by Brian Twomey
Junior Haley Gaffney started her softball career as a right-handed player. However, that all changed in eighth grade. She had to learn how to throw with her left hand to maintain her varsity position in softball.
This life-changing injury happened at a basketball game in the eighth grade. Gaffney went up for a layup and got fouled extremely hard. “It just kinda ripped my arm backwards, and that’s when I knew I definitely did something to it. Continually playing basketball/softball it became more of a repetitive motion injury. It got worse and worse. Until my freshman year, during the varsity season and then during my summer season, I would dislocate my shoulder, probably five times a week, at least once a day.”
She finally got surgery her freshman year. “[The surgery] didn’t happen until September, I was out for six months. Then I started throwing with the other arm in January 2014. My dad kinda played around with the idea. It sounded like a joke.”
Little did she know that her dad was very serious about the matter. Gaffney later became 100% on board with the idea. “I was like, okay let’s do it. I was willing to do anything to play.”
“I got frustrated. It was more frustrating because I wasn’t horrible with it, but it certainly wasn’t what it is now that I’ve worked with it for a year. The thing that made me most angry was the people who I told I was doing this, and who said I couldn’t do it. That’s what made me go on.”
Gaffney was also motivated by her fear that when she came back to the high school season that someone else would claim her position. She would not let it happen. “I was angry that I got injured, that I had to have surgery to fix it, so I just wanted my position back really badly.”
In her freshman year, Gaffney was unanimously voted as an All-Conference player for varsity. Head coach Mary Beth Ryan had enough respect for Gaffney that she made her a team captain as a sophomore. Gaffney’s batting average as a sophomore was .435, and she has gotten attention from Quinnipiac University, which is a Division I (D1) college.
When Gaffney visited her favorite college, Quinnipiac, she was determined to meet the coach and to talk about coming to that college. The head coach, Jill Karwoski, took some interest and personally attended one of Gaffney’s tournaments in California. Quinnipiac can only offer three softball scholarships each year. Gaffney hopes that she is lucky enough to receive one of these three.
Trying to get more attention from D1 coaches, she joined a showcase team. Gaffney was determined to play her best for that day. “When I went to the tryout for [Polar Crush], I just had a lot of luck that day. I hit three consecutive triples off three different pitchers. As I was driving home from the tryout, I received a call from an unknown number, and my dad said, ‘You might wanna pick that up.’ And they told me I made it.” Polar Crush is currently ranked 17 in the country for Gaffney’s age group.
All of this success comes from her work ethic in the off season. “I go down to the cages about three times a week during the season, but I used to go every day during the off-season. I might go twice on Saturday, and then once on Sunday. I really never have an off-season,” said Gaffney.
Along with the constant time she spends in the batting cages, she also puts in the time in the gym. “I do a lot of squats, I run a lot, leg extensions, ab/ad-junctions, Bulgarian squats,” said Gaffney.
Being team captain, Gaffney wants to be a role model to all the other players. Switching to her non-dominant hand shows her commitment to giving everything she has to the team.
