Lucille "Lou" Colacito (later Appugliese; December 27, 1921 – January 30, 1998) was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

who played from through in the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

. Listed at , 120 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. Born in

Florence, Colorado The City of Florence is a Statutory City located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,822 at the 2020 United States Census. Florence is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Fron ...

, Colacito had limited experience before joining the league because her high school did not have sports teams. Then she began playing amateur softball in the local area.Heaphy, Leslie A. & Mel Anthony May. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball'',

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its forme ...

, 2006; After graduating from school in 1943, she received an invitation to attend the next AAGPBL

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

Peru, Illinois Peru is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,896 at the 2020 census, down from 10,295 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Peru and its twin city, LaSalle, make u ...

. She played two years with the

Kenosha Comets Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but l ...

. Her most productive season came in 1944, when she posted career-numbers in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Baseball ...

(85),

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

(.179), runs (24) and

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(22), while tying for eighth in the league for the most doubles (7). Madden, W.C. ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book''.

, 2000; After leaving the league, Colacito returned home and played softball for some years. She later continued her activities as a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er and won several local awards over the years. She and her husband raised a son and two grandchildren. She is part of ''Women in Baseball'', a permanent display based at the

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball- ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the ...

, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She was elected to the Denver Softball Hall of Fame. Lucille Colacito died in 1998 in Adams City, Colorado, aged 76.Lucille M. Colacito profile
ancestry.com; accessed July 3, 2020.

Career statistics

Batting Fielding

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colacito, Lucille All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Kenosha Comets players Baseball players from Colorado People from Florence, Colorado 1921 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American women 20th-century American people