Making Up a Year in a Day : Royal All-Star Tricia Polhert Rebounds from Injury, Aggravation

Ever had one of those days when virtually nothing seems to go as planned? For Tricia Polhert of Royal High, it’s been a year’s worth of those days.

Polhert’s misfortune culminated April 5, the day her high school athletic career ended prematurely.

During the first inning of a Royal-Newbury Park softball game, Polhert was trying to beat out an infield single when she rolled her ankle on first base, which had broken loose on the play. Although Polhert walked off the field thinking more about being called out than her potential injury, her ankle soon swelled and demanded medical attention.

That evening, Polhert went to the hospital but her regular doctor was out of town. When another doctor examined X-rays of Polhert’s ankle and told her that it was broken, she figured “He didn’t know what he was talking about.” And when he told her she would be in a cast for six weeks, Polhert figured he was definitely an impostor.

“What? You gotta be kidding me. How could this happen to me?” Polhert remembers asking the doctor. “I mean, my year could not get any worse.”

For Polhert, a shortstop who is among 30 seniors featured in today’s Daily News All-Star softball game at Cal State Northridge at 4:30 p.m., it has been one disappointment after another. The broken ankle was merely the crowning blow.

A two-sport athlete at Royal, Polhert had to skip the volleyball season in the fall because she was still nursing a shoulder injury, which cut short her softball season as a junior.

Her ailing dog was put to sleep. She was having personal problems with the Hot Stuff, her 18-and-under Amateur Softball Assn. team. Then, of course, there was the earthquake. And, as if that wasn’t enough, she was voted princess--not queen--of the winter formal.

“Athletes never get it,” said Polhert, who signed a letter of intent in November to play softball at Drake University.

Despite the troubled beginning of her senior year, Polhert was determined to put it all behind her. When the softball season started in early March, Royal was picked as the dark horse behind favorite Simi Valley in the Marmonte League--perhaps the toughest league in the Southern Section.

The Highlanders were in a three-way tie for first place when Polhert went down. Royal finished fifth and missed the playoffs. Needless to say, Polhert, who made just three errors in 61 chances at shortstop, could have made a difference.

It’s been four weeks since her cast was removed and Polhert is back on the field. Due to injuries, Polhert was cheated out of finishing the past two softball seasons. Today, however, she plans to finish strong.

“I’m approaching this (all-star game) like it’s as my last high school game, my last chance to show that I’m a good player,” she said. “That’s my goal, to be a respected player.”

Although Polhert missed the Highlanders’ final eight games--a third of the season--she did not disappoint while she was on the field. Polhert batted .415 with two home runs. Despite the missed games, she still led the team with 17 hits, eight runs batted in and eight runs.

The highlight of her shortened senior season came in a game against Thousand Oaks.

Thousand Oaks ace Jessie Davenport was perfect through 6 2/3 innings. Davenport had retired the first 20 batters. But, the 21st batter who stepped to the plate was a spoiler.

“That inning I went up to my team and said, ‘This girl is not going to get a perfect game off us. She’s not any better than us,’ ” Polhert recalled. “I just stepped up to the plate and, boom, I took her downtown.”

Polhert tripled off Davenport, but it was all in vain because Royal never scored and Thousand Oaks won, 2-0. It was a personal victory for Polhert, however.

“I can pretty much do anything if I put my mind to it,” she said.

Polhert’s aggressive style of play--not to mention her sharp tongue--will not help her win any popularity contests on the field.

“I’m pretty much hated around my league,” she said. “I’m aggressive and I talk a lot.”

When Royal catcher Susan Torst throws out a runner attempting to steal, Polhert is the first to offer her condolences to the runner with a booming, “See ya.”

“I love to do it,” she said. “They know that I’m there.

“This past year I’ve really gotten an attitude. Maybe all seniors get that way. I don’t know, but this year I’ve got this go-get-’em attitude.”