TRUMBULL—Growing up, Georgie Tsingerliotis was well aware of her family’s Greek heritage.
Last summer, a trip to her grandparents’ native land of Greece made it all more real and helped the Trumbull High freshman fall in love with another part of world.
This summer, Tsingerliotis is going to make that connection to her distant past even more real.
She, and 14 other softball players, will be suiting up for Team Greece and taking part in the 2026 Triple Crown International Challenge softball tournament in Westminster, Colo.
“I was really excited to pursue it because I love my Greek heritage and I just thought it would be a really cool opportunity to play with other players who are also Greek,” she said. “I just feel like this tournament is going to be really fun.”
The opportunity came when Georgie’s dad, Anthony, stumbled across a social media post.
“I saw a posting for the Team Greece invitation to try out for the team, so I reached out to them,” Anthony said.
Anthony Tsingerliotis remembers when his brother, Angelo, the girls varsity soccer coach at Brien McMahon High in Norwalk, represented Greece in a baseball tournament when he was younger.
Anthony never thought a softball opportunity would present itself for his own daughter.
“I knew in the back of my head that there was some sort of a national aspect to Greek baseball, but I didn’t know really about softball until I started seeing this,” he said.
Team Greece watched Georgie in action and offered her a slot on the squad.
Team Greece will join up to 23 other countries in the tournament, which will be held June 25-28.
Georgia and her Team Greece teammates will play in the 16U Division.
The best players from the tournament will be invited to stay a few extra days to play in the All-World game on Thursday, July 2, as well.
“I think there’s going to be really good competition there,” Georgie said. “So I’m really excited to see how I compete against players from different places. It’s a really big opportunity for me and I’m grateful for that.”
Georgie, along with her twin sister Avery, started softball at a young age and it stuck.
“There wasn’t really any reason inparticular,” she said “I think we just wanted to try it as a sport when we were younger and when we started playing, I really liked it. I kept going and I mean I fell in love with it.”
Both Tsingerliotis sisters will be trying out for the Trumbull High School team in a couple of weeks.
Both also play for the CT Stars Travel program.
Georgie, a first baseman/outfielder, was the only sister who tried out for Team Greece, though.
“I didn’t expect that I would be able to do something like this,” she said. “I was just super surprised and excited because it’s such a rare opportunity.”
Team Greece is guaranteed four games in the tournament before entering the elimination round bracket.
Another Connecticut player— Erin Zabetakis of Bethel—will also be representing Greece in the tournament.
Georgie’s goals for the tournament, however, are the same goals she has for every team she plays with.
“My goals are just to keep improving and just to be the best teammate I can be,” she said.
The Tsingerliotis grandparents were both born in Greece.
Georgie’s grandmother moved to the United States as a young child, but she would meet her future husband in Greece, as well.
The family still has a lot of relatives there and the twins got to meet many of them during a family vacation to their native land.
“I’ve always loved Greece and I’ve always wanted to go, but I feel like after the vacation we took, I don’t know, I just loved it even more,” Georgie said.
Come summer, Georgie will be proud to don the colors of Team Greece and represent her heritage in a sport she has grown to love.
Fourteen players who have taken part in the Triple Crown challenge have gone to represent their country’s National team in the future, as well.
Nobody knows what Georgie Tsingerliotis’s future holds on a softball field, but this summer she knows she’ll be taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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