Broken Blogger

A pitcher with a broken arm is like a bird with a broken wing, and this bird isn’t flying for 4 to 6 weeks. Friday September 28th began much like any other Friday had this semester. I woke up, followed my normal morning routine and promptly headed off for my 9:25 AM class taught by the wonderful Sister Mary Dargan. Class flew by as we learned the ins and outs of Honore de Balzac’s classic novel, Pere Goriot.
After class, I headed on over to my internship, where I prepared a splash page and feature story in preparation for women’s soccer player Danielle Figueroa’s record breaking performance Saturday. Figueroa needed only one more assist to break the school’s all-time assists record of 13, and Kristen DeCarli, Albertus SID wanted to ensure that we were ready to honor her if she broke the record in her upcoming game. (Spoiler Alert, She did!) My work celebrating Danielle’s amazing accomplishment can be found by logging onto albertusfalcons.com.
Following my internship I changed into my baseball gear and prepared myself for the best part of my Friday, baseball practice. Since the official baseball fall season has not started yet, our Friday practices consist of pitchers and hitters getting together to have what is known as a “live batting practice.” These can be intimidating to some pitchers, as they must pitch to hitters in a small tunnel-like batting cage, the polar opposite to pitching on a wide open baseball diamond. Live batting practice never fazed me prior to that fateful Friday, but I may never look at it the same again.
After throwing a strong 19 pitches, I was prepared to throw the final pitch of my bullpen session. It was a change-up, low in the zone and a pitch I was very happy with, until it hit the bat. Crack! The ball was hit hard on the ground, in fact our radar gun picked it up as going 83 mph. On top of its high rate of speed came a bad hop, and before I knew it the ball was on me; on my right forearm to be exact. The sound of my bone mimicked the sound of the bat mentioned earlier, as the cracking noise reverberated off the walls of the Albertus gym. Time seemingly stopped as, with a chuckle, I exited the cage trying to laugh off the excruciating pain I was feeling throughout my pitching arm.
After hanging around for the rest of practice with a pack of ice rested gently on my throwing arm, I headed out to Hamden Orthopedic for X-rays on my now purple and swollen arm, which was branded by the laces of the baseball that struck it. Sure enough my arm was fractured all the way through the bone, an injury the doctor explained would take 4 to 6 weeks to heal.
So now I suffer through the worst possible injury in the world of any pitcher, a broken pitching arm. Luckily the injury has taken place in the fall and gives me time to heal fully prior to my final collegiate season of baseball during my senior year. For now the sun has set on Sunshine, but it will soon rise again! I will be sure to keep all my reader’s posted throughout my recovery and keep you updated on the new hardships I am encountering in my life, like trying to type with one hand, handwriting notes with a cast on, successfully completing my internship with one arm, and most importantly, trying to reach this itch inside my cast!