Pitchers can't mask the need for a little more protection

Some three years later, Cassie Goggin's memory of the events of June 20, 2007, is still fresh. Thoughts of the repercussions no doubt remain unsettling.

Pitching for the Glen Ellyn Phillies travel team following her freshman year at Glenbard West, Goggin was struck by a line drive just beneath the nose. The impact broke her jaw, pushing back eight front teeth.

Goggin was confined to a liquid diet for a month and a half. She endured seven root canals and had to get braces for a second time.

"Thankfully I got to save all my teeth," Goggin said.

Goggin, now a senior who will play field hockey next year at Bucknell, knew she wanted to play softball again. The solution was to wear a protective mask.

Through teammate Kelly May, who broke her nose on a line drive come-backer, Goggin was connected to the Game Face safety mask. The next season she was back on the mound pitching in a spring break game against Wheaton North.

Emotionally drained, yet safe.

"I wanted to pitch again," Goggin said, "I thought I might as well wear the mask. It's not worth getting hit again."

Goggin is in the minority, those softball pitchers who wear protective masks. Many who do were injured by line drives.

Others, like former Illiana Christian ace Jocelyn Oppenhuis, had near-accidents. New Trier standout Kelsey Lee wore a mask her freshman and sophomore seasons, encouraged to do so by her youth program.

A byproduct of the pitching rubber being moved back to 43 feet this spring was thought to be that reaction time for pitchers would increase.

But with more balls put in play - in some cases by "hot" composite bats - is the pitching circle as safe?

"The bats are getting a lot better," West Chicago coach Emily Johnson said, "and girls are taught to hit the ball up the middle. Three feet helps a little bit, but it's not enough."

Johnson's JV pitcher Tarah Rayos, who was hit in the face when she was 10, wears a safety mask. Johnson herself did not wear one as a pitcher at Wheaton Warrenville South in the 1990s, but with the changes in the game she's a strong advocate of them now.

In fact Johnson plans to purchase five masks for the West Chicago program. She will encourage her pitchers and her third basemen to wear them in practice.

"It's an unnecessary risk that the girls are taking, not wearing them," Johnson said. "When I played the girls weren't as good, batters not as strong and pitches weren't as fast. A ball hits a girl in the face now, that's something they're going to have to live with for the rest of their lives."

A rash of bad shots to the face over a four-week period last spring in the south suburbs spurred some suggestions to the IHSA that safety masks be mandated.

Evergreen Park sophomore Jayme Wazio, for one, suffered broken bones in her nasal activity and a concussion taking a line drive.

But it is the National Federation of High School Associations, not the IHSA, that would have to mandate safety masks. And in order to do so, the specific mask would need to be certified by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment.

At this point, said IHSA Assistant Executive Director Matt Troha, no safety masks have been certified.

"You can't mandate a mask," Troha said, "then not have a mask certified. It becomes a legal issue.

"Coaches in our advisory committee are very much against (mandating masks). Pitchers are allowed to wear them, can wear them if they want, but they didn't want it to be mandatory for whatever reason. Right now there is not much support."

Goggin felt uncomfortable wearing the mask at first but now is completely acclimated. Her vision isn't impaired. She compares it to wearing a mask on a helmet. It only cost her about $40 and now can be purchased for $29.99.

"I could pitch without the mask," she said, "but I wouldn't feel as comfortable."

Johnson doesn't see the light equipment impeding performance, either. She plans to wear a safety mask this summer when she pitches for a 19-and-older team.

"As silly as I might look, I don't have the same reflexes that I used to," Johnson said. "If I'm wearing a mask I'm being a role model to my kids."

Goggin stops short of saying she believes that safety masks should be required.

She just can't see why a girl wouldn't wear one.

"It is smart," she said, "and I highly recommend wearing one. I don't want anyone to go through the pain I did."