Carli Melchiorre and Emily Jost provide veteran leadership for talented but young St. Joseph softball team
The senior stars learned the hard way - through injury - to cherish every moment on a softball diamond.
There was brief period, after two head injuries, when Carli Melchiorre was forced to consider that she might have to give up the sport she loved.
Her teammate on the St. Joseph softball team, Emily Jost, knows the feeling.
Jost sustained a concussion in a car accident her sophomore year that left her on the sideline for 10 months. She underwent eye therapy to correct double vision.
“I remember trying to practice immediately after [the accident], and I couldn’t see the ball coming at me,” Jost said.
Today, Melchiorre and Jost are senior leaders on a team that started this season 19-0.
The Wildcats are loaded with young talent. Some of the team’s biggest contributors are freshmen and sophomores.
And that, according to coach Les Olsen, is one of the reasons Melchiorre and Jost are so important.
There couldn’t be a better pair of role models for young talent, Olsen said. Jost and Melchiorre learned the hard way to cherish every moment on a softball diamond.
And now they’re showing teammates what real dedication can lead to on and off the field.
“It’s to their credit that, through everything, they continued on. They fought through some tough times,” Olsen said. “Now they’re behind the scenes all the time helping the younger girls and leading them in the right direction.”
Olsen describes the two players’ leadership styles as complementing each other.
Jost is a bit tougher. Melchiorre is a bit more soothing.
“I really enjoy uplifting all of the players,” Melchiorre said. “I look at it as my role to give positive feedback.”
Melchiorre is batting .341 and playing left field for St. Joseph, which sits at 20-1 after a recent loss to Mainland and upset win over Wildwood Catholic, two of the top teams in South Jersey.
This is Melchiorre’s first full season playing since two major injuries derailed her sophomore and junior seasons.
She missed her entire sophomore season when she suffered a concussion after being accidentally hit in the face with a thrown ball on the first day of outdoor practice . It was bad enough to cost her four weeks of school, and she underwent physical therapy because she had trouble running properly after the injury. She also had vision and speech issues.
Shortly after she made it back, another improbable injury struck.
Early last season, a ball took a bad bounce on the turf field at Eastern and hit Melchiorre in the nose. She had to undergo surgery, costing her most of her junior year but not all of it.
Melchiorre fought her way back and provided a consistent bat off the bench during St. Joseph’s run to the Non-Public South B championship.
“I love playing softball. There is pressure, but it’s my getaway, and I did not want to give it up,” Melchiorre said. “I was getting mad [toward the end of her junior season] when I wasn’t allowed to play as much as I wanted to. I just wanted so badly to get back on the field.
“And I try not to talk about what I went through now, specifically, with my teammates. But I do hope that I can show that you have to give your all because you never know what can happen, and that you should never give up.”
Jost, a shortstop, is coming off a stellar junior season in which she batted .450 with four home runs. She already has five home runs and is batting .413 this year.
She said she still has lingering headaches from her injury. But, like Melchiorre, Jost can testify that battling through pain and overcoming obstacles was worth it.
“It makes you realize that you’re not going to play forever, and you have to make the most of it,” said Jost, a New Haven recruit. “I had to work really hard to be able to get back to even playing softball. But I knew that was something that I had to do.”
Jost and Melchiorre are friends off the field. Both started their high school careers at Vineland before transferring to St. Joseph for their junior seasons.
They said that even as their perspectives on the field have changed, injuries are far from their mind right now.
They’re focused on making it back to the sectional championship, maybe even playing for a state title.
That’s their focus this spring. And that, in itself, is a source of pride.
“I had to push through a lot to get here, and there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that people don’t see. But it was definitely worth it,” Jost said.
Added Melchiorre: “You just have to keep working hard. Be confident, play with energy, and you’ll be OK.”
Carli Melchiorre is not related to writer Chris Melchiorre.