Maple Leafs pitcher and first baseman Alisyn Catenacci was experiencing the highest of highs in mid-March earlier this year. The Goshen softball team had their first 4-0 start in league play since 2001 and a seven-game win streak. Catenacci had two home runs and five RBIs in a 9-2 win against conference rival Bethel while throwing a complete game on the mound with nine strikeouts and just one walk to her credit. For the performance, she was named the Crossroads League Softball Player of the Week for March 13-20. She played an instrumental leadership role, on the mound and at the plate, in Goshen’s historic season, which saw them set the program conference wins record and tie the record for overall wins in a season. For all her success during the year, it is hard to believe that her career was in jeopardy last August. Yet she continues to be a leader on the field and in the classroom.

Love for the Game

Growing up in Elgin, Illinois, Catenacci started playing baseball at four. Her older brother Mikey was playing, and she wanted to as well. Eventually, Catenacci switched over to softball. And she didn’t just love softball - she was getting pretty good at it. Softball became a part of her life that she couldn’t give up, and she had to find a way to do it in college.

After meeting former GC head coach Juliaclare Plezbert at a large tournament in Colorado, Catenacci visited Goshen College the following week. She returned a couple of months later when classes were back in session, and the team was on campus. “The girls were so welcoming, and it felt like a family,” Catenacci said. “I was like, ‘I have to go here. I would be dumb not to go to Goshen at this point.’”

Catenacci arrived at Goshen as an exercise science major during her first year and started in 38 games with a .274 batting average. Midway through the spring semester, she switched her major to nursing after initially being against it coming into college. Her mom, Kelly, has been a nurse for the last 15 years, and Alisyn felt she would be making a mistake if she didn’t switch. During her sophomore softball season, Catenacci started in 40 games with a .288 average and was an Honorable Mention All-Crossroads League selection. She posted a 3-1 record on the mound and struck out 30 batters in 31.1 innings.

After Plezbert left that summer to take the head coach position at Ave Maria University, Luke Wagner came in to lead the Maple Leafs. Also that summer, Catenacci had her routine physical. But a suspicious lump on her neck pointed out at that appointment would change the course of her summer, her junior year, and beyond.

No One Knew What Was Coming

There was a decent-sized tumor on one half of Catenacci’s thyroid, and doctors told her that she had to have surgery to remove it. That first surgery was in mid-August. The results came in two days before Catenacci moved in back on campus. “You have cancer.”

It was stage two follicular thyroid cancer. That meant there had to be a second surgery to take the other half out. There weren’t any issues on that side, but it technically got everything out. That surgery was in early September.

The timing was less than ideal. Catenacci was moving back to Goshen for the fall semester and starting the most intense year of the nursing major with eight-hour clinical sessions once a week. Additionally, Wagner’s first day in the office as head coach was August 15. “It was super crazy with getting Coach Wags in,” Catenacci said. “No one knew what was coming. I’m sending him an email saying, ‘Hey, I just found out I have cancer’ before I even met the man!”

Wagner remembers thinking how unfair the diagnosis was but was quick to let her know that everyone was supporting her. “It is jarring when you hear someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially a young, active, college-aged individual,” he said. “I wanted her to prioritize her health, and when she beat cancer, whenever that might be, we couldn’t wait for her to join the team again.”

The thyroid controls the metabolism in your body. After the surgeries, Catenacci went through radioactive iodine treatment. Her nursing classes have been paying off because she knows the medical terminology but can explain the process in an easy-to-understand way. “Your thyroid is the only part in your body that absorbs iodine,” she shared, “so the leftover thyroid tissue that could have been in my body that might have had cancer in it would’ve absorbed the radiation. So it’s only targeting that part.”

For the treatment, Catenacci made the trip from Goshen to Elgin, three hours each way, roughly 20 times during a month-and-a-half span. With driving back and forth at least two times a week, she coordinated with professors to push due dates back or crammed a lot in during a week. “I can Zoom into class, but I can’t Zoom into clinical to do hands-on practice,” she noted. Sometimes her mom would meet her halfway between the two cities, and Alisyn would do a lot of work in the car, sometimes listening to a recorded lecture while in the passenger seat.

Associate professor of nursing Cheryl Caffee mentioned that Catenacci even attended their pharmacology class on Zoom the same day she went in for her second surgery. “That shows you her dedication and determination,” Caffee said. “She never missed a beat and cared for herself, but never got behind in academics. Alisyn is a strong leader in the classroom and kind, knowledgeable, and compassionate at the bedside.”

