Brianna Letterio does more than just play ball
Lake Mary Prep junior also heavily involved in charitable work
Brianna Letterio figured such a comment would come from an opposing player.
That it was made by an adult as she stepped in the batter’s box in just her second preseason game made it much more stunning to hear.
“The umpire turned to me and was like, ‘This is no place for little girls,’ ” Letterio recalled. “Then the catcher starts adding on to it.”
Letterio shook it off and seized the moment, as she’s done while tackling other activities away from the playing field. The junior newcomer on Lake Mary Prep’s varsity baseball team turned a full-count pitch into a line drive to left-center field that day for her very first hit.
“Other than that, most teams respect me,” she said. “And my teammates make sure that I’m treated right, and I’m really thankful for that.”
It did not take long for Letterio to earn the respect of coaches and teammates when following through with a recommendation to try out for the team, which head coach Jonathan Krot and athletic director Justin Varitek urged after she informed her dad that softball was being cut at the school due to low participation numbers.
Letterio is the daughter of former Lake Mary High standout and Major League Baseball draft pick Shane Letterio.
“She’s really been fantastic this year,” Krot said. “She gets right in there and works hard every single day, and there’s never a worry when she’s out on the field.
“With Shane being an assistant coach, she already knew a lot of the guys on the team. The kids have been great and very receptive to her coming out.”
Despite limited playing experience, Letterio has been a consistent contributor while utilizing her speed on the base paths and leading the team in both walks (nine) and on-base percentage (.545) as a starting left fielder.
“I felt like if I couldn’t do softball, I could at least base-run for the team,” said Letterio. “Then it turned into me starting on the team, which was crazy.”
The Griffins (3-6) close out the regular season next week, then enter the Class 2A District 6 tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Lake Mary Prep will likely face The Geneva School (7-7) in a semifinal that will send the winning team to regionals. Orangewood Christian (11-7) is the overwhelming favorite in the district.
Playoff baseball is not the only thing on Letterio’s mind, though, during the final month of the school year.
Letterio is the founder and president of Lake Mary Prep’s Best Buddies club, which “helps create opportunities for kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” She has been busy recruiting participants for a 5K friendship fundraising walk that will be held both virtually and via drive-thru at Old Town in Kissimmee on May 1.
A standout student, Letterio is engulfed in the sports medicine program at Lake Mary Prep, where she prepares athletic events and assists an instructor when players require attention during contests. Letterio also participated in girls weightlifting.
Without the opportunity to play baseball this spring, Letterio said she would have likely traded in running bases and swinging a bat in exchange for a new challenge to occupy her time. That’s quite a departure from the path her dad took as a teenager three decades earlier.
The Letterios are still getting acclimated to being on the baseball team together since teaming up several months ago.
“He’s always a little harder on me. And I’m also really hard on myself, so I guess it cancels out,” Brianna said with a laugh.
“First and foremost, I tell her to go have fun and to play hard — that’s all I want,” Shane said. “Then right before the game I’ll sit there in the dugout and think, ‘Just please keep her safe out there.’ ”
Shane was on his way to medical school in the late 1990s when he detoured into hosting a baseball camp, giving private lessons and running a travel-ball team after returning to Seminole County.
A 1987 Lake Mary graduate, Shane was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round that summer. He totaled a program-record 45 hits as a junior at Lake Mary, where his No. 14 still hangs, before going on to reach the Triple-A level during six minorleague seasons.
It was while he was serving as an assistant baseball coach at Trinity Prep that Brianna, then a freshman, decided to give softball a try for the first time. She promptly broke a thumb two weeks into the season. Her sophomore season at Lake Mary Prep ended early when COVID-19 forced statewide cancellations.
Lake Mary Prep baseball returns from a two-week COVID hiatus Friday at home against Merritt Island Christian (3-5) at 5:30 p.m. The Griffins finish at home against Central Florida Christian (0-10) on Tuesday and Umatilla (3-12-1) on Thursday.
“I’m thankful we were able to play a good number of games before this pause and I’m excited to see how we’ll do in these final weeks,” Brianna said.
Dad is already proud of the effort, no matter how it all plays out.
“I can’t imagine what she has to go through mentally, knowing what the other team is saying about her,” Shane said. “Her just stepping in there and facing a kid that’s throwing 85 or so miles per hour is impressive. She’s never done this before and she keeps stepping back in there.”