Six hours of driving, nearly 300 miles, one pitch and another year of incredible memories.
It’s all worth it for Anthony Solari and his mother, Andrea, each time the annual Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge takes place during high school baseball season.
Solari, a 2021 graduate of Absecon’s Holy Spirit High School who was diagnosed with autism at age 2, has thrown out the ceremonial first pitch before Holy Spirit games at the event since he was 12. Now a freshman at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Solari wasn’t going to miss his favorite day of the year.
“Even when I was playing [junior varsity], it was my one game of the year that I got to say I was on the varsity card. It’s my favorite day,” he said.
On Saturday morning, April 23, Andrea Solari gassed up the car from her home in Brigantine and drove across the state to pick Anthony up at St. Joe’s. The pair then drove more than an hour north to North Brunswick Community Park, where the showcase was held for the 14th year, bringing out 40 high school baseball teams over a three-day span in support of autism awareness. Holy Spirit’s game against Red Bank Catholic was at 4 p.m. A few minutes prior, Solari zipped the first pitch into Spartans catcher Torrance Cooper’s mitt to a roaring ovation and then hung around with the team in the dugout during the game.
“To see him throw that pitch and have all the guys cheering for him was incredible,” Andrea Solari said. “It gives me chills every time I see it.”
Solari and Holy Spirit baseball coach Steve Normane started the Spartans’ tradition together. Normane began giving baseball lessons to Solari when the teen was in middle school, and the two quickly formed a friendship. Normane included Solari when Holy Spirit first played in the showcase eight years ago.
“We’ve been coming here since I got the job back in 2014,” Normane said. “I’m very good friends with Mike Garlatti since back when I played at Rutgers. He’s been running it for years, and I knew once I got the job at Spirit I wanted to get involved.”
Garlatti, a Highland Park graduate and former Rutgers University assistant coach who is the Northeast Scouting Director for the Colorado Rockies, founded the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge.
Teams wear blue in support of autism awareness and raise money for the cause. In middle school, Solari started throwing out the first pitch and would serve as a bat boy during games the first few years. Then, as a high school freshman, he would be a part of the day as an official member of the varsity team despite playing competitively at the JV level. Last year, as a senior, Solari ascended to the varsity level, where he pitched several games, earning a victory on the mound early in the season. He was able to not only experience all the joyous days of a 19-9 season that ended with a Non-Public B State Championship victory, but he also contributed toward that goal in many ways.
“He played for us last year,” Normane said. “He was a pitcher for us. That’s the best part. It wasn’t just us giving him a jersey. He contributed. He won his first varsity game last year. It carried us through, and it brought a ton of energy and a lot more than baseball ability. He can hold his own.”
He proved it again the afternoon of April 23 by delivering some heat during his shining moment, surely stinging the palm of Cooper’s hand as he scorched his pitch into the strike zone.
“There was a lot of pressure to throw a strike there,” Solari said with a laugh. “And everyone wanted me to throw as hard as I possibly could.”
He’s come a long way since his autism diagnosis as a toddler,
Andrea Solari said her son has come a long way in his diagnoses over the years. Currently high-functioning, he was non-verbal as a child. “To see him develop is huge. Most people now don’t even realize he has autism.”
However, many are more aware of what autism is now through the efforts of Holy Spirit and the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge. The school had a dress-down day and wore blue while raising $1,600 for the cause this year.
“While we’re all out here playing baseball, it’s something that raises a lot of money for autism,” Normane said. “We have people in our community that are touched by it, best signified by Anthony.”
Solari switched his major from mathematics to sports marketing with a minor in autism studies at Saint Joseph’s University. He also plays club baseball at school and had to leave between games of his double header April 23 to rejoin his alma mater.
“I told myself that if this is the only game I got to see of Spirit’s games, then I wanted this to be the one because it’s the same game I’ve looked forward to every single year,” he said.
He wasn’t the only one looking forward to it.
“Are you kidding me?” his mother asked. “He’s going to be 19, and I just had tears in my eyes when he threw a perfect pitch.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
