Last year at this time, I wrote a very personal column about the Younger Swampette, entitled “The Breaks (and Sprains) of the Game.” Rather than trying to summarize what the details of the article were, here’s a link to it in the UDPride.com archives:

https://www.udpride.com/archives/20020604.htm

The most telling sentence in the entire story was the last one:

“All I can say is I wouldn’t want to be West Bloomfield when the Districts roll around again next spring.”

Well as fate would have it, West BooFoo (as we affectionately refer to them in our house) didn’t have to wait for the playoffs to get their fill of #18, as the Groves softball team moved up and joined WB in Division 1 in the OAA Conference. Caitlin started 2 games and relieved in another vs. West Bloomfield during the regular season — here are her stats:

IP R ER H SO
14 0 0 2 26

Caitlin struck out 9 batters in a 13-0 victory earlier this year and then hit her personal best with 17 Ks against them last week in a 9-0 decision.

All of which led up to Districts and wouldn’t you know it, WB was the first opponent Groves would face, for the third year in a row. I kept a videotape of last year’s game and thought about using it as a motivator to get Caitlin geeked for the game. Thankfully, it wasn’t needed.

Caitlin and her Groves teammates finally beat West Bloomfield, 5-0, behind a complete game, 2 hit, 8 strikeout performance by the Younger Swampette.

The other interesting facet to this story is the fact that at the time of her injury, Caitlin was convinced that her life was over. She thought she would never be able to perform at an elite level in softball again and that her dream of playing in college would never come to pass. Fate had other ideas.

The Physical Therapist that Caitlin worked with to rehabilitate her ankle hired Caitlin as an unpaid aide, after Caitlin told her that her career goal was to be a PT. Last January, she was added to the payroll. They gave her the softball season off, but she’ll be working 20 hours a week for them starting in mid-June.

So what Caitlin thought at the time was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to her, actually turned out to be a good thing. She is getting hands-on, practical experience in her chosen field — that’ll look pretty good on a college application, don’t you think? She worked hard to rehab her ankle and even harder to become a complete pitcher and all of her efforts have paid off for her — on and off the field.

All of which serves as a reminder to her old man, in case he ever doubted it, that things-even bad ones–happen for a reason and that there really is a God.