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Jada Villegas’ relationship with softball has not always gone smoothly. There has been pain, heartache and a couple of forced separations.
Clearly, though, these two were made for each other.
These days, Villegas is back where she belongs, in the middle of the pitcher’s circle and at the top of her game. An extraordinarily polished sophomore ace, she is leading Cajon High in the Citrus Belt League race that may be one of the best three-way battles in the state. This week, Cajon will face both of its top rivals, Beaumont and Yucaipa.
“Every game I’m out there, I just feel so lucky to still be healthy,” Villegas said.
Cajon sophomore softball pitcher Jada Villegas has emerged this season as one of the best high school pitchers in the Inland area and helped Cajon reemerge as a Citrus Belt League title contender in San Bernardino on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cajon sophomore softball pitcher Jada Villegas has emerged this season as one of the best high school pitchers in the Inland area and helped Cajon reemerge as a Citrus Belt League title contender in San Bernardino on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cajon sophomore softball pitcher Jada Villegas has emerged this season as one of the best high school pitchers in the Inland area and helped Cajon reemerge as a Citrus Belt League title contender in San Bernardino on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cajon sophomore softball pitcher Jada Villegas has emerged this season as one of the best high school pitchers in the Inland area and helped Cajon reemerge as a Citrus Belt League title contender in San Bernardino on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cajon sophomore softball pitcher Jada Villegas has emerged this season as one of the best high school pitchers in the Inland area and helped Cajon reemerge as a Citrus Belt League title contender in San Bernardino on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Luck has not always been on her side.
Villegas’ high school career could have ended years before it began. By the time she was 11, she was already on the softball radar, pitching in one of the top travel ball programs and impressing coaches and opponents with power and a precocious command of multiple pitches. She had the added benefit of being a left-hander.
Her brilliant future was put in jeopardy by one change-up that hung a little high during a tournament game in Riverside. The batter “hit the crap out of it,” in the words of Villegas’ mother, Gina. In an instant, it found the side of Villegas’ face, knocking her out.
The immediate fear was about a concussion, but it turned out the head was not the main problem for Villegas. Having lost consciousness, she fell awkwardly and broke the tibia and fibula in her left leg, the leg a left-hander uses to push off the rubber.
Recovery would require nearly three months in a cast, but the recovery from the trauma for Villegas and her family threatened to take longer.
“It was devastating,” Gina said. “I’m asking myself, ‘Do I pull her out of something she loves to do?’ There were times where I felt like a horrible parent.”
In another room, Jada was trying to process it as well.
“There were some nights,” Jada said, “when I was trying to go to sleep and I’d be wondering if I wanted to go on playing.”
The doubts in the darkness quickly faded in the light and Villegas went about the business of restarting her career – only to hit another roadblock when she got to Cajon.
An impingement in her throwing shoulder cost Villegas nearly her entire freshman season. Less visible than her head and leg injuries, the shoulder was actually more concerning.
“Yeah, I was more worried about that,” she said. “I knew how long the leg would take to heal. With the shoulder, we weren’t sure what was going on.”
Cajon coach Lee Haines said Villegas was “like a caged lion” in the dugout. He understood the frustration because he felt it as well, knowing he had one of the most talented arms in Southern California but couldn’t use it.
Villegas’ shoulder is healthy again, and now that she turned 16 last week, she is older and wiser. She and Haines have made concessions, keeping an eye on her innings and nearly eliminating her use as a hitter.
In the semifinal of an early-season tournament, Villegas beat Whittier Christian, putting Cajon into the championship game against Redlands East Valley that followed immediately.
“I asked her what she thought and she said, ‘I’ll pitch, but I’m a little sore,’ ” Haines said. “That was the end of the conversation. But she wouldn’t have said that to me last year. She would have tried to pitch.”
The caution has paid off. Villegas said her arm feels fine and the numbers reflect it. She is 13-3 with a 1.05 earned run average, 132 strikeouts in 100 innings and a .159 opponents batting average.
With health issues receding, the focus can return to Villegas’ skill.
Well before she arrived at Cajon, Villegas drew raves about her change-up, which nearly from the start has been polished beyond her years. So much so that Haines and Villegas recently made the decision to significantly up its frequency in games.
Haines said Villegas’ change stands out by her ability to locate and disguise it.
“I know when it’s coming because I call it,” Haines said. “But I can’t read it when she throws it. It’s as good as I’ve seen in 30 years of coaching.
“You take that pitch and you back that up with a 62 mph screwball, it’s just deadly.”
Villegas said she is still refining her game. She’d like to add a little speed to the change-up and mix in more riseballs in key spots.
For her parents, it’s refreshing to hear Villegas talking about her pitching without having to wonder if she can pitch at all. Gina said they have the video of Jada being hit by the line drive, but have never watched it.
“I don’t really need to,” she said. “The replay’s in my head.”
“It makes us so proud to see what she’s done,” she added. “I think I would have given it up. She didn’t.”
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