Blue Waves ace Marelli back from injury following historic softball season
In last year’s Suffolk County semifinals, on the heels of an undefeated regular season — a first in school history — Mya Marelli walked out to the pitching circle fully locked in, eager to send Riverhead varsity softball to the Suffolk County championship for a chance to make more history by winning it all.
Though Marelli had general soreness throughout the season — and throughout her softball career — which eventually went away, when she begn to pitch against Sachem East, the pain in her arm was nothing she’d felt before.
“I’m thinking to myself that I can get through this,” Marelli said. “This was our chance to make history. I wanted to get into that Suffolk County championship game. I told Coach [Rich] Vlacci that I was good to go but deep down I knew something was wrong.”
The lefty fireballer was named an All-state selection after the season and earned the title “Big Schools Pitcher of the Year” in Suffolk County. She was dominant and nobody felt confident being in the box against her. In 122 innings pitched, Marelli struck out 221 batters. Her ERA was .918. Simply put, there was no one better to take the mound that day.
So when Sachem East started to get some hits off of Marelli, it was obvious that there was something seriously wrong. Cautiously, Vlacci took her out of the game and inserted her into the outfield for the last few innings. Riverhead would go on to lose, 6-0, and was placed in the loser’s bracket for another chance of making it to the finals.
Marelli’s arm didn’t get any better but she refused to sit in the dugout and insisted on at least playing in the outfield for the game against North Babylon. Luckily, in the game prior she didn’t have to make any throws — but against the Bulldogs she got tested.
“I had to make a long throw home so I didn’t think twice about it,” Marelli said. “I’m a competitor first and I wasn’t thinking about my arm at that point. But when I released it that pain really set in again but I didn’t care. All I wanted was for us to get into the championship.”
Unfortunately Riverhead fell to North Babylon, 6-5, that day and their season ended. It left Marelli wondering if she’d ever be able to pitch again. A postseason MRI revealed no damage. It was just a case of overuse, in the doctor’s opinion. Rest and physical therapy were the only remedies.
But it wasn’t as if Marelli had pitched much more last season than she did in her sophomore year. In fact, she actually pitched less. In 2023, she threw 1,951 pitches and in 2024 she threw 1,882. It’s customary for a softball pitcher to throw every game and for the most part, Marelli has done that her whole career. Between travel ball and often throwing in multiple games a day, plus bullpen sessions and pitching for the Blue Waves, it was just constant grind on her arm.
“I was also not taking care of my arm the way I was supposed to,” Marelli said. “After I got hurt I found out how to properly prep and stretch. I found out what I need to do afterwards to keep my arm fresh. I just never really thought about it before. I have pitched all my life and there was some soreness but that was normal to me.”
After doing the therapy and resting for a month, Marelli’s arm didn’t improve. She went for a second opinion and after looking at the MRI, the new doctor said the same thing. It left the rising senior really worried about her future. It took a visit to a third doctor and another MRI scan with to reveal that she had partially torn her labrum.
“Even though in actuality it was bad news, in a way, I was happy that they found what was actually going on,” Marelli said. “It was either do concentrated therapy for the actual labrum and risk it tearing further or have surgery and prevent it from tearing all together. We decided on surgery.”
But the surgery and being in a sling really challenged Marelli’s mental fortitude. Physical therapy sessions often ended in tears for the gunslinger. She was convinced she would never pitch again. She wanted to play softball in college. She wanted to pitch. That is what she loves to do.
“I was barely able to move my arm after surgery,” Marelli said. “Maybe an inch or two. It was really discouraging. But over time it started to improve.”
In fact her arm improved so fast that Marelli’s already been cleared to throw — something that wasn’t originally expected until the middle of the season. Even so, Vlacci is taking it slow.
“We’re just following the doctor’s orders for now,” Vlacci said. “Even though she’s cleared, we don’t want to rush her back. The goal is that when the season does come around and she’s comfortable with doctor clearance, to just throw one inning to hopefully close out the game. We’re not worried about the regular season. We want her to be ready for the playoffs.”
In the meantime, last year’s JV pitcher, Amber Farruggia, will handle most of the pitching load as Marelli builds herself back into shape. Marelli was doing slow-arm circle pitches on the sidelines on Friday and is in the best shape of her life. The injury pushed her to work on her legs and other parts of her body she never really focused on.
“I think she’s going to come back better than ever,” Vlacci said. “And that’s scary to think because she was already the best pitcher on Long Island.”
