Last year (2025) was a very up and down one for Florida State freshman softball player Danika Spinogatti.

As a high school senior, she was named as a 1^st Team Line Drive High School All-American but then suffered a knee injury heading into the holidays that will force her out for this year.

You can read about it in the article Danika wrote for us last month titled In Her Own Write Danika Spinogatti… From Youth Softball to Florida State Freshman, Here’s How She Made It Happen (& Now Faces the Biggest Challenge of Her Playing Career) December 16, 2025  

In today’s blog, she talks about where she’s at in her injury rehab and how she’s going to stay involved with her Seminoles team…

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Getting Started on Recovery: Putting Her “Best Foot Forward”

This January brings a much different perspective on softball to me than ever before.

Being over six weeks into my ACL rehab, I find myself in the odd position of not having to prepare mentally and physically for the upcoming season.

Never before have I been faced with the scenario of missing an entire season from the start. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse, but all I can do is wake up each day and put my “best foot” forward (pun intended, lol!).

I had successful ACL surgery right before Thanksgiving and two days later came home for Thanksgiving break from Florida State.

My first Physical Therapy appointments were at a local Advent Health Sports Rehab Clinic. The pain of forcing my knee to move again was real and tears streamed down my face as I struggled to move my knee again.

I knew the journey was long but getting started was the hardest part! 

With each of those first few sessions, I seemed to move better and better. This was super encouraging as I was able to experience the warming feeling of “making progress.”

I had to go back to school for 10 days and then the Winter Break came so it was back home again for me. Christmas was on the road this year and that meant a week in Michigan with my extended family.

One bonus to being in a leg brace was that I got pushed in a wheelchair through the airport and my family and I were allowed to board the plane first (if you fly Southwest Airlines, you know how important that is!).

The holidays were fun, but my parents were annoying as they constantly were asking if I did my exercises or iced my knee—but I guess any supportive parent would do the same, right?

Still doesn’t mean it’s not annoying! LOL!

So with the Winter Break winding down, I now had to prepare for going back to school and adjusting to a whole new schedule again.

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Making Adjustments & Getting Used to the New (Temporary) Reality

My dad had to lower the bed in my dorm room since it wasn’t safe for my knee to be climbing up and down like that. Protocol for “injured athletes” at FSU is that we get golf cart service to and from our classes so that is super helpful.

It certainly is NOT fun trying to hobble around campus on crutches or in a full leg brace. My personal scooter was off-limits too, obviously, so I was dependent on others for the time being. 

The training staff at FSU is top notch (as are the facilities) so I knew I was in the best hands possible. Daily rehab is what is best for an athlete and to be able to be constantly monitored by them means you can really see some results.

The range of motion in my knee was getting better and better each week and, hearing how impressed the trainers were with that was a good feeling, but that doesn’t mean things get easier because as soon as you reach a goal then it’s on to the next one.

Seeing how fast your leg muscles atrophy from not using them is upsetting but it’s all part of the process. I hear that muscle memory is real so I’m looking forward to that, but it still is odd seeing one leg bigger than the other. 

Being injured at Florida State doesn’t mean I don’t participate in practice. I am still part of the team and am expected to train everyday still. My workouts are just tailored to my rehab and I concentrate on other areas of the body while slowly re-building my right leg muscles.

Daily practice is also something that I take part in, too. I participate as much as my leg allows but keeping in mind that I can only push it so far. 

So here we are over six weeks post-surgery and I think I have adjusted pretty well. I am mentally preparing myself for the upcoming season and focusing on how I can contribute to the team from the sidelines.

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Watching From the Dugout… & Preparing to Play Again

I have never seen the game from the dugout before so this will be a new experience for me, but it also will allow me to view the game from a coach’s perspective. The game isn’t different at this level, it just moves a lot faster, but your margin of error is even thinner.

Learning to adapt to new teammates and adjust to new coaches is what every freshman in the country faces so I’m no different…and I’m soaking it all in!

I just got cleared to walk without my leg brace full time so that was surprising and scary but if that is what I am being told to do by the professionals then I have to trust in them.

I appreciate the support of all my family, friends and peers and writing these articles for Line Drive helps me stay connected to the softball community.

It never easy facing the long road of recovery from an injury but if you are reading this and you are rehabbing from an injury, just know you are not alone!

Feel free to contact me if you have any in-depth questions about what rehabbing is like at the next level or what adjusting to college as a softball player is like… I’m happy to help! 

— Danika Spinogatti/Florida State University 

Instagram/TikTok: Danika.Spinogatti