SAN DIEGO – San Diego State softball head coach Kathy Van Wyk has announced that Danielle Romanello has signed a Grant-In-Aid to join the Aztec program. Romanello, who started 31 times at national power Florida, will have two years to play at SDSU, beginning in the 2021 season.
Romanello started 31 games and played in 79 for the Gators, who went 105-29 (.784) over her two seasons with the program from 2018-19. Romanello is the sixth player from a Power 5 school to transfer to San Diego State over the last two years, joining Maggie Balint (Oregon), Summer Hargett (Northwestern), Sara Lillie (Oregon State), Alyssa Pinto (Oregon/Ole Miss) and Alexa Schultz (Oklahoma).
Over her two years with UF, Romanello batted .185 (24-for-130) with five home runs, 18 RBIs, 12 runs, five doubles and a triple, while owning a .354 slugging percentage and .270 on-base mark. She was also perfect in the field in 28 chances.
As a sophomore in 2019, Romanello hit .186 (16-for-86) with four homers, 10 RBIs, nine runs, three doubles, a triple, eight walks and seven times hit by a pitch in 45 games (26 starts), posting a .384 slugging percentage and a .304 on-base percentage. Romanello earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on April 11, 2018 for her play against Alabama when she went 2-for-3 with a homer, double and three RBIs in a 3-2 win.
Other honors for Romanello at Florida included the SEC Academic Honor Roll (2019) and SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll (2018). Additionally, Romanello was a two-time Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete (2018-19).
Romanello played her prep ball at Canterbury High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., where she was a four-time 2A first-team all-state selection (2013-16). Romanello, who led CHS to three 2A state titles (2013-14, 2017) also was the 2017 Miracle Sports Offensive Player of the Year, a multi-time All-American, the 2013 state defensive player of the year and a 2017 Junior Olympic Cup all-star team selection.
Balint (8-5, 2.40 ERA, 2 SV, 101 K, 81.2 IP, .188 opp. avg.), Hargett (.233, 1 HR, 3 2B, 7 RBI), Lillie (.290, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 14 R, 5 2B, 1 3B) and Schultz (.266, 15 RBI, 11 R, 4 2B) each were productive in their first season transferring to the Aztecs from a Power 5 school in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the campaign right before Mountain West play started. Pinto, meanwhile, who was 1-for-3 at Ole Miss in 2019 before an injury sidelined her for the rest of the season, played at Consumnes River College in the spring-shortened season, hitting .245 with six RBIs, 17 runs and a .403 on-base percentage.
Romanello and Pinto will join a signing class that also includes incoming freshmen Makena Brocki, Jazmine Castaneda, Jeweliana Perez and Elianna Reyes.
San Diego State finished 17-11 last season and was 37th (out of 298 schools) in the initial RPI, which is a mathematical calculation used to help determine each team's success, using a calculated strength of schedule and won-loss percentage. The Aztecs, who have won a Mountain West-best seven regular-season championships in the 20-year history of the league, were supposed to play host to defending league champion Colorado State the weekend of March 13-15 before the NCAA canceled the rest of spring competition on March 12.