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ABOUT
Can there be any doubt that UCLA’s fantastic two-way pitcher/hitter Rachel Garcia will forever be considered as one of the greatest players in softball history?
On Thursday (May 19), it was announced she’s one of three finalists for the 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award which she has won the previous two times it was awarded, in 2018 and 2019 (no award in the COVID-impacted 2020 season).
Heading into this week’s NCAA DI Regional Playoffs, Rachel is 14-0 with two saves, a 0.60 ERA (the best in the nation) and 124 strikeouts in 94 innings in the circle and at the plate is batting .362 with 11 home runs.
She also has UCLA poised to make another run to the Women’s College World Series after the Bruins won it all the last time it was played, in 2019.
Below is a story that recounts the scary story from her senior year of high school at Palmdale (Calif.) High when the eventual Gatorade National Player of the Year pitched a masterpiece, but saw her team lose in the CIF Southern Section Div. IV championship after going down with a serious injury.
Here’s the look back at that fateful summer of 2015 when we all worried about the softball future of Rachel… and thankfully learned that the softball giant had what it’d take to battle back bigger and better than ever.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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The Tragic Fall–and Triumphant Return—of UCLA’s Rachel Garcia
For all that Rachel Garcia has achieved in her storied softball career, both in college and internationally, it may be a surprise to many that at one point in her career there were rumors that Rachel might not ever be able to pitch again.
I was there on the night that the high school senior was on the top of her game as she was on the verge of winning a high school championship for her Highland High team out of Palmdale, California.
It was June 6, 2015 at Manning Stadium in Bill Barber Park, Irvine, California and Rachel and her team were in a battle with Torrance High for the CIF Southern Section Div. IV title. The future Bruin star was all but unhittable… the problem was, neither team could score a run.
The game went into the 12th inning and Rachel had struck out 24 batters when she threw a pitch and collapsed to the ground as the batter singled with a runner on second.
She had come down awkwardly on her left knee and the sharp pain made her collapse. Still, many didn’t see her fall as the potential game-winning runner was thrown out at the plate and the game continued into the 13th inning.
“Right when I landed on my knee, it hurt and I went down,” Rachel would tell me later. “It hurt for a second, but I was able to walk on it and everything seemed to be fine.”
She even led off the top of the 13th with a single and ran down the first baseline looking no worse for wear.
“It didn’t hurt when I got the hit,” she said. “I didn’t feel any pain at all.
*** Scroll down to read more about that fateful night, which was about to get scarier… all in front of her future UCLA coaches Kelly Inouye-Perez and Lisa Fernandez!
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