It's not a very merry Christmas this year for CL South's Hardie
This was not on Kaitlin Hardie's Christmas list.
Hardie, Crystal Lake South's junior starting point guard in girls basketball and one of the area's top softball players, will be out of action for approximately 6 months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Dec. 14 against Huntley.
"She was defending (Katie) Bergquist and tried to step around a screen and planted her foot wrong," said Mark Hardie, Kaitlin's father and CL South's assistant softball coach.
In addition to the ACL tear Hardie suffered a mild tear of the MCL that will not require surgery. Mark Hardie said a mid-January surgery is planned for the ACL.
In addition to taking over the point guard duties for the Gators on the basketball court this winter Hardie, who is a triplet with sisters Megan and Sammie, is a two-time Daily Herald All-Area shortstop who is being recruited by Division I and II schools, including Butler and Winona State. She hit .477 last season as a sophomore, slugging out 4 home runs, 9 triples, 6 doubles and driving in 36 runs. She scored 33 runs, had a .520 on-base percentage, a .802 slugging percentage and was 11-for-11 stealing bases.
"On so many levels we're upset," said Mark Hardie. "As parents were upset and as a coach I'm upset. From the South angle, it not only affects the basketball team but I thought the softball team had a chance to win another regional. We still might but now we'll have to start the season with an inexperienced shortstop.
"From the recruiting angle we can just hope that the two years of solid play she's got behind her mean something."
Hardie will be out close to 6 months but hopes to come back toward the end of the summer travel ball season. She and her sisters play for the Northern Illinois Lightning 18U team.
"It's been a hard week," Kaitlin Hardie said Saturday night, about 24 hours after learning it was in fact an ACL tear. "I didn't hear a pop when it happened so my first thought wasn't that I tore my ACL. I though it was just a bad twist.
"My parents, my sisters and my teammates have been there for me and that's helped a lot."
Gators girls basketball coach Kyle McCaughan was devastated by the news as well.
"It's a big blow for both teams," he said. "She was coming around for us and taking that leadership role at the point and being our defensive stopper. And she's one of the best softball players in the area."
McCaughan sees a stronger Hardie returning from the injury.
"Knowing the kind of kid she is she'll push herself to get better and better," he said. "She'll come back stronger than ever. It's sickening but unfortunately these things happen."
Hardie said she's already started rehab and has a goal of being able to come back before the end of the summer season.
"I'm hoping in the end I'll be stronger than I was, both mentally and physically," she said.
On a somewhat bizarre side note, Kaitlin's sister Sammie has just recently been cleared to participate in winter softball workouts. She's gone through both an ACL surgery and a severe ankle injury. That leaves sister Megan the healthy one.
"We told Megan we're going to put her in bubble wrap so she doesn't get hurt," said Kaitlin with a laugh.
Well, at least there was a laugh.