Watching proves tough for St. Charles North's injured Bergren

Jake Bergren remembers the sound vividly.

It was a late July afternoon as Bergren stepped into the left-handed batter's box preparing for his first at-bat during St. Charles North's regional semifinal game against Prairie Ridge in the high school summer league tournament at St. Charles East.

"I swung all the way through it," Bergren recalled. "Unfortunately, the sound I heard wasn't the crack of the bat but the crack of the ball hitting my hand."

Considering the fact that Bergren likes to crowd the plate and is no stranger to getting hit by pitches - "I've been hit by pitches a lot," he said. "I've gotten hit two times in one inning before," - he knew that something was different this time.

After removing the batting glove from his left hand, Bergren soon realized his day was done.

"I knew I couldn't continue playing," the center fielder said. "The strange part was that it didn't hurt one bit. But I heard a click after the ball hit directly on my hand and it didn't look too good afterward."

Adding insult to injury, Bergren wasn't even awarded first base for his personal sacrifice.

"It was a foul ball," he said.

Later that week, Bergren underwent surgery to repair a fractured hand - the right part toward the end of his ring finger near the knuckle.

"The surgeon went through the top of my hand and inserted a plate along the top of the metacarpal," said Bergren. "He also inserted screws into the bone for alignment purposes."

Bergren also suffered a broken pinkie finger on the play and had several pins inserted.

While his summer baseball season came to a sudden halt after the play, Bergren also learned that he would be sidelined for an indefinite amount of time during the football season.

"It was unfortunate that it happened when it did," he said. "If it had happened in June, I'd probably be playing (football) by now. But it's just a little bump in the road."

Up until a few months ago, Bergren had stayed relatively healthy - notwithstanding a few aches and pains.

"I think the second worst injury I've had was a third-degree strain of my hip flexor tendon playing paintball when I was in middle school," said Bergren. "I also broke my nose when I was five years old."

Instead of barking out signals at the line of scrimmage and throwing touchdown passes, the North Stars' quarterback spent the first three games of his senior season watching in street clothes from the sidelines.

That's not an easy thing to digest, especially considering that Bergren tossed a school-record 14 touchdown passes last season as the North Stars made their eighth consecutive state playoff appearance and doubled their previous postseason victory total by reaching the Class 7A quarterfinals.

"It's tough watching games from the sidelines, but it was especially tough the other night because it was our home opener," said Bergren. "It was not fun at all."

Rather than sulking, Bergren has remained positive throughout, trying to do what he can to help new quarterback Matt Shiltz.

"He's watching what is going on," said St. Charles North coach Mark Gould. "He's in there talking to kids, trying to give them helpful hints."

"I'm just trying to do anything to be involved," said Bergren.

But you can only do so much when you're not allowed to wear shoulder pads.

"No doubt it has been very tough on him," said Gould.

The North Stars' 1-2 start hasn't made things any easier.

"The hardest part is thinking I could somehow be making a difference one way or another," said Bergren, who has been able to maintain his conditioning by running.

"I've kept my legs up to speed," he said, "but truthfully I have no idea how I'll feel throwing until I have a ball in my hands."

That day could come as soon as Week 4 when the North Stars host Streamwood on Friday night in their Upstate Eight Conference River Division debut.

The next question remains: what position will Bergren be playing when he returns to the field?

"We'll see how my hand feels the next week or two," said Bergren. "I may be playing somewhere else, but I'll be on the field."

The next sound Bergren hears may be a more pleasurable one - as the hitter instead of the hittee.

"I've been begging the coaches to play me at defense since my freshman year," said Bergren, who was a safety/quarterback in middle school.

Has Bergren learned anything during his time off the field?

"As a player dealing with an injury, I can give some insight on how it is," said Bergren. "But watching and not being able to play is a whole another beast."