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Danielle Diaz Jaime Tino

Softball Athletic Communications

Danielle Diaz, Jaime Tino Poised for Comeback Seasons

As the Stetson softball team seeks a big turnaround in 2020, two Hatters in particular are looking forward to having comeback seasons of their own.
 
Danielle Diaz, a third baseman from Santa Paula, Calif., and Jaime Tino, a pitcher from Royal Palm Beach, Fla., may have grown up thousands of miles apart, but the two juniors, friends, and roommates have traveled a similar road over the past year.
 
It was April 6, 2019 - during Game 1 of a doubleheader at Liberty - when Diaz attempted to avoid a tag while running from first to second on a ground ball.  
 
"It was a natural reaction to try and dodge the tag," Diaz said.  "I feel like I have done it a million times, but just that one time, I stepped a certain way and I heard my knee pop.  I just knew right away that it was more than a little tweak.  Usually I can get right up and be good to go, but I literally could not get up."
 
The injury halted what had become a breakout season for Diaz.  The Hatter sophomore was feeling confident at the plate as her .356 average could attest to, and she was vacuuming up everything hit her way over at third base.
 
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Diaz had a very positive outlook on the situation.
 
"I was obviously a little bummed out, but I think everything happens for a reason," she said.  "Seeing how far I have come now, I was definitely looking forward to this point.  I was already looking toward the future."
 
A few weeks after the injury, Diaz had surgery to repair the knee, and a few weeks after that, she was back home in California for summer break and to start her rehab.  She says she had a fantastic physical therapist who had played college basketball and experienced three ACL tears of her own.  
 
"She knew the process because she had been through it, and she pushed me really hard," Diaz said.  "I was exhausted after every session, every day.  I could feel I was on my way back."
 
Diaz said she had to learn how to walk again, how to handle steps, and later some light jumping, all the while focusing on moving her body and knee together.  It was a mentally and physically strenuous process.
 
When she returned to campus in the fall, she started jogging, and then hitting with her upper body only.  She then graduated into running, full body hitting and throwing, but again with constant attention to the movements of her body.  
 
"I think the last thing I did was running bases and turning.  It was more like quick turns and things like that, but I still wasn't fully comfortable with it yet.  I was still thinking that it felt weird. After fall season when we were just hitting out here, I became much more comfortable."
 
During preseason practice, Diaz has been looking like her old self plate.  She is once again in a comfort zone where she can just go out and focus on playing.
 
"Now I'm definitely ready to go.  There a some points, maybe once every couple of practices, where I say that feels weird, but overall I don't even think about it anymore. I just go."
 
For Tino, it wasn't a particular moment that halted her sophomore season, but rather a gradual progression of events.  
 
The right-handed pitcher started feeling pain in her right shoulder in the fall of 2018, but the affliction grew worse once the 2019 season got underway.  No matter how much treatment she received, the pain would always be there when she was pitching.  Tino would go home from practice and not be able to lift her arm past shoulder height, and pitching would sometimes cause her fingers to go numb from a pinched nerve.
 
"Once we got kind of halfway through season, it kind of got to the point where I was trying my best, but it hurt really, really bad trying to pitch.  It was even hard to just pick up my arm."
 
Needless to say, her effectiveness in the circle was hampered.  She couldn't rotate her arm in the way needed to spin the ball, so nearly every pitch was on the inside of the plate.  It didn't take long for opposing hitters to figure out what was coming.
 
"Around the third inning I would already be gassed," Tino said.  "I would feel like I already threw about 14 innings, and I would come in and (athletic trainer) Carrie would be trying to massage my arm because it hurt."
 
As the physical limitations set in, so did the mental frustration.
 
"I didn't want to believe that something was wrong," Tino said.  "I kept trying to deny it.  I had never had anything wrong with my arm before."
 
On April 6 - in Game 2 of that same doubleheader at Liberty - Tino made what ended up being her final appearance of the season.  It was time to shut it down.
 
After visiting with doctors over the summer, Tino learned that a callus had built up on her coracoid bone, and that every time she went through a pitching motion her pectoral muscle would swell and get stuck on that bone.  So she underwent surgery to repair the muscle and shave the bone.
 
