any other way. 

Now, he takes his story on the road everywhere and shares it with people from all walks of life and ages to inspire them. He’s writing a new chapter in his life, just like all of us. 

I’ve learned that throughout our lives, we are going to get knocked down by things that come our way.  How we respond to those challenges will define us.

I believe that making the decision to get back up after a setback, fight for what you want and responding to adversity is what’s most important.

That’s what my cousin Scott has taught me and hopefully it will let other players out there know– no matter how old they are, who they are, where they come from or what caliber player they are—they can do the same.

Struggles and failures come from every walk of life.  

Through all the college camps that I’ve attended, one of the top things that coaches say is that they want players to experience failure before they come to their school and play for them so they know how to respond to challenges.

I guess it just makes us tougher. 

When it comes down to it, I’m just like any other softball player out there. I’ll never like striking out, making an error or losing a game, but one strikeout or error doesn’t make me who I am as a player.

A mistake or failure in life doesn’t define who I am, but how I respond to it will.  

Finally, if you’re someone who is struggling and feels like you’ve got knocked down by a failure in softball or anything off the field remember this advice:

“Have the courage to stand back up, be resilient, ask for help and take another swing!” 

I’ve personally seen it work in life, in my own family.

— Giada Juritza/Line Drive Media contributor