The game story of the CIF playoff game detailed below was originally posted on June 7, 2015.

This is Brentt Eads of Line Drive Softball.

Yesterday (Wednesday, August 13, 2025), we reported on Game 1 of The World Games being played in Chengdu, China where Team USA got off to a strong start in the event with a 4-0 win over Chinese Taipei.

In that game, Rachel Garcia pitched four hitless innings while striking out four opposing hitters and it’s no exaggeration to say that she’s one of the very elite pitchers in the word.

🇺🇸Rachel Garcia shines, leads USA to first competition win 😤

The World Games#TWG2025 #WomensSoftball pic.twitter.com/Hwo0kvZzKo

— WBSC ⚾🥎 (@WBSC) August 13, 2025

For all that Rachel Garcia has achieved in her storied softball career, both in college at UCLA and internationally, it may be a surprise to many that at one point in her career there were rumors that Rachel might not ever be able to pitch again.

I was there on the night that the then high school senior was on the top of her game as she was on the verge of winning a high school championship for her Highland High team out of Palmdale, California.

It was June 6, 2015, at Manning Stadium in Bill Barber Park, Irvine, California and Rachel and her team were in a battle with Torrance High for the CIF Southern Section Div. IV title.

The future Bruin star was all but unhittable… the problem was, neither team could score a run.

The game went into the 12^th inning and Rachel had struck out 24 batters — yes, two dozen opposing hitters! — when she threw a pitch and collapsed to the ground as the batter singled with a runner on second.

She had come down awkwardly on her left knee and the sharp pain made her collapse. Still, many didn’t see her fall as the potential game-winning runner was thrown out at the plate and the game continued into the 13^th inning.

All eyes were on the potential game-winning runner coming home in the 12th inning, but in the circle, Rachel had collapsed when her left knee planted awkwardly.

“Right when I landed on my knee, it hurt and I went down,” Rachel would tell me later. “It hurt for a second, but I was able to walk on it and everything seemed to be fine.”

She even led off the top of the 13^th with a single and ran down the first baseline looking no worse for wear.

“It didn’t hurt when I got the hit,” she said. “I didn’t feel any pain at all.”

*** Scroll down to read more about that fateful night, which was about to get scarier… all in front of her future UCLA coaches Kelly Inouye-Perez and Lisa Fernandez!