The 2015 college softball season is right around the corner, and Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will have to deal with multiple injuries to their pitching staff right off the bat.

Louisiana, who is ranked 9th in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Preseason Poll, which was released on Tuesday, will be without the services of their top three returning pitchers, in terms of innings pitched, from a season ago, when the season begins on February 6.

Victoria Brown's injury may prove to be the most-prolonged. The junior right-hander, who went 6-1 with a 2.79 ERA. over 42.2 innings pitched a season ago, had surgery to remove bone spurs in her shoulder recently, and will be out indefinitely.

Brown, a native of La Porte, Texas, went 9-2 with a 3.79 ERA. over 68.1 innings in her freshman year of 2013.

Senior right-hander Jordan Wallace has been shut down for the next three weeks, for the time being, with shoulder inflammation.

A recent MRI showed no structural damage, but an orthopedic doctor decided that rest would be the proper course of rehab for Wallace, who went 14-3 in 2013, to go along with a 4.04 ERA. in 102.1 innings pitched.

Wallace will be reevaluated on Thursday. So, her situation could potentially change.

A senior from Weatherford, Texas, Wallace is 73-14 in three years at UL, including first team All-Sun Belt Conference honors in both 2012 and 2013.

Finally, senior right-hander Christina Hamilton has a small tear in her rotator cuff. The tear is not significant, and does not require surgery, but again, an orthopedic doctor has decided to shut her down, in this case for approximately five weeks.

Hamilton will seek a second opinion, however. So, like Wallace, her situation is still subject to change

Hamilton, a second-team All-American in 2014, compiled a 29-4 record last year, to go along with a 1.56 ERA. over 237.1 innings.

A native of Leesville, Louisiana, Hamilton was named the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Those are the facts. Now, here are a few opinions:

The good news: The injuries to Wallace and Hamilton are apparently not significant, and there's no reason to think they can't be key contributors, as has been expected all along, this season.

If either had a bicep or labrum injury, there would be cause for concern, but these are injuries that some would, and have played with, and ones that likely wouldn't keep pitchers from going to the circle in the middle of the season.

Most college athletes deal with pain, if the athlete isn't in any jeopardy of further injury, so it really becomes a matter of a pain tolerance issue.

What has happened here however, is that an orthopedic doctor shut them down, and while they are only looking out for the well-being of the athletes, they'd likely be the first ones to tell you that if any athlete goes in for an MRI, especially a pitcher, they're likely to find something.

It's really a tough situation; the doctors really are looking out for the well-being of the athlete, but in a lot of cases they're overly-cautious, just as any doctor would be with anybody before releasing them to go back to work after an injury. Meanwhile, you have the coaches, who see these types of injuries all the time, and also want what's best for the athlete, caught between taking into account what the doctor tells them and what they know from years and years of experience, and of course the players, who have been told by the doctors to close shop, while wanting to continue to play, not only for themselves, but for their teammates.

In the case of Hamilton, the under-handed softball pitching motion doesn't put near the stress on the rotator cuff like the over-handed baseball motion does, so a small tear in the rotator cuff isn't as bad as it sounds.

Nowadays, with softball becoming so much more popular, not only locally, but worldwide, and especially with pitchers throwing so many more games at such a younger age, it's almost next to impossible to find a college pitcher that is truly 100%.

The key is determining which ones are not 100%, as opposed to injured.

Whatever the case, even if the original diagnosis holds, both Wallace and Hamilton wouldn't be scheduled to miss a lot of time.

Now the bad news:

While Wallace is scheduled to miss only one weekend, and Hamilton slated to miss only three, it's not exactly that simple.

The preseason is used to develop arm strength, to help pitcher's ease into the season.

In the case of Wallace and Hamilton, they will miss the time that is needed to prepare for the season, and will be significantly behind once they do return.

Look at it this way, even pitchers in Major League Baseball, who have a preseason, and then get put on the disabled list, have to go through a process to return to form when they do come back.

Normally, a pitcher that is returning from the disabled list has at least two rehab starts in the minor leagues, and then is limited by a pitch count for two or three starts even when they get called back up to the big leagues.

So, while these are apparently not injuries that are all that significant, the decision to shut them down by an orthopedic doctor will have them working to make up for lost time for a significant amount of time.

One can't expect either/or to just return, and to just simply dominate like they never missed any time. The hitters in the game of softball are just too good to realistically expect that.

There's always a chance that things will change after Wallace is reevaluated, or when Hamilton gets her second opinion, but make no mistake; just because each are not scheduled to miss many games doesn't mean their absences early on still won't have an impact much later on.

So, there's no question that this is not good news. We're talking about two outstanding pitchers here, who both have a list of accomplishments a mile long.

What happens with the pitching staff now?

First, you have to hope that the reevaluation of Wallace, and Hamilton's second opinion brings back better news, not only for the team, but for those two young ladies, who have provided so many great moments on the diamond at Louisiana.

Next, you have to trust in what you have behind Wallace and Hamilton.

You have to just deal with the hand that's deal to you, and just go out and play well.

The Ohio St. Buckeyes lost their top two quarterbacks in 2014, and yet still won the college football National Championship with a quarterback that opened the season at number three on their depth chart.

As of now, the Cajuns will open the season with sophomore right-handers Macey Smith and Alex Stewart, who combined to pitch only 30.2 innings last year, but who are a year-more experienced this season, and Kylee Jo Trahan, the freshman right-hander from Burkburnett, Texas.

This will be an opportunity for one, and really all three, of these young ladies, to take advantage of a golden opportunity, and look to maybe become a fixture on a team that went to the College World Series last year, and one that many have high hopes for this year.

As for Wallace and Hamilton, they have to trust the coaching staff, and do as much as they can to get back in the circle to help their teammates.

Their past accomplishments are impressive, well-documented, and much-appreciated.

We're talking about a second-team All-American, and another pitcher that went 14-3, after all. But this is a new year, and there are no guarantees that innings will be handed back to them when they do return, especially if the other pitchers are throwing well.

Do I think that Wallace and Hamilton will have good years, and headline the staff, if healthy? Sure, but this is sports, and it's unwise to assume sometimes.

Remember the story of Wally Pipp and that Lou Gehrig guy?

Cajun fans know this from recent memory. Just last year, Hamilton, who had compiled only 8 wins in her first two seasons of eligibility, took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself when Wallace was suffering from an early-season injury, and went on to collect All-American honors, something no one would have predicted at this point last season.

If I'm Smith, Stewart, or Trahan, who I'm not, I'd be excited about an opportunity to make my mark for one of the top softball programs in the entire country.

If I'm Wallace or Hamilton, who I'm not, I'm doing everything thing I can possibly do to pitch as soon as possible (and I believe they are), for I know that this is my last year, and that there are some other talented pitchers just salivating at the idea of increased pitching time.

And if I'm a Cajun softball fan, which I can honestly say that I am, I'm gonna be a little patient at the beginning of the year, trust the coaching staff, who seem to always know the right buttons to push in the process, and look just as forward to the start of the season as I was prior to the last week.

Here's hoping there's better news on Wallace and Hamilton soon though.

 

 

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