March 12, 2007
Rhiannon Kliesing
Special to StudentSportsSoftball.com
Editor's note: Rhiannon Kliesing, who pitches for the Texas Aces club team, led Pearland (Texas) High to the state playoffs in 2006 as she hurled 13 shutouts, two no-hitters, struck out 285 batters and had a 0.34 earned run average. At the plate, she hit .343 average and her all-around excellence earned her 1st team EA SPORTS All-American honors.
Hey everyone! It's Rhi again!
It's been a while, as usual. It's hard to find time to write these things. But now that it's spring break, I have nothing but time, sort of. Actually, I have two district games this week and practice every other day. But since today is Sunday, I don't have school softball, just pitching lessons.
Let's
see, my team, the Pearland Lady Oilers, won our first district game
February 27 against Clear Lake. The score was only 1-0, which was the
same score as the first time we played them last year.
That game was also my first game to pitch in over a week. I had been hurt the whole week before. I had something called costal-chondritis. It sounds serious, but, luckily for me, it's not. It just means that the cartilage that connects my rib to my sternum was irritated and inflamed, and there was a painful knot on the right side of my chest that kept me from pitching for a week. That was one of the longest weeks of my life.
With our first district game only a week away, I was really worried that I wasn't going to be healed enough to pitch. However, my school has a great staff of athletic trainers who worked really hard to get me better.
I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. for a week straight and be in the training room by 6:15 a.m. I did several types of treatments, including stim, ice, and heat. I also went to see an orthopedic surgeon to get a professional diagnosis. I was definitely relieved after finding out that it was nothing serious and would go away on its own in a week or two. The only thing I could do about it was rest.
We were hosting a tournament that coming weekend, and the trainers told me not to pitch. My coaches still wanted me in the batting line-up, but the trainers said all I could do was slap. No swinging away. I still batted fourth in all six games we played, and I ended up getting the Outstanding Hitter Award for the tournament, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The most difficult part of the situation was not being able to pitch. It was really hard for me seeing another pitcher from our team struggling on the mound and knowing that I couldn't go out there and relieve her. At practices, all I could do was run and take a few cuts slapping. I couldn't throw overhand or pitch. Sometimes I feel burnt out from softball and I just want a break, but that one week of not being able to play to my fullest ability really changed my attitude.
It really made me appreciate the game of softball, and I was thankful that I would be back in the game in a short amount of time. I've never had an injury before that completely prevented me from pitching, and I really hope it never happens again. The injury itself was painful, but not being able to play the game I love hurt the most.
Our second district game was this past Tuesday, March 6, and we lost to Brazoswood for the 5th time in a row. Honestly, it's really getting old. I'll admit, I wasn't at the top of my game that night. I missed a couple of locations, and those few missed pitches plus some fielding errors cost us three runs that could have been prevented.
We almost tied up the score in the bottom of the 6th inning, but we had two strikeouts with a runner on 2nd and one out. The final score was 3-2. The only thing that can be done about it now is practicing and improving the areas we are weak in, and perfecting the areas we are strong in. We have the chance to do great this year, and once everything comes together we'll be on our way to the state tournament, one day at a time.
I'll try to write more in a couple weeks. Until then, everyone have a great spring break and high school season!
-Rhi
Rhiannon Kliesing
Special to StudentSportsSoftball.com
Editor's note: Rhiannon Kliesing, who pitches for the Texas Aces club team, led Pearland (Texas) High to the state playoffs in 2006 as she hurled 13 shutouts, two no-hitters, struck out 285 batters and had a 0.34 earned run average. At the plate, she hit .343 average and her all-around excellence earned her 1st team EA SPORTS All-American honors.
Hey everyone! It's Rhi again!
It's been a while, as usual. It's hard to find time to write these things. But now that it's spring break, I have nothing but time, sort of. Actually, I have two district games this week and practice every other day. But since today is Sunday, I don't have school softball, just pitching lessons.
 |  |
| |
| Rhiannon missed a week of pitching because of a nasty-sounding condition called costal-chondritis. |
That game was also my first game to pitch in over a week. I had been hurt the whole week before. I had something called costal-chondritis. It sounds serious, but, luckily for me, it's not. It just means that the cartilage that connects my rib to my sternum was irritated and inflamed, and there was a painful knot on the right side of my chest that kept me from pitching for a week. That was one of the longest weeks of my life.
With our first district game only a week away, I was really worried that I wasn't going to be healed enough to pitch. However, my school has a great staff of athletic trainers who worked really hard to get me better.
I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. for a week straight and be in the training room by 6:15 a.m. I did several types of treatments, including stim, ice, and heat. I also went to see an orthopedic surgeon to get a professional diagnosis. I was definitely relieved after finding out that it was nothing serious and would go away on its own in a week or two. The only thing I could do about it was rest.
We were hosting a tournament that coming weekend, and the trainers told me not to pitch. My coaches still wanted me in the batting line-up, but the trainers said all I could do was slap. No swinging away. I still batted fourth in all six games we played, and I ended up getting the Outstanding Hitter Award for the tournament, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The most difficult part of the situation was not being able to pitch. It was really hard for me seeing another pitcher from our team struggling on the mound and knowing that I couldn't go out there and relieve her. At practices, all I could do was run and take a few cuts slapping. I couldn't throw overhand or pitch. Sometimes I feel burnt out from softball and I just want a break, but that one week of not being able to play to my fullest ability really changed my attitude.
It really made me appreciate the game of softball, and I was thankful that I would be back in the game in a short amount of time. I've never had an injury before that completely prevented me from pitching, and I really hope it never happens again. The injury itself was painful, but not being able to play the game I love hurt the most.
Our second district game was this past Tuesday, March 6, and we lost to Brazoswood for the 5th time in a row. Honestly, it's really getting old. I'll admit, I wasn't at the top of my game that night. I missed a couple of locations, and those few missed pitches plus some fielding errors cost us three runs that could have been prevented.
We almost tied up the score in the bottom of the 6th inning, but we had two strikeouts with a runner on 2nd and one out. The final score was 3-2. The only thing that can be done about it now is practicing and improving the areas we are weak in, and perfecting the areas we are strong in. We have the chance to do great this year, and once everything comes together we'll be on our way to the state tournament, one day at a time.
I'll try to write more in a couple weeks. Until then, everyone have a great spring break and high school season!
-Rhi
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