San Francisco Giants outfielder, Hunter Pence, was hit in the left arm by a pitch from the Chicago Cubs prospect reliever, Corey Black, in a spring training game March 5.  Following that game, it was announced that the x-rays revealed Pence suffered a fracture in his left ulna, one of two bones that make up the forearm. He will be out for the next six to eight weeks.
Despite Pence being out of action, along with ending his streak of playing in 383 consecutive games, Pence remained positive when he spoke to reporters on March 6.
“You control what you can control,” Pence said, according to an article on espn.com. “Things like this happen, it’s part of the game.”
Injuries in sports are always difficult to overcome, no matter what level you are competing in.
Two CSU Stanislaus Warrior softball players have had to overcome injures in their own right. Just like Pence had the right attitude about injuries being part of the game, both catcher, Alex Rowell (freshman, Speech Therapy) and pitcher, Jessica Varady (senior, Communication Studies), understood that they needed to take time to heal in order to be in the form they were before the injuries
Rowell suffered through multiple injuries in her senior year of high school that ranged from knee surgery, to MCL and PCL tears.  The injury forced Rowell to miss her final year in high school basketball and volleyball.
“It wasn’t really that big of deal at first,” Rowell said. “I didn’t realize it would effect me in college.”
Rowell’s family supported her during her injury and gave her the advice she needed to stay in the right mindset.
“They told me that if I wanted to continue playing ball I had to give up all the shenanigans,” Rowell said.
She was feeling the pain once she got back onto the field.
“It was tough at first, ” Rowell said.  ”You have to put a smile on for your coach, you put a smile on for your teammates, because you want to be on that field more then anything.”
Jessica Varady also went through an injury involving surgery on her wrist in Nov. 2013.
“It was hard to deal with,” Varady said.  ”Just really took a toll on me because it was my first year back after taking two years off.”
The hardest thing for Varady in recovery was reteaching herself the basics.
“I had to relearn how to throw the ball because, with pitching, it’s all wrist action”.  Varady said.  ”My dad would just tell me that I would know when I was ready.”
Both Rowell and Varady are having great seasons for the Warriors this year.
Rowell has played 15 games from behind the plate and as of March 12 she has a batting average of .293.
Varady is the ace of the Warrior’s rotation, pitching five complete games along with carrying a batting average of .353 with two home runs and eight RBIs.