WOODBRIDGE—Gabriela Celozzi is not easily intimidated.
When she stands in the circle, the senior pitcher from Amity Regional High School knows she is in full control.
Inside corner. Outside corner. Location, location, location. It is Celozzi’s domain and the place where she can embrace that old sports-world axiom of controlling what you can control.
“I loved it because I felt like I loved being the player that everyone is, I guess, focused on,” said Celozzi, explaining why the position of pitcher became the place where she most felt at home. “I don’t know how to explain it. Everyone is watching you, so the pressure is there, but I love the pressure because I love succeeding, obviously winning, but also the failure. Everything about it helps me get better.”
It’s also nice to be able to be in control.
After all, Celozzi found out at a very young age that not all things are within your control.
Around the time she was just 8-years-old, Celozzi’s blossoming softball career was paused for a bit as she dealt with a trifecta of health issues.
A broken femur, whose healing was delayed a bit, was sandwiched between some unseen opponents that were doing battle inside of Celozzi’s growing body.
“It was right when she first started liking to pitch,” said Monica Celozzi, Gabriela’s mom and herself a former pitcher at Amity.
Over the course of that period in her life, Celozzi was also diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disorder in which her immune system was attacking her thyroid gland.
As she was undergoing bloodwork for that, an even bigger medical issue was discovered; something that would take almost a year and a half to get to the bottom of and properly diagnosed.
“A lot of stuff was happening all at once,” Monica said. “Her numbers were all over the place with bloodwork and they happened to check her liver, also, and they found it.”
What doctors found was Celozzi has been battling against Alagille Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects her bile ducts. In addition to affecting her liver, it can also affect the kidneys, eyes, skeleton and even the heart.
“It’s extremely rare. Only one in 40,000 people have it,” said Celozzi’s mother. “Her spleen was enlarged, so she had to wear a spleen-guard as she pitched. It’s something that is a progressive disease and it affects all different parts of her body, but mostly it’s her liver. But it’s not stopping her. She’s cleared to play.”
And play she does because Celozzi knows while she can manage a life with Alagille Syndrome, she can’t control it. But nor does the disease control her and what she can do on a softball field.
“I knew something was going on, but I didn’t really take it as serious as (my mom) did,” Celozzi admitted.
Everybody who knows Celozzi can’t help but be impressed with how she handles the fight against Alagille Syndrome.
“She’s very positive,” her mom said. “She just keeps going. ‘Why am I going to let it bother me?’ I remember her saying that to me. I would worry and she said, ‘Why worry about something that’s not affecting me right now?’”
Celozzi finally returned to the circle, and grew to become the dominant pitcher she is today.
“She takes everything in stride,” said Amity Regional head coach Amanda Acampora. “I’ve certainly become well-versed in the liver disorder and just the side effects that it was going to have for her. They are vast. The side effects are very far reaching, for sure, in areas that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. She’s constantly paying attention to it. It’s a level of toughness that you need to have to be able to just kind of play through it and not worry about it.”
She’s dealt with it. She’s managed it. And Celozzi has even thrived with it, turning herself into not just a talented pitcher but one that will compete at the next level.
“My whole life, I feel like I’ve been competitive,” said Celozzi. “I’ve always wanted to win and stuff, so it’s made me mentally stronger, which also helps because if I wasn’t as mentally strong as I am, I feel like I would have just broken down and been like, ‘I can’t do this. I didn’t get good sleep. I can’t pitch.’ But I want to prove people wrong, that even with this condition, I could still be the best I could be.”
Good wasn’t good enough for Celozzi, who instead became great; one of the top pitchers in the state of Connecticut.
After graduating from Amity this spring, Celozzi will take her talent to Division 2 Florida Tech University in the fall.
“The first time I went to camp there, it just felt different,” Celozzi said. “The atmosphere, the coaching. They were more hands-on and you could just tell it was a good program.”
Celozzi was invited to a second camp at the Melbourne, Fla., school and it was then she received her offer to become a Panther.
Celozzi accepted and hopes to major in Forensic Psychology.
“She’s so excited. She’s been through a lot,” said Celozzi’s aunt and her Softball U travel coach Melanie Blude, who is also the varsity coach at Jonathan Law in Milford, one of Amity’s SCC rivals. “This poor kid, she 9-to-10-years old, getting poked and jabbed as they tried to figure out what was going on. Most people might have said, ‘Maybe this isn’t the sport for you,’ but she’s learned to work hard with it and to persevere. She is the most determined kid.”
Celozzi is also determined to show everybody who is diagnosed with Alagille’s that you can live a normal life.
As rare as the condition is, it’s even more infrequent in children.
“Most kids, by 19, get a liver transplant, so it’s a very serious thing,” Monica Celozzi said. “We’re thankful, so far, so good. She just had a liver ultrasound and she’s doing good.”
Truth be told, there are two Gabriela Celozzi’s at the softball field.
Inside the dugout, she likes to keep things loose and fun.
Once she steps in the circle, however, she becomes a different type of athlete.
“She’s got this goofy personality, but as soon as she enters the mound, she’s a different kid,” Blude said. “Gabriela is two different people. She’s good for the team because she keeps people loose and laughing, but when she steps on the field, she wants to win. She’s focused and that just shocks people. It’s so fun to watch. Whether she’s my niece or not, any coach wants that kind of kid on the field.”
One more season at Amity awaits Celozzi, one more chance for the Spartan to reach some of their goals.
“I hope it’s just one of our best seasons yet,” said Celozzi. “I mean, we have a really young starting defense and they’re really good. I love knowing that they’re behind me because I could really trust them for making plays and stuff, which also helps me mentally knowing that if I happen to give up a hit, they’ll be behind me to help me out. And I think we’ll go far. We have a really good team this year. We have hitters, we have fielding.”
Gabriela Celozzi is feeling in control as she enters her senior season.
That’s a scary thought for any team stepping into the batter’s box to face her and the Amity Spartans this spring.
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