Katie Schramm, assistant professor of nursing, echoed Caffee’s observations. “She was quick to request necessary accommodations and was able to navigate a complicated clinical schedule around her treatments,” Schramm noted. “She made it look easy, even though I know it was anything but easy.” Both professors used “determined” and “resilient” to describe Catenacci.

Those couple of months were a lot of work with everything piling on, but Catenacci excelled through the challenges. She holds a 3.95 GPA and is trying to keep it above a 3.90 by graduation. Appointments, driving, clinical, and making up homework kept #11 away from the first month of softball practices. She was cleared to go back to softball activity three weeks after her second surgery, but it had been two months that she hadn’t been able to do anything. Her first time playing again was a Homecoming Weekend scrimmage on October 8. Catenacci had every right in the world to settle and make excuses. But instead, she led others by first showing how she was going a little bit extra to get a little bit stronger.

Breakout Performer

Catenacci not only had to be an experienced leader on a team with a new head coach and no seniors for the upcoming year, but she had to do so while recovering. She does what she wants her team to do for her, and one of those things is going the extra mile. “I go to the gym every day to try and get just one little bit stronger,” she shared. “Going in on your day off, that kind of stuff. Doing the little things to help build on your skills to get ahead of everyone else.” Catenacci put in a lot of work during winter break, fueled by the combination of knowing there was nothing to lose and Coach Wagner's confidence in her abilities. “He saw so much potential in me, and that thought helped motivate me to try and find that full potential.”

Wagner noticed how she never took any reps off, was upbeat, positive, always smiling, and constantly pushing herself. She never discussed how unfair her situation was and always looked forward instead of behind. “When you have a positive, selfless individual willing to work, the sky's the limit for what can be accomplished,” Wagner said. “So we pushed her a bit harder. We leaned on her a bit more. We catered to her strengths, and she certainly didn’t disappoint.”

Catenacci doesn’t ask someone to do something that she wouldn’t do. And she first observes different personality types from a distance before picking up on cues to decide how to interact with them. She tries to keep people happy while ensuring everyone is doing their job. Knowing what it was like not to have much playing time, she is the biggest supporter when other players get the opportunities in the spotlight. Playing time wouldn’t be an issue for her in 2023, though.

After a 1-4 start to the season, the Maple Leafs got in a groove while in Florida for their ten nonconference games over spring break. It continued at the start of conference play, and there was a point when Goshen had won 11 of the last 12 games. Catenacci’s offensive numbers were similar to the year prior, but her pitching stats improved tremendously compared to 2022. She pitched 101.1 more innings and threw 13 more complete games. Her ERA dipped 2.23 points, and she had nine more wins and 20 more games started. 

“Ali finds a way to positively contribute to the program every time she arrives at the field,” Wagner shared. “That passion and selflessness was contagious and integral to our success last season.” In describing her leadership style, Wagner mentioned how Catenacci wears her heart on her sleeve and pours herself into every game. That could be in the circle, at first base, as the designated player, or in the dugout cheering her teammates on. Catenacci finished the year in the top ten in program history for home runs, RBIs, wins, strikeouts thrown, and innings pitched in a season, and she still has a year to go.

The 2024 Maple Leafs team will look very similar to the 2023 team, with other significant contributors like Shea VanScoter, Bianca Diamond, Mckenzie Richardson and Alyssa McDonald returning for this year. All four of them received end-of-year conference awards. “Now that we’re all bonded with the core that’s coming back, we don’t have to focus on the relationship aspect of the team this year,” Catenacci pointed out. “We can just jump into building skills. It should be a really good season, and I am so excited to see what we can do.”

Catenacci also looks forward to her role as President of the Goshen College Nursing Student Association. GCNSA provides programs dealing with information regarding nursing roles, current developments in nursing, and issues and concerns impacting the nursing profession. This school year is her second year in the organization. In addition to being a two-time Crossroads League Honorable Mention, Catenacci has also been on Academic All-Conference and CSC Academic All-District teams and an Easton/NFCA All-Academic Scholar-Athlete three times.

To replace the hormones that her thyroid makes, Catenacci takes two pills every day. It is trial and error to ensure the dosage is correct, and it takes six weeks to see the effects. But it seems like they have found the right amount now. She recently had her one-year follow-up scan, where she was in the hospital four times in five days. She received different injections and then a radioactive pill on the last day.

Catenacci makes her work on the diamond appear effortless to the casual Maple Leafs fan. But understanding how she has continued to lead despite her setbacks from a year ago puts her success in a completely new perspective.