With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning as Syracuse batted against Niagara, Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” echoed throughout Skytop Field.

SU’s Gianna Carideo was already at the plate as her walkup song played. Like her teammates, she had mobbed Andrea Bombace after Bombace ripped a home run in the previous at bat, which extended Syracuse’s lead to 7-1.

As everyone cleared away and Carideo took her practice swings, the already-soft music started to fade.

Marley’s hit from the ‘80s serves as more than just a walk-up song for Syracuse’s first-year transfer catcher. It’s a song she often plays at her house, and it reflects her positive outlook on life. It’s a song she often sings while in the batter’s box or while she’s behind the plate catching. It’s a song that puts her in a good mood and can block out unwanted stress during an at bat.

During a childhood where she rarely spent more than three years in one place, music acted as a constant in her life.

“If I have a good song going through my head I generally feel better and do better,”
Carideo said. “It kind of keeps your mind away from the 500 things that you feel like are going through your head.”

Born in Tampa, Florida, Carideo moved to Hartford, Connecticut at 2 months old. Carideo moved across the country to Los Angeles two years later, and then started second grade in Sydney, Australia. She moved back to Los Angeles and then again to Tampa, and finished high school in Knoxville, Tennessee, before her parents moved to Oregon shortly after her graduation.

Long before she started playing softball, Carideo was involved in musical theatre. At 6 years old, she asked her parents for albums as her birthday present. When living in Los Angeles, she was surrounded by the entertainment industry.

Music followed Carideo wherever she went. It followed her to the University of Washington, where she declared her major in environmental engineering and was on the softball team that placed third at the College World Series in 2017.

It wasn’t until the plane ride back from the World Series, though, that Carideo realized she wanted to pursue a music-related career after college. While studying for a psychology final that she had just a few days after softball season ended, she realized Washington did not offer a program that corresponded with her passion.

“I think kind of in that moment, just studying a textbook that I had no passions behind, I needed to make a move,” Carideo said. “Something needed to change.”

Carideo decided on Syracuse University not knowing if she would see the softball diamond again. All she knew was that SU offered a music industry program that few other schools had.

“I had known that I wanted to [play], but I think you need to come to a certain peace with it,” Carideo said. “Now I get to play, and so what am I going to do about it? What am I going to do differently?”

Carideo’s travel softball coach played with Alisa Goler, Syracuse associate head coach, in high school. As a result, Goler trusted the travel ball coach’s input when she heard about a catcher from Washington looking to transfer to Syracuse.

Goler’s decision to trust her former teammate paid off this season, both on and off the field.

“She has good positive energy in the dugout,” Goler said. “She works her tail off, she’s constantly in the cage hitting, she’s constantly catching in the bullpen or doing stuff to help other people out.”

That positive energy stems from Carideo even though she spends most time backing up starting catcher Michala Maciolek. But against Niagara on April 18, Carideo seized her pinch-hit opportunity.

As she settled in for her lone at bat that day, Carideo swung at the first pitch she saw and missed. She held her hand out to the umpire to signal a time out and took a deep breath. She held her bat in front of her as she settled back into the batter’s box. The right-handed Carideo ripped the next pitch to right-center field for a stand up double.

Teammates and coaches agree that Carideo has brought a sense of energy with her from Washington. As the next batter, Alicia Hansen, stepped up to the plate, Carideo’s voice could be heard from second base.

“Nobody better! Nobody better!” she yelled to Hansen as she tiptoed off the bag.

“What she brought from Washington to here was her attitude and her charisma,” said Alexa Romero, Syracuse’s ace pitcher. “I’ve never really seen it in person before.”

Published on April 25, 2018 at 11:23 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326