This is Brentt Eads of Line Drive Softball… I’ve covered Danika Spinogatti for the last five years, going back to her Mojo days when she was coached by her father, Dean.

In that time, she’s been ranked every year in the top 100 of the Class of 2025 and had a tremendous prep career at Montverde Academy, a private school in Montverde, Fla.

Today, she’s a freshman at Florida State and looks to have a tremendous career for the Seminoles, but she has some challenges she must overcome first.

Danika will be contributing to our editorial content on a regular basis, keeping us up on her progress and growth during the 2026 season.

In this introductory write-up, the 5-foot-9 catcher who was a 1^st Team Line Drive Softball High School All-American this summer, covers her growth in fastpitch from the age of 6 to where she is today as a freshman at FSU…

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New Jersey to Florida

I grew up in Totowa, N.J. and played just about everything as sports were all seasonal in the “Northern States” back. At age five, I was already in softball and even was doing karate!

We moved to Winter Garden, Fla. when I was eight and I remember that it was mid-August as the rec softball season in New Jersey had just ended.

My dad told me that in Florida they play softball year-round and asked if I wanted to play again as the fall rec season were just starting. I had fun playing (and was pretty good at it) so I said sure!

We immediately joined the West Orange Girls Club in Ocoee, Fla. and I was on a team within days of moving to the Sunshine State. I played catcher and third base because very few girls could throw the ball across the diamond, but I was taller than most and had a strong arm so thus began my catching career!

The girls club had a travel team called the Lady Hawks so the next year I joined the 10U team and my travel ball journey began.

We played locally but it was amazing how good some of the players were that we faced. The best player I remember at that time was Katelyn “Red” Oxley, now at the University of Florida. She was two years older than me but she had great control and threw hard.

It also seemed that the best events were held in Central Florida so we luckily didn’t need to travel far.

Next year, I joined the Windermere Little League as they seemed to have some real talented players there and it was closer to my home. I made the WLL Minors (10U) All-Star team and we won the Southeast Regional Championship in Georgia. 

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Joining the Windermere Wildfire & Mojo Organizations

Meanwhile, my travel ball team got upgraded as I joined a Windermere Wildfire 10U team. Once that year ended, most of the girls moved to 12U but since I was the youngest I stayed down in 10U.

My dad took over the 10U team and recruited some new players. Over the next few seasons, we continued to push the envelope and chase the best teams in the state.. .often playing up an age division so we could face the best players available to us.

Once we made the move to 12U, we collaborated with RIP-IT sports and created RIP IT Elite 07- Spinogatti. We won our first USSSA Florida State Championship as well as the USFA Florida State Championship. On the Little League side, we won the Majors (12U) SE Regionals in Tennessee. 

The next season my dad contacted Brooks Cherry and he expanded the Mojo organization to Florida to create MOJO 07- Spinogatti at 12U.

I started traveling out of state to Georgia and Tennessee to keep chasing the best competition. This started to give me a real good perspective of how good some of the girls in my age group were.

We continued to recruit new girls to the team so we could compete with the big organizations. We were a good team but still just a team with all Central Florida girls, so when we faced the Bolts or Bandits we would get beat because they were loaded with talent from multiple states.

I thought I was a pretty good player but once we faced better talent, I would quickly get humbled and realize I had a lot of work to do. 

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Awkward Pre-Teen to a Standout Prospect

All the while, I kept growing so I was this 12-year-old awkward girl with big feet who struggled to find that “balance & coordination.” My parents kept saying I would “grow into my body” eventually and when I do it will all come together.

The problem at that time was this sport did not allow for “late bloomers” as local girls were getting recruited in 6th grade, like Alexia Carrasquillo, and Mia Williams in the 7th grade, both of whom went to Florida.

In 2018, however, the NCAA changed the recruiting period to September 1 of the prospect’s Junior year, and it gave girls like me a chance to develop and grow into my body. 

I continued to play year-round and face some really great pitchers and players. I would constantly try to work on improving the area of my game that needed it the most.

I missed a lot of birthday parties and summer hangouts because we were playing every other weekend somewhere. I loved it, though, because the better I played, the more people would notice me and that made me feel good.

My softball team became my second family and I looked forward to the weekends on the clay more and more.

However, the stupid COVID-19 pandemic killed our chance at winning the Softball Little League World Series in 2020. We had a powerhouse team –which included six or seven eventual D1 players— so that was super disappointing.

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Club & High School Championships

But after that, my Mojo team won USSSA and PGF State Championships and I started to get noticed on the national stage in the player rankings which was great.

