By Five Boro Sports
Nicole Weinman was never promised by her doctors that she would be able to play during her senior softball season at St. Francis Prep. She had surgery in mid-February to repair torn cartilage in her right wrist, an injury she suffered covering home while pitching on a play at the plate in one of the Terriers’ fall games. Weinman hoped to return the end of April in time for her Senior Day, but there were no guarantees.
“She figured her season was lost,” said her father, Al, a St. Francis Prep assistant. “She said, ‘Maybe I can make it for Senior Game.’”
Instead of hoping for the best, Weinman created it.
“I just wanted to come back right away, so I was doing everything in my power that I could do,” she said.
She worked hard at physical therapy three days a week and did everything the doctors asked of her to speed the recovery process along. Weinman did therapy exercises at home and iced her wrist and put heat on it when she needed to.
“A lot of times they tell a kid to do stuff at home and they don’t do it,” her father said. “She worked at it.”
By the end of March, Weinman was in a game for defense only for the Terriers. The coach and doctors didn’t want her to swing a bat in live action just yet and cold weather was still affecting her wrist.
So Weinman kept working.
”Slowly, I practiced,” she said. “I went to the batting cages a couple of times. I went out and swung on a tee.”
The effort has paid off. Weinman is back in the Terriers’ starting lineup again, back roaming center field, where she has an excellent arm and range, and situated in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. It is a perfect position for someone of Weinman’s talents.
“I feel like I am able to bunt if I need to, produce a little hit, a big hit — whatever they need me for, I can do,” she said.
Added Rich: “I like that two spot for that reason. By putting her there, it gives me a lot of options.”
She will lengthen the order of the defending CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens champion and give it a run-building weapon it lacked early on this season, especially in two tight losses to rival Archbishop Molloy by scores of 1-0 and 2-0. Prep had plenty of chances, especially in the second game, to scratch across a run, but couldn’t deliver.
”It feels so good [to have her back],” senior pitcher Johanna Rice said. In “[t]he two Molloy games, we could have used her. She was a big part of our game.”
Last week, Weinman was one-for-three with a run scored in a game against Mary Louis and two-for-four with a run versus Christ the King, both Prep wins.
“Losing her, it hurt us,” Rich said. “… It’s a major plus getting her back in the lineup — major plus.”
