'I'm just extremely grateful': Halle Klaiber's knee injury rekindled her love for softball

Badin's Halle Klaiber isn't taking her senior softball season for granted.

While sliding into second base in her travel team's final game of the season in October 2023, she tore the root of the meniscus in her left knee. The injury required surgery since that area of the cartilaginous pad receives minimal blood flow. She assumed her high school career was over when she was given a six month timeline for recovery.

A number of factors led to Klaiber attacking her rehab to give herself a chance to play this year. She is the only senior on the team and wanted to set the example for her teammates, especially freshmen Phebe Kiefer and Tristin Lewis, who pitched in her absence. She wants to play at the next level and realized that missing her final season would only damage those chances.

But most importantly, the injury helped her discover a love for the game that she had previously struggled to identify.

"Being told that I wasn't going to play my senior season was the bigger motivator for me. So being out here, I'm just extremely grateful to be even playing, win or lose," Klaiber said.

Klaiber had 'tunnel vision' during rehab

Klaiber comes from an athletic family. Her father, Nate, played football at Miami University. Her brother, Seth, has played baseball at Xavier, Stetson and Lynn University in Florida. She pulled from that gene pool as she "worked (her) butt off" in physical therapy, determined to return to the diamond.

"I just realized my timeline will not be the same as everyone else's because I'm not like everyone else," Klaiber said.

She was cleared to return to play exactly one month early, making her season debut on March 30 against Roger Bacon.

"I had tunnel vision for five months just looking to get back out here," Klaiber said.

Head coach Greg Stitzel noticed the immediate impact of her skills on the field and her leadership in the dugout. The Rams started the season 0-3 but have since gone 12-3, including a perfect 10-0 mark in Greater Catholic League-Coed play to win back-to-back titles.

Badin may have won the GCL-C without Klaiber on the field, but her presence played a major role in not losing a league contest. She picked up all 10 wins, striking out 10 or more batters in four of those games and allowing more than one run on only three occasions.

"It was a big impact, I mean, it brought everybody up knowing we were going to have her back," Stitzel said.

Stitzel said that in his 25 years of coaching, he has never seen an athlete so determined to get back on the field. Throughout her rehab, Klaiber consistently showed up to workouts, leaning on her crutches or sitting on a bucket while offering coaching tips to her teammates. She only missed a few practices to attend physical therapy. She made a habit of going to rehab before school so she wouldn't be counted as absent; an outstanding number of absences would have precluded her from playing softball at all.

"She was just absolutely phenomenal for what she was able to do during that time frame with these young players," Stitzel said.

For the love of the game

Stitzel first noticed Klaiber when she played for the Junior Rams in grade school. He wanted to see her develop as a pitcher but never got the chance after the 2020 season was canceled.

When she didn't show up for the team's fall meeting as a freshman, he was worried that she wasn't even attending Badin. Stitzel called her mom, Amy, who confirmed that she was at Badin but wasn't interested in playing softball. Reluctant to let Klaiber slip through the cracks, he asked Amy to simply bring her to an open field practice.

"I see a van pull up and I wondered who it was like, 'Who is that?' Finally, here comes Halle, and she's kind of shy and everything. She comes out on the field and her mom says, 'I don't know if she's going to do it.' She came out and got in with the girls and she kind of started going and then everything kept building and building and rolling to where it is now," Stitzel said.

Klaiber initially struggled with her control. She walked 84 batters each in her sophomore and junior seasons. Through 14 games this year, she has walked only 33 and has a career-best 2.29 ERA. She is at peace in the circle, where she is confident in her ability to blow hitters away with a fastball that recently touched 66 miles per hour.

"I definitely like to stare down people when they come up to the plate. I have a very much 'Hit it if you can' attitude,'" Klaiber said.

While some teams use wristbands to call pitches, Stitzel prefers to relay signs through the catcher. It shows how much the coaching staff trusts her to throw strikes or induce weak contact when they need it most.

At the plate, she has become a more disciplined hitter. An 0-for-6 start to the season didn't deter Klaiber as she now has a .523 batting average. She recently hit her first out-of-the-park home run against Mercy McAuley, a three-run shot.

"I'd say with this injury, I'm definitely grateful that it happened because I think it was like God talking to me, because before this injury, I was questioning if I even like softball," Klaiber said.

With the GCL-C title out of the way, the Rams turn their attention to winning a third sectional championship in four years, and their first district championship since 2017.

While Klaiber has a newfound appreciation for the sport, her teammates and coaches couldn't be happier that she made it back to the diamond.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Badin softball back to winning ways behind a rejuvenated Halle Klaiber