At this point I was going into eighth grade and about to transfer to Montverde Academy, a private school in Montverde, Fla. which is about 25 miles from downtown Orlando, to start my high school varsity career. I became the starting varsity catcher, and this allowed me to practice five times a week and compete against older girls.

My freshman year was a breakout one as I led the team in hits, doubles, triples, walks, and on-base percentage. In an epic District Final against a D1 pitcher, I went 3-for-5 with a two out walk-off triple in the bottom of the 14th inning!  

One the travel side, my dad orchestrated a merger with another prominent travel team and concurrently brought the Unity organization to Florida to form the Unity- Meadows/Spinogatti team.

That summer, the team had impressive showings in all the big national 14U events, including a 5^th place finish in the 2021 USA Nationals allowing me to get some great exposure with college coaches, but I was hungry for more. 

Getting a taste of playing in a week-long 150-team event and almost making it to the final game was amazing but once again we couldn’t beat a team of super talented girls from multiple states as we lost to the newly established Unity- Johnson/Ross powerhouse squad. 

My sophomore year of high school ball saw even more growth on the field as I again led the team in five offensive categories, and our team almost went the distance but lost 3-2 in the Florida state semi-finals.

Summer travel ball continued with the big national events but our team dynamic seemed to change as people were putting too much pressure on being recruited rather than enjoying the game.

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Entering the Recruiting Process

I attended a lot of college camps and did well there so that was promising. 

The momentous day of “September 1” of my junior year—when college coaches could contact prospect directly—finally came and it was great to get phone calls at midnight! I had 15 D1 schools reach out to me so my feeling of validation was sky high.

I joined a new travel team, Impact – Caymol, since I felt like I needed a change of scenery. The problem was that the pressure of recruiting got to me and I froze. Instead of seizing the opportunity, I felt like I did not want to make a mistake.

Maybe it was because the whole “importance of recruiting” thing was being pounded into our heads as players for the past two years… who knows, but it definitely had an effect on me!

I knew I had to make another change of scenery and so I joined the Mojo – Ramsey/Fisher team. There, I was surrounded with super-talented girls who were all committed to big Division 1 schools. The pressure of recruiting seemed to go away as it was not a focus anymore. 

My high school season as a junior was historic as we captured the first-ever state championship for Montverde Academy. I continued to play well and set the school record for walks as pitchers wouldn’t give me much to hit. 

Travel ball that summer was also great as we faced the best of the best and my Mojo team finished with a 3^rd place showing at PGF 18U Premier Nationals.

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Florida State Commit & On-Field Success

I found my groove again and a lot of new schools took notice.

Florida State University was one of significance as it was an in-state school that was a favorite of mine and by the end of the summer, I committed to FSU and felt on top of the world! 

My senior year in 2025 was one for the record books as I broke five career school records and received numerous awards along the way.

Our Montverde Academy team was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country at one point and I was named a PGF All-American and an Evoshield All-American. I was also named MVP of two different Florida All-Star games, plus was named Florida Class 3 All-State for the fourth year in a row. 

My final year of travel ball was also memorable as we again played one of the hardest schedules possible and won a few tournaments along the way. Individually, my summer highlight was playing in the PGF All-American Game and to achieve that long-time goal of mine was icing on the cake. 

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Freshman at Florida State, But Out For the Season

Stepping on campus at Florida State as a freshman was super exciting but also very challenging for numerous reasons: a new school, new coaches, new teammates and new responsibilities among other things. 

It took a while for me to get adjusted and trust in this “new” process.

I made some mistakes and realized I needed to hold myself accountable. I told myself:

“You’re surrounded by a team of All-Americans at this level, so your margin of error is very thin. You need to learn how to adapt, adjust and improvise or you will be left behind.”

I was ready to work hard and do what it took to succeed but an unfortunate incident on the field sidelined those goals—at least right away.

During my fall practice season for the Seminoles, I had the misfortune of being on the wrong side of a run-down play in practice that I have done hundreds of times without issue.

This time, however, I stepped the wrong way and tore my ACL in the process.

Yes, it was quite the unlucky outcome and certainly not how I wanted to start my college career, but I’ve faced adversity before and I will overcome this to get back on the field.

I will miss my freshman year while I rehab my knee, and I’m determined to return better than ever!

I’m also excited to chronicle my journey back to the lineup as I update my progress regularly here on Line Drive Softball’s site, so wish me well and keep checking back as I share with the softball community my successes in returning to the game I’ve loved since starting at age 5!

— Danika Spinogatti/Florida State freshman