The injuries hurt. The injuries were frustrating. The injuries kept Hart High’s Brooke Marquez out of roughly 11 games this season.
A broken wrist and a broken thumb, however, couldn’t keep the rising junior from tearing into opposing pitching when she did get on the field or from an impressive postseason accolade off it.
Marquez, a Notre Dame recruit, has been named a FloSoftball second-team All-American for the second straight year after batting .480 in 75 at-bats with 15 extra-base hits and 19 RBIs.
“It’s really an honor,” the shortstop said. “I know I was injured for about 11 games this season, and it was really hard for me that I couldn’t help my team, but in the end, I wanted to do my best to get back on that list.”
In November 2016, Marquez dove for a ball while playing for her travel team, and her glove and wrist got bent back.
She had surgery a couple days before Thanksgiving, with four screws and a plate inserted into her left wrist.
She recovered in time for Hart’s spring season. But, in an official scrimmage, she hurt her right thumb during a relay from the outfield.
She played through it for a couple games, but an X-ray showed it was broken. Another surgery placed a pin in her hand.
After wearing a cast for four weeks and recovering, she returned on April 8 against North Torrance and went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. A week later she went 4-for-5 with two RBIs in a 14-13 win over Canyon.
It was a precursor to Hart’s offensive domination of Division 3 in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. The Indians made the finals for the first time since 2007, falling there to Murrieta Mesa, 3-1 in eight innings.
“Honestly, it was actually very fun,” Marquez said of her takeaway from the year. “It was very competitive, but we kept it lighthearted. Everyone wanted to win, and we had really good camaraderie.”
