- April 25, 2024
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FPC's Julianna Savone throws a ball to first against Spruce Creek. Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's Ella Ferri hurls a pitch against the Hawks. Photo by Ray Boone
The Bulldogs' Julianna Savone scoops up a ball against the Hawks.Photo by Ray Boone
FPC's lead-off hitter, Jasmin Myer, wings at a pitch against Spruce Creek. Photo by Ray Boone
The Bulldogs’ Julianna Savone could only watch from the dugout, separated from the field she yearned to be on by a chain-linked fence and a broken bone in her right wrist, as her team struggled on the field.
In Flagler Palm Coast’s season-opener, Savone took an inside rise ball directly to the wrist. She played the rest of that game against Taylor on Feb. 15, even recording a hit in the very next inning, before she and the coaches realized it was broken.
“I liked my defense a lot more today. I know our defense has grown, but it’s still a struggle.”
FPC coach Mindi Scala-Sanders
She didn’t need surgery, but she had to sit out for six weeks. No throwing, no hitting. She watched her team lose all 10 of the games she missed.
“It was hard having to watch them,” Savone said. “I wanted to help, to hit, to make an awesome play, to save a game in some way.”
Finally, in the Bulldogs’ game against Spruce Creek on Friday, March 30, at Spruce Creek High School, Savone made her return to the field, starting at second base in the Bulldogs’ 10-0 loss to a hot-hitting Hawks team.
Savone’s return made the infield only partially complete, however. Two other infielders, second baseman Autumn Holmes and first baseman Breonna Walker, were sidelined after the season-opener. Holmes tore her meniscus and is set to return to the field soon. Walker is out for the season.
“We’ve been moving people around. Everyone’s been working really hard to fill in all those spots,” Savone said. “It’s been tough, but we’re trying to get through it.”
Still, with teammates still recovering and with a difficult season nearing its end, Savone is happy to be playing again. She has a new appreciation for the game now.
“It’s so different,” she said. “Having to watch your team play and sitting out for so long, it makes you love the game even more when you come back. You realize how much you missed it and how much you want to get out and play.”
