HOWELL — When Addison Caldwell came up hobbling while running to first base, it didn’t feel like anything was seriously wrong.
She thought she hyperextended his right knee while playing softball in Georgia in November of her junior year, so she continued playing when her team continued its southern trip in Florida.
“It felt really good,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I hurt it as severely as I did.”
But when it bothered her enough to get checked out, she learned the devastating news. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, an injury that required reconstructive surgery, would wipe out her junior season at Howell and jeopardized her college future.
“Junior year is a stressful year with getting recruited and everything,” Caldwell said. “That was a big setback. Everything was coming all in at once. That fall season’s really big. That was devastating.”
But it wasn’t anything she couldn’t overcome.
The coaches at Oakland University had enough faith in her to offer her the opportunity to play at the Division I level.
“The coaches at Oakland were so great,” she said. “Seeing me playing in the summer really got me the chance to be able to play there.”
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Caldwell began to ease her way back into softball during the summer, about a month after Howell’s season ended, and was playing full-bore by fall.
And now she’s back playing for Howell, where she’s been a starting shortstop since her freshman year.
She went 3-for-6 with three RBIs, a triple and a double Thursday during Howell’s 10-0, 7-5 sweep of Brighton.
In four games, Caldwell is 7-for-14 with four doubles, one triple and four RBIs.
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“It’s been so good to get back out with my teammates after I missed last year,” she said. “It just feels so good to have a good start to the season.”
