Coming Full Circle for Deerfield Softball Mainstay Lara Ritchie

“Softball is not just a game, it’s a passion that fuels the soul.” - Jennie Finch, Former Professional Softball Player; Member of the USA Olympic Softball Team, 2004, 2008

Anyone looking for true passion on the softball fields of Deerfield over the past three decades, need look no further than player, coach, and softball mom Lara Ritchie (née Vignocchi). The current varsity softball assistant coach at Deerfield High School for the past 6 seasons, cut her own softball teeth decades ago on the very same fields as her current players. Ritchie also coaches at the 12U level for DYBSA travel softball and previously was a DYBSA board member for several seasons. Safe to say, she’s heavily involved in the Deerfield softball community.

Lara Vignocchi grew up in Deerfield, attended grade school at Holy Cross, and met tons of other local girls, many of whom she still calls friend to this day, while playing softball from age 5 to 15 for DYBSA (Deerfield Youth Baseball and Softball Association). After youth slow pitch, fastpitch, and travel softball, she moved seamlessly to the softball diamond at her beloved Deerfield High School, where she starred as a 3rd baseman for the varsity Warriors. Following her time at DHS, she passed up an opportunity to play college volleyball, choosing instead to walk-on for the DePaul University softball team. While going to college very close to home in Chicago, Lara and her DePaul team earned a trip to the College Softball World Series, a team accolade for a player who was always more about team than anything she could ever achieve as an individual.

Ask anyone who has seen her play, it was hard pressed to find another player on the diamond who competed with more passion, determination, and love of the game than Lara. Anyone who questioned her love of the game need only look at her infectious smile, an ear-to-ear grin she always wears when playing, coaching, or simply talking softball.

That same passion, enthusiasm and love for softball that oozed from her as a player decades ago, has now become something Lara uses to promote and teach the game to the current crop of Deerfield softball girls, whether youth players in DYBSA, at DHS, or even at home with her favorite softball player, her daughter Frannie, age 11.

Coaching both DYBSA travel and DHS varsity softball is a double blast from the past for Lara. Oddly, she first heard of the DHS coaching opportunity through the DePaul softball alumni Facebook group. Newly hired head coach, Sarah Douglas, reached out to her former Blue Demon teammates asking if anyone was interested in coaching softball at Deerfield High School.

“Is this really happening,” Lara thought. “It’s nothing I ever thought would ever actually happen.”

She reached out to Coach Douglas, got the coaching job at DHS, and the rest as they say, is history. Coaching at DHS led to another softball reunion of sorts, getting back in the dugout coaching DYBSA travel softball (10U and 12U), and into a role on the DYBSA Board of Directors as head of travel softball, a role she held for several seasons. Lara’s re-initiation to Deerfield Softball after so many years felt like a total time-warp. “Everything was the same. It was mind blowing to me.”

The same parks. The same fields. The same red and gray Deerfield colors. The same pregame cheers and the same fight songs. Nothing had changed except the names and the faces. The familiarity with something she held so dear was, in Lara’s words, “totally heartwarming.”

While embracing all the Deerfield softball traditions, Lara set out to start a few new ones to add to the program. They say all great coaches are also great thieves, and Lara proved to be no exception when searching for some new ideas. After running into her former DHS coach and current coach at Ripon College, Gayle Luehr, at the National Fastpitch Convention, Lara adapted a Ripon tradition, tailoring it to her high school players. Lara named it “Up-Downs.”

The concept behind the Up-Downs is simple. Each player is paired with a teammate, who becomes that teammate’s “primary person” during all the ups and the downs of a softball season. As Lara explained, when that player has an up, such as a game-winning hit, or a phenomenal defensive play, the player paired with her is the first player up, acting as her loudest cheerleader, her most energetic promoter, and her biggest fan. And when that player is down following a big strike out, or a crucial error, that player is there to meet her in the dugout, picking her up emotionally, keeping her looking forward instead of back, helping her to stay strong and positive. Traditions, old and new, are what makes programs like DHS and DYBSA special, and Lara has been a tremendous bridge to gap the storied traditions of the community into the new wave of young female talent.

While seasoned as both a player and coach, Lara is still growing into new roles. Her most current role is that of a softball mom. She is coaching a DYBSA team of 12U travel players, including her daughter, Frannie. She is having the time of her life, and Frannie loves having Lara in the dual role of coach and mom.

Through her experience mentoring and coaching other people’s daughters, Lara has learned a lot about how to best cultivate a young softball player. Her advice to parents is to first focus on the love of the game before getting too engulfed in the competitive aspects of the sport. Lara feels too many parents, with the best of intentions, get overly caught up in their daughter’s softball life, which often sucks the enjoyment out of it. She feels the best way to handle things at a young age is to force yourself as a parent to step back, let your daughter enjoy being part of a team, let her fall in love with the game and let the rest take care of itself.

Whether or not a girl has the talent and drive to go far as a player, is entirely up to her. Lara warns that if you take such a girl, and pile on serious expectations before she’s fallen in love with the game, there is a big chance she will underachieve, burn out, or simply stop feeling the joy of playing. That is good advice from someone who has checked almost every box there is along her softball journey.

Great coaches don’t just teach their sport, but also work in life-lessons, teachable moments, and traditions that make their players better people. Lara Ritchie has taken every aspect of the game she loves, from her playing days in Deerfield and beyond, and made it into one big life-lesson. And she is now helping to raise the next generation of strong, passionate, and happy young women, both on and off the softball field.

If you ever need a jolt of passion, positivity, and good old-fashioned fun, stop by a Deerfield Travel or DHS varsity softball game, and watch Lara Ritchie smiling from ear to ear, coaching, and simply doing what she does best, being actively involved in the Deerfield softball community.