Mia Galella, a 1B/OF/power hitter who is #25 in the 2025 Extra Elite 100 and a member of Virginia Glory, blogs about her softball adventures for Extra Inning Softball and in this week’s edition talks about a special event she participated in last weekend.
In her Extra Elite 100 bio we wrote that:
“Mia is one of the hardest working players in her class and also one of the strongest. She has an exit velocity measured at 77 mph and has on video hit 12 balls in a row over a 200-foot fence during practice.”
“Mia isn’t just a big bopper, she has been timed in home-to-first with a 3.04 second mark and is looking to go sub-3.0.”
From Moscow, Pennsylvania, she’s 5-foot-9 and hit .760 at TCS Nationals last August in Myrtle Beach.”
We first profiled her in an Extra Star Power article published in March 2020 titled: 2025 Power Hitter Mia Galella Has “Freakish Power” & Runs Well Too!
Her last blog before this was in June when she talked about Going Showcasing & Camping.
In this weekend’s Inside Pitch, Mia talks about how she walked away impressed with the Virginia Glory Strike Out Cancer event as well as her new coach and teammates…
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Last weekend was such an amazing event held by Virginia Glory—it was the Virginia Glory Strike Out Cancer Invitational and College Coaches Camp where all of the money raised goes towards pediatric cancer research at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Coach Suzy Willemssen, founder of VA Glory Fastpitch, did such an amazing job putting this event together. She has such an unbelievable passion and love for the game of softball and is truly a remarkable person who is so genuine.
The camp was held on Friday, July 16, and there were so many great college coaches there.
Some of the colleges that ran the camp were from the University of Virginia, Penn State, James Madison, George Washington, Georgetown, George Mason, Norfolk State, Delaware, Virginia Tech, VA Wesleyan, Christopher Newport University, Lynchburg and Marymount University in Virginia.
OnDeck Softball did measurements for all players and there were many players from multiple organizations who attended the camp which was split into two sessions: a morning session and afternoon session.
The college coaches were awesome. They provided instruction and feedback to all players. It was so much fun!
On Saturday, the Glory Strikeout Cancer Tournament began which consisted of three pool games, but Mother Nature did her thing (rain) and cut short games for some teams, but Sunday’s weather was great.
So many club teams attended this event—all for such an amazing cause—and my team played two full games on Saturday before the third game got called due to lightning.
I hit a grand slam home run in the second game which was my second grand slam of the summer season. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to bat in the third game due to the weather. I then hit a two-run homer in my first game Sunday.
Click Here to see video as Mia Galella hits a home run with Virginia Glory 16U – Mertz (07.18.21)
Coach Mike Mertz, who is the head coach for the 16U National team, is who I will be playing for this Fall. He is not only a coach but also a mentor for so many of his players.
When I had my first Zoom call with him, I immediately knew where I wanted to play. He is so genuine and has so much knowledge of this amazing game of softball.
I had the opportunity to play with his team on Sunday and when I hit a bomb during my second at bat against a very good team and all the players came running out to celebrate, I knew right then that so many good things were coming.
These girls are such awesome softball players and were so welcoming to me. I guess my bomb may have helped with that!
I joined the VA Glory organization this past Spring and from what I have seen in just a very short time, this organization truly cares not only about each one of their players, but every single player that plays this game.
Also, I couldn’t be more thankful to my parents for allowing me to be in this position since we live in Pennsylvania, and they said they will do whatever it takes as long as I put the work in and do my part.
— Mia Galella, Virginia Glory, Class of 2025
