Alyssa Tiumalu comes back swinging after multiple injuries

The sunlight strained Alyssa Tiumalu’s eyes more than ever.

With recent concussions weighing on her brain, she was sensitive to being outside in the bright California sun. When she went inside to read for class, she had a hard time staying focused. She was wrought with frequent headaches and nagging pains. She wasn’t herself.

“It’s really hard to explain unless you had it,” Tiumalu said of her situation. “(I was) attempting to do school even though I couldn’t.”

Looking at it now, the senior outfielder and first baseman admits that she has a hard time remembering it all. After suffering two concussions on the softball field in the span of two months, she was just trying to gather her bearings again. Those concussions had increased Tiumalu’s lifetime concussion total to three – all of which were incurred during her junior year.

It appeared to be “three strikes and you’re out,” for Tiumalu, with the third concussion possibly forcing her into medical retirement.

“I mean, having three (concussions), already I have higher risk of getting a concussion,” Tiumalu said. “I was kinda like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I want to (come back.)’”

Before Tiumalu considered medical retirement, she looked back at her career. Even though her mind wasn’t at full strength, she still remembered how far she had come as a UCLA softball player. She remembered how much her teammates meant to her. She remembered how many injuries she had already overcome.

Familiar Territory

Tiumalu uses one word to describe her UCLA softball career: adversity. But her coach elaborates on that description.

“I would describe (Tiumalu) as someone who I believe is gonna kick butt in the real world, after everything that she has experienced here,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “One thing that is very certain with her is she never quits.”

Tiumalu’s three concussions during her junior year were merely the latest additions to a career plagued by injuries.

In her freshman season, she battled through incessant shoulder pain to make the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. But a torn ACL in the regional round of the NCAA tournament forced her to miss the final few games of the season.

After her freshman season, Tiumalu had surgeries on both her ACL and her labrum. Even though Tiumalu entered her sophomore year with pain in both her upper and lower body, she fought through it and played as often as she could.

“(I) did rehab my whole sophomore year, but I still played, ‘cause I had to for the team,” Tiumalu said.

Following an injury-riddled sophomore season, Tiumalu finally was feeling back at full strength by the start of her junior year. But then, the concussions came, and they came in bunches.

After Tiumalu’s third concussion, even her teammates’ heads were spinning.

“(The ball) hit her really hard,” said sophomore catcher Brittany Moeai. “That was just one that really kind of freaked me out.”

Tiumalu visited doctors, psychologists and neuropsychologists after the season seeking medical evaluation and treatment. They strongly advised Tiumalu to move away from catcher – her natural position – if she wished to continue her softball career.

“She could have quit. … Nobody would have doubted it, because (of) the risk and the injury,” Inouye-Perez said. “I just wanted her … to get back in a place where she felt normal, felt good, felt healthy.”

Tiumalu rested and relaxed with her friends and family over the summer, giving herself the time she needed to regain her mental balance.

By the time school started in the fall, Tiumalu made a decision.

The Road Back

In September, Inouye-Perez met with Tiumalu, and she saw the player that she was familiar with.

“After summer, she looked better. But you know still there was a conservative approach,” Inouye-Perez said.

Tiumalu told Inouye-Perez that she wanted to try to come back and finish what she started at UCLA.

“Ultimately I wanted to finish out my last season for my family, for myself, for my teammates, for my coaches,” Tiumalu said.

The road back wouldn’t be easy. Tiumalu couldn’t practice with her teammates, hit in a batting cage or even play catch until she was medically cleared. On top of that, she switched away from the catcher position she had been playing her entire life.

Despite moving to the outfield, Tiumalu used her catching abilities whenever she could.

In one fall scrimmage, UCLA was leading Long Beach State by one run. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Long Beach State had the bases loaded with one out. Tiumalu noticed something, and reported to Inouye-Perez.

“(Tiumalu) tapped me and said, ‘Coach, the girl at third base has a really big lead,’” Inouye-Perez said. “I turned and looked at her, … and then I called the pitch-out, we picked the girl at third off.”

While Tiumalu was making keen observations from the dugout, she was also mentoring the team’s new starting catchers. She helped the younger Moeai mature as a leader on the field, and assisted junior Stephany LaRosa as she moved from shortstop to catcher.

“She’s helped me a lot you know coming back just kind of giving me tips here and there,” LaRosa said. “Her support, it’s greatly needed for this team.”

By December, Tiumalu was medically cleared to practice, with the season just one month away. Even though she had limited practice time, Inouye-Perez started Tiumalu in the Bruins’ first game of the season in Honolulu, Hawaii.

“The most rewarding part was seeing her in that opening weekend just play,” Inouye-Perez said.

When Tiumalu came back on the field, it was like she never left. She finished as the most valuable player in the season-opening tournament, leading UCLA to five straight wins to start the season.

Almost three months later, Tiumalu has played in 45 of the Bruins’ 48 games and started in 40. With UCLA ranked No. 2 in the nation, it appears as if Tiumalu’s ultimate dream of going to Oklahoma City and winning a College World Series may finally be realized.

Whether the Bruins reach the championship or not, Tiumalu is just thankful to be playing with her teammates.

“I’m really lucky that I’m still able to play, and I’m really lucky of who I play with every day,” Tiumalu said. “I’m really lucky that I get to live out my dream every since I was a little girl – playing softball and being here.”