The Point Park softball team is coming off a pair of huge wins against Alice Lloyd on Sunday, but this week the focus is on 5th-year senior Mara Iagnemma from right here in Pittsburgh, PA.

Iagnemma, who had surgery her junior year, has put the work in at the gym and the field to be at the top of her game for her last year. Which is a huge reason why she is putting an impressive season together. Her work ethic and drive to be the best are unmatched as she leads by example.

Growing up, she started playing softball at 7 years old and ever since then she loved and admired everything about softball and all the tight bonds she got from the sport.

“As soon as I started playing I loved the game,” Iagnemma said. She also has family members who love softball.

“My mom played softball and two older sisters played softball so I was kind of born into it. As soon as I started playing I loved it, and I didn’t even think about playing other sports.”

Iagnemma’s sister Ashley who is a Point Park Softball alum holds the school record for most strikeouts as a pitcher.

With her two older sisters playing softball, it really paved the way for Mara to succeed in the sport.

“The fact that my two older sisters played it definitely encouraged me to play and keep playing. It was just kind of what we did for fun,” she said.

Iagnemma reminisced on “going in the backyard and just playing, hitting balls to each other, going down to the field it’s just what we did.” She was inspired by her sister Ashley.

“She is a role model because she was so dedicated to her sport, dedicated to being great at what she did and I saw how successful she was and I think that helped me to want to continue to play the game,” Mara said.

Seeing the work that her sister put in made Mara think about what she could do in her future and that motivated her.

Mara didn’t always know if she was going to play at the college level, but once her coaches gave her the confidence that she had the talent and drive to play college softball, she knew she wanted to pursue the sport at a high level. Finding Point Park wasn’t too hard given she is from Pittsburgh and her sister played at Point Park. 

With only so many games remaining on the schedule and Mara playing last year, she desires to see her team succeed.

“I want to see our team make it to the conference tournament. It’s my last year and we gotta make it to the conference for sure. In terms of the games we have left I want my team to play hard because we have so much talent. I want to have fun because if you’re not having fun what’s the point, but we gotta play hard, have fun, and make it to the conference,” Iagnemma said.

With five years here at Point Park it was hard for her to pick out her favorite memory, but she had this to say…

“In general my favorite times of being here is definitely on the softball field with my teammates. That’s where I’m having fun playing the sport I love and my teammates have always created such a great environment. A specific thing is our trips to Florida are just awesome. This last year I had a great time and all the years I’ve been there this past year was just awesome. This last Florida trip we played the best and it was just so fun to be down there in the sunshine, us playing hard and winning games, and going to the pool. It was just a great trip,” she said.

Out of the five years Mara has been here this team really sticks out here as they have so much talent and the commitment to winning is very present as the team is ready to end the season on a tear.

“This team has so much talent and it’s the best team I’ve been on since I’ve been here. So we really have what it takes. We all are locked in, we want to win. This team has drive so I know we can do it. We really just gotta put everything together. We just have to go into every game ready to play and give it our all. I think it will give us a good chance to give us some wins,” she said.

Iagnemma is headed for graduation. She got her bachelor’s degree in psychology and is currently getting her master’s in community psychology.

As of right now, she is not completely sure of what she wants to do when she graduates this spring, but she does say she definitely wants to work with kids to make a positive impact on their lives.