Andrea Filler

Personal: Filler is a member of Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball's Player Executive Committee. She holds dual citizenship in Italy and the United States, and her great-grandparents were Italian immigrants from Fano, Italy. Filler has three brothers: her twin brother, Daniel, played college ice hockey; her younger brother, Michael, lives and works in New York City; and her youngest brother, Jonny, plays college golf at Cleveland State. She graduated from Northwestern in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in communications. Filler completed her master's degree in Sports Administration from Northwestern in 2016 before earning a School of Professional Studies Certificate in Leadership and Marketing in 2017. Currently, Filler works as the Director of Operations for the Northwestern softball team. She also served as the Director of Operations for the Northwestern softball and field hockey programs from 2018-21. Her husband, Kyle Ruchim, played baseball at Northwestern and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft. He also played professionally with the Schaumburg Boomers in 2015 and 2017 while spending time in the Chicago White Sox organization in 2016. In October 2022, Filler was inducted into the Bishop Dwenger High School Hall of Fame. She led her high school softball team to the first state title in program history in 2010. Filler lists Northwestern softball coaches Kate and Caryl Drohan as people who have made a difference in her life. Her hobbies include cooking, going to thrift stores, and going to the beach. She also participated in basketball, volleyball, and track and field growing up. Filler wears No. 9 in honor of her husband, who wore the number during his baseball career. Her walk-up songs are "Lavender Haze (Felix Jaehn Remix)" and "Get It Girl" by Saweetie.

2023 Championship Season: Filler tallied 1,022 leaderboard points, including 850 win points, during the second Championship Season. She started in 14 out of 15 games and registered a .184 batting average with seven hits, including a double and a home run. Filler drove in three runs while scoring twice, and posted a pair of multi-hit games against Team Alexander on August 18 and against Team Gibson on August 27. She earned MVP 3 honors and a season-high 140 leaderboard points in the Week Two opener against Team Garcia after driving in two runs. Additionally, Filler tallied 100 or more leaderboard points in a game seven times. 

2023 AUX Season: In the 2023 AUX season, Filler finished in 12th place on the final leaderboard with a total of 952 points. This included 630 win points and 282 stat points, with an additional 40 MVP points. During a game against Team Garcia, Filler was named MVP 2 after going 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in, helping Team Zerkle secure a 9-7 victory. She also served as a team captain during Series Two of the season. Throughout the season, Filler started all 10 games and had an impressive performance. She hit .364 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Additionally, she collected two doubles and a triple while scoring five runs. Filler had a strong presence at the plate, hitting safely in 8-of-10 games, including three multi-hit contests. Her season started off with a bang, hitting a home run in consecutive games against Team Garcia on June 12 and Team Mulipola on June 14. Filler's contributions on the field were instrumental in her team's success throughout the season.

2022 Championship Season: Filler earned 1,070 leaderboard points, including 860 win points, while starting 13 out of 15 games. Filler batted .256 with two doubles and a triple, drove in five runs, and was one of six players with a sacrifice fly. During Week Two against Team Harshman, she collected three hits, including a double, and tallied a hit in seven other games.

2022 AUX Season: Filler finished in seventh place on the leaderboard with 1,240 points while making her Athletes Unlimited debut. She started in all 12 games, hit .265 with nine hits, and scored nine runs. Filler hit one home run with eight runs batted in and put together a four-game hitting streak from June 14 to June 18, going 6-for-15 during that span. She hit her first Athletes Unlimited home run with a solo shot against Team Eberle on June 15.

International Experience: Filler competed for Team Italy at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside current Athletes Unlimited Softball player Erika Piancastelli. In five games, she batted .231 and had three hits. Filler also had a perfect fielding percentage with 14 assists and eight putouts. She led the Italian National Team to the 2021 European Championship, where she posted a .526 batting average with a .615 on-base percentage and a 1.263 slugging percentage. Additionally, Filler competed in the 2020 Australian Pacific Cup and was named Best Defender at the 2023 Canada Cup while playing for Italy with current Athletes Unlimited Softball player Erika Piancastelli. She collected five hits and scored three runs for Team Italy at the 2023 WBSC World Cup Group C event while teaming up with Piancastelli.

Other Professional Experience: Filler played for the NPF's Chicago Bandits during the 2016 season. She tallied six hits in 14 games, including a home run, while driving in three runs. Filler spent three years in the Italian Softball League and won the 2021 Italian Pro League batting title after leading the league with a .517 batting average and eight home runs.

At Northwestern: Filler played her final three seasons at Northwestern after beginning her career at Boston College. She earned NFCA All-Region Team distinction three times and was a two-time First-Team All-Big Ten Conference selection. As a senior, she was a Third-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree. Filler tallied 34 home runs and 159 runs batted in over 158 games at Northwestern while hitting .351. She also tallied 160 hits, including 39 doubles with seven triples, while scoring 107 runs. Filler led NCAA Division I with nine sacrifice flies during the 2015 season and ranks seventh in program history in batting average and runs batted in. She also stands 10th at Northwestern in career home runs. Filler posted a .693 career slugging percentage, the fourth-highest mark in school history, and is one of three players to hit three doubles in a game in Northwestern history. Filler was a finalist for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award. During her time at Boston College, Filler played in 66 games over two seasons, posting a .317 batting average with eight home runs and 29 runs batted in. She earned Second-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition in 2012.