‘I get to finish off right.’ Baylor softball star excited her college career isn’t over
After spending all of last year rehabilitating as she sat out the season, Baylor University senior Gia Rodoni would have been devastated if her collegiate softball career had abruptly ended because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
On March 12 the NCAA canceled all winter and spring sports. Rodoni said she experienced a wave of emotions, including frustration and fear.
“I didn’t want to believe I had played my last game,” said Rodoni, a former star player at Pacheco High in Los Banos.
Rodoni and many area college athletes were ecstatic when the NCAA announced spring sports athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility on March 30.
She’ll return to Baylor next year and play her senior season.
“I called my dad immediately,” Rodoni said. “It’s something we prayed for and the lord gave us another year. I get to finish off right. When I heard we got the year back I was super pumped.”
There are many collegiate athletes from Merced County who share Rodoni’s excitement.
“As spring athletes, we work all year long to prepare for our season,” said Southern University softball player Paytin Mercado..” I wake up at 5 a.m. every day. You do all that work and then your season is just over. It’s a horrible situation, but I’m grateful they our putting our health first.”
Mercado, who graduated from Buhach Colony in 2018, was in Alabama doing a community service obligation with her team when they were told to return to Baton Rouge, La.
Louisiana was one of the hardest-hit areas in the country with coronavirus after Mardi Gras.
Mercado and her team hopped on a bus and drove eight hours back to campus. A few days later, Mercado returned home to be with her family.
“I was having such a good season,” Mercado said. “I wasn’t batting as much. My coach was playing me in the flex spot because we have a lot more power hitters. But, I was playing well, so it sucked when the season was canceled.”
Former El Capitan High standout McKenzie Schumacher was with her Domincan University teammates in Southern California when they heard the news that the NCAA had canceled the softball season.
“It was pretty devastating,” Schumacher said. “I definitely cried. Everyone on the team felt really bad that the season had to end the way it did for me and the other two seniors.”
Other athletes were off to great starts.
Former Golden Valley ace Marissa Bertuccio was 5-2 with a 1.88 ERA during her freshman season at Sacramento State.
Dos Palos’ Janessa Jasso was 4-2 with a 3.64 ERA during her freshman season at Iowa State University.
Former El Capitan baseball star Braiden Ward was hitting .283 with five doubles and 10 stolen bases during his junior season at the University of Washington.
Shumacher was hitting .400 with 18 runs and 18 stolen bases in just 19 games before this season was canceled. Unlike Rodoni, she doesn’t plan on using her extra year of eligibility.
“In a perfect world, I would come back and earn my master’s, but another year of school and rent is expensive,” Schumacher said. “I’m also graduating with my nursing degree in May and with the coronavirus in full force, I would like to get into the workforce and help out.”
Schumacher finished with the all-time record for stolen bases at Domincan University with 112
“I was 16 hits shy of breaking Tori Johnson’s (Golden Valley) career hits record, which stings, but I had four great years of memories and made lifelong friends,” Schumacher said.
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
