There’s definitely no quit in Aurora Central Catholic’s Grace Grunloh.
Its why the senior first baseman/utility player and three-sport standout has returned to the softball field less than eight months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in her right knee.
If she had stayed healthy, Grunloh would be finishing off a varsity career featuring four years of basketball and softball and three of volleyball. Tearing her ACL in late summer in AAU basketball cost her a senior season in two of those sports following her Aug. 13 surgery.
“As soon as the injury happened, I was thinking about my senior year,” Grunloh said. “First thing that came to my head was, ‘It’s gone. Even if the injury isn’t as bad as I think it is, I’m gonna be out for months.’
“It’s really meaningful for me to be back. When I heard the timeline for recovering was 6-9 months, I was gonna try to be back in six for the basketball playoffs but I made it in seven for softball.”
The Wisconsin-Stevens Point basketball recruit was seated in the ACC dugout Saturday following her team’s 3-2 GCAC White loss in 10 innings to visiting St. Ignatius, discussing her journey back.
In some respects, the 5-foot-8 Grunloh hasn’t missed a beat. Batting leadoff, she had two singles and drew a walk in four at-bats for the Chargers (0-8, 0-2), but her mobility isn’t what it once was or eventually will be again.
Senior pitcher Corina Maratea settled down after giving up two hits and two runs in the first inning for ACC, shutting down St. Ignatius (6-1, 1-0) until an outfield error allowed an unearned run.
Angelena Russo and Morgan Vaghy led off the fourth with singles for the Chargers and scored the tying runs on a throwing error.
“They’re staying in it and they’re fighting,” ACC co-coach Gabriela Drager said. “I know some of the scores may not look like it, but they are making adjustments every single game.
“There’s a lot of kinks we have to work through.”
Drager, a West Aurora graduate who played at Western Illinois, and co-coach Izzy Hernandez, an ACC alum who played at Carthage, joined the staff of new head coach Paul Netzel
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before the season.Netzel, who stepped down in the offseason from Oswego, has since stepped down from ACC due to health concerns.
“We’ve had a pretty long run of games in this last week and a half,” Drager said. “But once we get back to practice, I’m confident we can compete together. They’re working and they want it.”
That’s true of Grunloh, who caught Maratea last season when the Chargers went 23-10.
As a junior in basketball, Grunloh complemented being a strong 3-point shooter by working on drives to the basket. She earned all-conference honors.
“I’ve played travel basketball and softball since I was in third grade,” said Grunloh, whose two older brothers — Donovan, a senior, and Ben, a junior — play basketball in college at Rockford. “I think playing both helped me develop my overall athleticism.
“I was trying to steal the ball from another player and took a big step and my knee just buckled. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt — horrible.”
It happened at a tournament at McCormick Place on temporary rubber tile floors that were sticky.
Also recruited for softball by several schools and both sports by some, Grunloh confirmed she picked basketball because that sport “is my love.”
“At Stevens Point, the team is competitive,” Grunloh said. “They were like, ‘We’re gonna want you for basketball full-time.’”
Drager, meanwhile, descibred Grunloh as “an absolute athlete. She’s struggling with her knee. If fully recovered, we could put her anywhere.”
Grunloh winced when asked about the team’s struggles.
“It’s frustrating, but we’re starting to make adjustments,” she said. “This game was the best we’ve looked all season. By May and the playoffs, we’ll look a lot better.”