Joseph Maniscalco enters his third season as an assistant coach for the Adelphi University softball team in 2021, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Adelphi softball in several areas, including prior playing experience, coaching, academics, and mental training.
Maniscalco has experience in several different facets of youth baseball and softball on Long Island. This began in his days as a law student, where he coached and trained youth baseball players ages 9-13, and continues to this day with BlueFire Fastpitch, a travel softball team he founded in 2006.
In addition, he coached middle school softball at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bellmore from 2005-10, and high school softball at St. Dominic's in Oyster Bay in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Maniscalco holds a third-degree brown belt in Kenpo karate and has focused on mental training since college. He obtained a certification as a mental training coach from the Mental Training Institute of Texas and brings extensive academic and practical experience to his coaching style.
He is a regular writer for National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and has conducted extensive mental training seminars and discussions in several sports, from which hundreds of student-athletes have benefited.
He is also a member of Positive Coaches Alliance and Responsible Sports and a certified coach through Cal Ripken Baseball. Maniscalco is the founding member of BlueFire Softball, which takes an organic approach to developing local softball talent in a travel softball program.
After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from Fordham, he earned his J.D. from Hofstra University in 1995. Since 1998, he has been a founding partner in LaMonica, Herbst & Maniscalco, LLP, a bankruptcy and commercial real estate legal firm.
A graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, Maniscalco earned a full athletic scholarship to attend Fordham University under coach Dan Gallagher.
In his time as a collegiate pitcher, Maniscalco notched over 20 career wins, was a three-time New York State All-Star (1990-92) and named All-Region twice. In 1990, Maniscalco led the Rams to the NCAA Regionals, and in 1991, had the seventh-lowest ERA in the country entering the postseason.
Ahead of his senior season in 1992, he was named a preseason All-American and nominated to play on U.S. Olympic Team that year. To this day, he still ranks in the career Top 10 in six pitching categories.
Maniscalco resides on Long Island with his wife and four daughters, all of whom play softball. Two of his daughters play collegiate softball, and two of his daughters play travel softball.