Tino had to wear a sling for a few weeks after surgery but kept in shape by riding an exercise bike and using an elliptical with her just legs and her left arm.  On her first day back to campus in August, she was able to remove the sling and start focusing on her rehab.
 
"The whole training staff really helped me a lot and kept me confident because there were a lot of days where didn't think I could do it," Tino said.  "They said everything was normal and happening the way it was supposed to."
 
Tino began a throwing program in December and spent a lot of time throwing to her dad in her backyard. However, she had to start from short distances before gradually working her way up.
 
"It was so frustrating because I would turn around and the mound would be right there but I couldn't throw from it," Tino said.  "It definitely worked because when I got to throw full (43 feet), there was no pain."
 
With the physical pain gone, there was still the mental aspect to overcome.  It was time to start facing live hitters in practice.
 
"At first I was scared to throw the curve ball and drop ball on the outside corner because it hurt so bad before surgery," Tino said.  "It took me quite a while to start getting those pitches back.  I was nervous that I was going to re-hurt my arm, but since I've been back here, coach Robinson has really been helping me and pushing me. Just rip the band-aid off and let it happen. One day I did, and now I don't even think about it anymore.  It's such a good feeling."
 
Tino finds herself in a new role on this year's pitching staff. After two seasons of having upperclass pitchers ahead of her, Tino is now the staff veteran. She is joined by sophomore Canaan Burnett, as well as freshmen Lauren Klein and Chloe Temples.
 
"I definitely feel like I have a role in teaching the freshmen how things go and what our traditions are, and trying to tell them that it's so much more different than travel and high school ball at this level.  When I was in their shoes my freshman year, I was thinking this is easy and I've done this my whole life, and when I came out my first game, it was like a smack in the mouth. It was very different. So I try to tell them we need to focus in and all work together, because you can't do it by yourselves. The way we're going to succeed this year is by all of us working together as a staff, not as individuals."
 
Tino welcomes the feedback she receives from the other pitchers, who have helped her with some specific pitches and with her overall confidence. 
 
The Hatters are three days away from beginning their 2020 season at the Stetson Lead-Off Classic.  The team will face Boston University and George Mason on Friday at 3 and 5 p.m. to get the campaign started. With the season quickly approaching, how do Diaz and Tino think they will feel in their first games back?
 
"I think I'll be okay," Diaz said.  "I'll obviously have some nerves just because it's the first game, but I feel everyone is like that.  I'm definitely ready for it."
 
"It's going to be really, really exciting," Tino said.  "We have a lot of really good chemistry on this team, and every single girl wants to start.  Nobody wants to make it easy on anybody, which I think is so great.  We push each other because we're all competing for the same thing. We're all competing for our positions, but at the same time we all want the one title - we all want to win. At the end of the day, that's what is really important to us."

Season tickets, 5-game mini plans and single-game tickets are on sale now and be purchased online (GoHatters.com/tix) or by calling the Hatter ticket office at 386-738-HATS.

Fans can follow the Hatters all season long on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For immediate updates on news and scores, fans can sign up for the HatCheck text messaging service.
 
Coming Thursday: 5 Things to Know About Stetson Softball

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.

 
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Players Mentioned

Canaan Burnett

#13 Canaan Burnett

RHP
5' 3"
Sophomore
R/R
Danielle Diaz

#19 Danielle Diaz

IF/OF
5' 1"
Junior
L/R
Jaime Tino

#4 Jaime Tino

RHP
5' 9"
Junior
R/R
Lauren Klein

#9 Lauren Klein

RHP
5' 7"
Freshman
R/R
Chloe Temples

#7 Chloe Temples

LHP/OF
5' 7"
Freshman
L/L

Players Mentioned

Canaan Burnett

#13 Canaan Burnett

5' 3"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
Danielle Diaz

#19 Danielle Diaz

5' 1"
Junior
L/R
IF/OF
Jaime Tino

#4 Jaime Tino

5' 9"
Junior
R/R
RHP
Lauren Klein

#9 Lauren Klein

5' 7"
Freshman
R/R
RHP
Chloe Temples

#7 Chloe Temples

5' 7"
Freshman
L/L
LHP/OF