Rachele Iovine is living la dolce vita.
A 2025 Easter trip to Italy to see family chanted the Floral Park native’s trajectory on the softball field for the better, giving the high school senior the opportunity of a lifetime to play with some of the game’s best overseas.
“It was always a dream, but I never thought it would really happen,” the star of The Mary Louis Academy told The Post.
The visit to see cousins in Milan and Naples became a softball world tour when Iovine’s father, Frank, reached out on a whim to the Italian American Baseball Foundation, which fellow Long Islander Chris Vaccaro helps run.
Vaccaro, who was sipping dugout espresso with Team Italy during the World Baseball Classic, put the family in touch with a slew of teams over in the boot who were happy to have Iovine in.
“I would put it on the same level as Division I softball over here,” said Iovine, a lover of Dario’s Pizza in West Hempstead and artichokes everywhere.
“It’s a lot of competitiveness. They want to win,” added the 18-year-old, who is averaging a hit per game.
Fresh off the boat
The Northern Italian club Sarrono Team Inox softball, based near Milan, was greatly impressed by the true utility player who can take any position on the field, including pitcher and catcher.
“Then they asked me if I wanted to come back to play in a 19-year-old-and-under game,” said Iovine, 17 at the time.
“I said, ‘Of course,’ ” added Iovine, who will take the field for D-II Lake Region State College in North Dakota next year.
Family commitments still mattered, and Iovine found herself traveling up and down Italy from Saronno to Naples during the one-of-a-kind family vacation.
“We drove the seven hours down, then drove the seven hours back up two days later.”
The road warrior’s grit paid off as Saronno invited her back for the summer.
Iovine gained experience playing and practicing with girls and women from both the Italian and Czech national teams, as well as with other D-I American athletes.
She played in a lower tier of the Saronno team’s farm system and practiced at its top Serie A level — only to avoid conflicts with college eligibility and professional playing.
The language barrier wasn’t bad at all, as the teammates all “spoke softball” and some even translated when needed. Picking up base numbers for cutoffs — uno, due and tre — was light work as well.
Iovine was living independently with other girls on the team and had a blast soaking up the best bits of Italia.
They would often take day trips to gorgeous areas like Lake Como and Bologna, and some local players taught her the secret to a perfect carbonara sauce.
American dream
When it was time to come back to Long Island, she brought some newfound friends from the squad with her.
“They came over to the U.S. and stayed with me for two to three months, and they got to play in the U.S.,” Iovine said, adding that the ladies traveled to Florida with her summer team, the Queens Nassau Comets.
“They were talking to college coaches, figuring out how they could get their dream of playing in the U.S.”
And the captain of Mary Louis also became the team’s own Marco Polo, bringing Italy’s successful ways to the scholastic diamond.
“This year, we have a little bit of a younger team,” she said.
“They’re not as experienced, so I do everything that I can to help them, and get them to figure out what they’re doing wrong and how they can fix it.”
It’s all good prep for Iovine, who will return for another summer stint playing in Italy.
“I graduate on May 30, and I’m on my flight to Italy on June 2,” she said.
Afterward, Iovine awaits her biggest challenge — finding good Italian food in North Dakota.
“When we toured the campus, my dad immediately took me to the supermarket to scout it out for good tomatoes and other ingredients,” she said of Frank, who wrote a cookbook based on old family recipes.
“I guess I’ll be the one doing Sunday sauce for the team.”
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