The rumor had been circulating for a few weeks in the environment but now it can enjoy all the trappings of officiality. Niccolò Loardi will be a Piacenza player in the B 2023 championship and the operation, now that it is clear of any doubts, is one destined to make noise. It rarely happened, in the red and white past, to be able to enjoy a reinforcement with such prestigious pasts. Furthermore, to increase the emphasis of the news, there is the not negligible detail that it is a return given that the left-footed Codognese played a good part of his youth career with Piacenza up to making his debut in the first team in the then IBL2. Then the move to Parma with the beginning of a brilliant career around Italy and beyond, culminating in the Scudetto in Bologna in 2020. But the friends he left behind in Piacenza he obviously hasn’t forgotten and it is also for this reason that 32 years old, still physically intact, after having rejected offers from the top flight, he has returned to serve the red and white cause by adapting to the reality of B thanks to a humility that only does him credit. In recent seasons, Loardi has favored the role of winger, while at the same time being appreciated for his remarkable offensive averages, but in Piacenza he could dust himself off in the role of pitcher. We’ll see, in the meantime he’s already training with his new team-mates and will certainly be on the pitch in the first friendlies. The red and white market thus starts with a bang even if further innovations are to be budgeted for the next few weeks.
Up to 15 years he remained in Codogno before moving to the youth sector of Piacenza which led him to his debut in the first team in the then IBL2. At the age of 18 he wore the blue Juniores making a decisive contribution to Italy’s success at the European Championships in Bonn where in the final against the Netherlands he signed the save on the mound and hit the double which leads to the winning point. He moved to the USA to Skyline High School in Longmont (Colorado) where, in addition to graduating, he distinguished himself as a strike-outs record holder. From 2010 to 2012 he was part of the roster of Barton Community College in Great Bend (Kansas) and was used, in the NCAA championship, first as a closer in the most difficult matches and later as a starter. In May he returned to Italy and was part of the franchise between Godo Knights and Piacenza: in the same year he made his debut in IBL1 with the Romagnoli and reached the IBL2 championship final with Piacenza, lost in game 5 with Nettuno. From 2013 the Loardi and Piacenza roads separate and a satisfying career begins for Niccolò that will lead him to tread the most prestigious diamonds. Two championships in Parma, the return to Godo, then Brescia, Novara and Castenaso, two years in Bologna (with the Scudetto in 2020) and last year in Grosseto. In the winter of 2019 another experience abroad with a parenthesis in Perth in the top Australian championship.
