Growing up in a sports-oriented family, junior catcher Isabella Manory attended UCLA softball games as a youngster, exposing her to the sport’s intricacies and creating her aspirations to play college softball like those Bruins.
Manory grew up on the West Coast yet explored schools on the East Coast. Surprisingly, Marist’s starting catcher for the past three years did not have an initial interest in Marist.
The girls in the Manory household played softball and the boys played hockey. Manory’s mother, Jody, played softball in her earlier years while her twin sister, Adriana, currently plays at Central Connecticut State University. Her father, Jeff, and brother, Cameron, spent their time on the ice.
In her youth, Manory played soccer and participated in dance and gymnastics. However, she did not discover true love in a particular sport until softball came along in a unique fashion.
First Taste of Softball
Manory became acquainted with softball over Christmas break when she was eight years old. Over that break, Manory’s mom rolled up a ball of socks to represent a softball while Manory and her sister used rolls of wrapping paper as bats.
Their living room in Simi Valley, California became the Manory sisters’ first round of batting practice and the rest is history.
Simi Valley is 39 miles outside of Los Angeles, meaning there was always plenty to do and see. Manory enjoyed growing up on the outskirts of the second biggest city in the United States, alluding to the great sense of community that it provided.
“Whether it was having access to the city, a hike or even the beach, being near all of those things really made me myself,” said Manory.
Despite her admiration for her home state, Manory decided that she wanted to expand her horizons and acquire new experiences. With family residing in Boston, Massachusetts, her family took frequent trips to visit them.
Manory’s exposure to Boston offered her an alternative perspective, influencing her to focus on schools primarily on the East Coast.
“When [my sister and I] were going through the recruiting process, neither of us looked at any California schools,” said Manory. “It was important for me to get experience somewhere outside of my little California bubble and meet new people.”
Obsessed with the Dream
Manory always dreamed of playing softball in college and started pursuing it seriously as a freshman in high school.
That year, Manory joined the So Cal Athletics travel team and gained lots of knowledge about the operations of recruitment. She struggled to apply that knowledge because her main recruiting window occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manory credits her travel club for being proactive and providing an alternative way to get in contact with college coaches despite the suboptimal circumstances.
So Cal Athletics’ pivot included traveling across the country to states like Florida, Alabama and Tennessee so Manory and her team could continue playing. College coaches could not attend due to restrictions from the pandemic, so Manory had to rely profoundly on video and tournament live streams to create highlights that she could post on Twitter.
On Twitter, Manory posted anything from throw downs, blocking drills and in-game at-bats. In the caption, she tagged schools she had an interest in, hoping that she could get on their radar. Her training with former college standouts assisted mightily in his process, as they offered Manory valuable advice throughout her recruitment.
Per NCAA guidelines, during the time of Manory’s recruitment, coaches could not contact players individually until September 1 of their junior year. Until that time, Manory worked tirelessly to produce as much content as possible.
“I started tagging people on Twitter for months prior to September 1st and was just posting, posting, posting,” said Manory. “Once September 1st rolled around, I got six or seven schools to reach out to me.”
Similarly to how she worked hard entrenching herself with the recruiting process, Manory worked relentlessly on her craft on the diamond.
Growing up, she took catching lessons with former University of Arizona catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest. Vandergeest made four All-Pac-10 second teams during her time at Arizona and caught arguably the greatest pitcher in the history of college softball, Jennie Finch. Manory also trained with former University of Oregon star Janelle Lindvall, who assisted her with hitting.
“Mackenzie taught me everything I know from the catching level,” said Manory. “She made me tough and taught me those skills from a young age that set me ahead of a lot of people.”
Manory mentions how she could not attend lessons with these former softball stars or travel around the country with her team if not for her parents. Manory understands the sacrifices they made to give her and her sister the best opportunity to chase after their dreams.
“My parents always told my sister and I to follow our hearts and were never pushy,” said Manory. “They just always reminded me to stay true to myself and encouraged me to go out and be the person they raised me to be.”
Marist?
In the list of northeast schools that Manory would tag in her Twitter posts, Marist was not one of them, much to the dismay of head coach Joe Ausanio.
Ausanio came across Manory’s profile, immediately impressed with what he saw. He reached out to Manory’s So Cal Athletics coach, asking why she was tagging every school in the northeast except his.
Eventually, Ausanio got in contact with Manory, and when she figured out Marist was in New York, she dismissed the idea initially.
“[Marist] was probably the last place I thought I was going to end up,” said Manory.
However, Manory remained open-minded and Ausanio made a killer first impression.
“Right off the bat, I just felt a connection with him,” said Manory. “I felt like this was the person I wanted to coach me and who was going to push me to be better for four years.”
Due to the pandemic, Manory and Ausanio mainly communicated via Twitter, messaging one another and forming a cohesive relationship. Once tournaments started allowing coaches to be in attendance again, Ausanio watched Manory play for the first time at the Fourth of July Sparkler held in Denver, Colorado, which confirmed his gut feeling about her all along.
Manory committed to Marist in January of 2021 but restrictions put in place because of the pandemic did not allow her to visit campus until the spring. Once she got there, the visit reassured Manory about what she already knew about the school.
Upon her arrival to campus in the fall of 2022, Manory faced expected bumps in the road as a result of being about 3,000 miles away from home. The biggest adjustment Manory had to make was being away from her twin sister, Adriana. The longest she and her sister had ever been apart was only three or four days.
“Learning to be on my own was the biggest adjustment because growing up with a twin sister, I always had a throwing partner at softball tryouts and always had someone to sit next to when going to a new school,” said Manory.
In her first two seasons as the starting catcher, Manory has been a stalwart, committing only two errors and three passed balls. Moreover, Manory has made noticeable strides at the plate this season, hitting .300 with a .938 OPS.
She already hit five round-trippers on the young season, surpassing her total of three during her freshman and sophomore campaigns combined. Additionally, Manory has driven in 17 runs this season, which already eclipsed last season’s total of 12.
“Over the last two seasons, I know I am better than what I have done at the plate,” said Manory. “I know I bring catching to the table, but I wanted to step up offensively and show the team that I am able to step up in that aspect as well.”
Manory attributes her early-season success to her new hitting coach, Roger Frash. Frash was drafted by the New York Mets in 1980 and was the former assistant head coach at his alma mater, Oxnard College.
“I spent a lot of the summer training with [Roger], making adjustments to not only my swing, but the mental aspect to hitting as well,” said Manory. “The mechanical adjustments I made ultimately helped me gain confidence, but I feel like the mental game is always going to outweigh the physical game.”
Ausanio expressed optimism in Manory’s explosive start at the plate as well, detailing improvements in her pitch selection and mental approach.
“Last year, she was swinging at some bad pitches and getting herself behind in the count,” said Ausanio. “It is much easier to hit when you are ahead in the count, and she has done a really good job this year of identifying good pitches to hit.”
Not only has Manory elevated her game on the field, but she continues to be a great teammate day in and day out. Ausanio highlighted Manory’s personality as one of the main reasons he recruited her.
“I really try to do a good job of recruiting good people,” said Ausanio. “Everybody loves her and it’s nice because she’s embraced that role of being the go-to for everybody on the team.”
Last year, Marist’s season came to an abrupt end, losing in the second round of the MAAC Championships. Manory is motivated to avenge what happened last year
In a lineup flooded with talent, the emergence of Manory makes the Red Foxes even tougher to beat as they continue MAAC play after opening their conference slate by sweeping St. Peter’s.
Edited by Aidan Lavin and Marley Pope
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt; Photos from Marist Athletics
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