Mia Galella has been a standout player that we at Line Drive Softball have tracked and been high on for several years.

She was ranked by us in the Top 25 of the 2025 Hot 100 at one point and looked to have a tremendous softball career playing for the Boston College Eagles next spring as a true freshman.

However, those plans have been put on hold, temporarily at least, due to a tough injury she suffered 18 months ago—a torn UCL on the insider of her right elbow.

In April of this year, Mia shared how things were going in a player blog titled One Day Forward and today she shares where she is on the road to recovery…

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I have had an extremely difficult year and a half since my surgery back in June of 2024 due to a torn UCL of my throwing arm.

I ended up missing my summer due to that and I was doing everything right with my recovery while putting extra in so much work to increase my speed and explosiveness while doing lower half strength training during that time with my strength and conditioning coach Dave Johns at Athletic Republic.

I could not be more thankful to him for helping me reach certain milestones as I continued to get stronger and faster.

It was frustrating, however, since I was limited and could not do any heavy lifting since my goal was to break my personal record of a 485 -pound deadlift by this past fall but obviously I couldn’t due to my injury.

Then came this past school ball season in high school where I was still having pain.

I was named State Player of the Year in Pennsylvania for my school classification, and I took great pride in that since I was unable to be at 100 percent by that time. I thought maybe I was just lagging behind with my recovery, but something just didn’t feel right as I would have numbness and feel weak when I would grip something.

This past summer rolled around and I was ready to join my Virginia Glory team in Colorado when I ended up unable to move my arm after just cutting grass the day before I was supposed to be leaving for the Sparkler.

I made the decision to bag that trip on the highway while my dad and I were on our way to the airport since I had no range of motion and could not move my arm due to the amount of elbow pain I was having.

I knew something was obviously wrong so my dad contacted my surgeon, Dr. Christopher Ahamad, who is also the New York Yankees team surgeon, and Dr. Ahmad shut me down for the remainder of the summer and ordered an MRI after I saw him.

He had me begin physical therapy again and I had the MRI done at home before I had my follow-up visit with Dr. Ahmad as we traveled two hours to New York for that visit but we were told that the MRI could not be read due to the low quality.

That was right before I was leaving for Boston College and the timing couldn’t be worse but Dr. Ahmad ordered another MRI to be done in New York.

However, that was during the time I was leaving for school so that procedure to be put on hold and I was hoping that when I get to school, things would get better with my arm.

I thought maybe I would be able to compete this past fall since the pain had subsided after weeks of rest but once I began to throw and the volume ramped up, the pain returned and was even worse.

The school doctor examined me and prescribed another MRI. I had that done in Boston, and the report had some grey area, so I was then referred to Dr. Matthew Liebman who is a specialist. He prescribed another MRI at a different location along with having me go for an EMG in October.

Finally, I have found out why I have been having pain so long after my UCL surgery as the EMG showed that I have an entrapped ulnar nerve—which could happen due to an overabundance of scar tissue from the surgery I had.

My left palm is actually a little bigger than my right one due to the muscular atrophy and my grip strength is two times more in my non-dominant hand, but Dr. Ahmad assured me that once I have the nerve transposition surgery which is schedule on New Year’s Eve, the pain from the entrapment should be almost immediate.

I cannot wait to get on the road to recovery so I will be able to lift heavy weights again with my upper half, swing the bat and throw with velocity. All that seems like it was so long ago, but I am determined to get back on the field and be able to play at 100 percent. 

This is my story that I want to share for those players who sustain an injury and must deal with adversity.

You need to have the mindset of being committed to getting back to 100 percent health which will then allow you to get back to getting game ready.

Coach “B” (Beth Krysiak) is my head coach at Boston College and I love her.

She has been so supportive of my situation with my injury which makes it so much easier for me since it has been very frustrating not being able to play with my Boston College teammates this past fall season.

I love every single one of my teammates and can’t wait to be able to share the field with them soon.

LET’S GO EAGS!!!