By Mike Rudin - SPORTS EDITOR
Softball is not just a sport, but a life-long passion for first-year head coach Larissa Anderson. The new skipper has come a long way from her beginning in Lake George, N.Y.
“I grew up playing softball. I started probably in third or fourth grade,” Anderson said. “I was a big Mets fan, so I was always around baseball. My family was very [big] into baseball, but I grew up playing little league in Lake George High School… and just fell in love with it.”
Her exploration in the sport early on gradually flourished over time and she later joined her high school team over the years. One event as an underclassman was an eye-opener and cemented her love for the sport.
“It was neat that when I was in 10th grade we went to the New York State Championships. I didn’t know anything about fast-pitch. Everything I grew up with was just sling-shots, not slow-pitch,” Anderson said. “[I] never saw a wind mill pitcher until I went to the State Championships. As soon as I saw them throwing wind mill and how hard they can throw, I fell in love with it and I said ‘I can do that.’”
By then, she took the initiative to learn fast-pitch to excel during high school and propelled her game into the colligate pool.
“I found a camp, went to a camp to teach myself how to throw wind mill and the rest was history. Won the state title and went on the play college softball,” Larissa Anderson said.
Her championship year in ‘92 during high school was the ramp that fueled her love for softball and she continued as an outfielder and shortstop for Gannon University.
Anderson’s transcript says she’s a therapeutic recreation major, but coaching was always her secret profession, even in college.
“I think I always knew I would be coaching. It was one of those things where I got my degree in physical therapy and I figured physical therapy would be my profession, but coaching softball would always be my passion and would always fall back on it,” Anderson said.
She was awarded an All-American outfielder in ‘97 for her hard work and stellar play.
Anderson possessed a skill of analysis to kindle her passion for softball as a player, but also in aspects of a coach in the making during her college years.
“I was always a student of the game. I understood the game. I had that eye where I could read swings. Even though I didn’t know I was reading it. I had that instinct,” Anderson said. “I didn’t pitch in college – I did short and center, but I was at every pitching practice. I just watched and asked questions and learned. I got around as many people as possible to teach me the game, and I was very comfortable teaching in college.”
Anderson taught colleagues in her time with the Gannon Knight Clubs and her constant desire to gain knowledge and understanding of the sport solidified her desire to turn to the coaching industry.
“Even when I was in college I was always looking to improve people and it was something that I knew I was always going to be a coach,” Anderson said.
After studying as an undergraduate, she stayed for around Gannon, but as an assistant head coach.
Afterwards, she tried out LIU Post for two more years until she joined the Hofstra softball coaching staff with Bill Edwards.
The past 13 seasons she’s joined the ride and helped create a strong athletic program with 10 NCAA appearances and 10 CAA titles during her time as an assistant and associate head coach.
More recently, during the summer of 2014, Hall of Famer and former head coach Bill Edwards retired and named Anderson her successor.
“In the two weekends that I’ve coached, I’ve been mentored unbelievably by coach Edwards. He’s prepared me more than I can even describe,” Anderson said. “Coach Edwards taught me all the other intangibles. How to evaluate talent and how to know what you’re recruiting. What can you teach, what can you teach your staff and how you can develop players.”
She went further into detail about other aspects while working with Bill Edwards in the last 13 years.
“We’re recruiting upside potential. We’re not recruiting the finished products,” Anderson said. “I need to look at who is a really great athlete and make them a great softball player or a great softball player into a great athlete.”
She aims to continue improving the program along the way as well.
She’s the sixth head coach in program history and picks up where number five left off.