Lilly Vallimont reflects on helping Michigan to elimination game win vs. Kentucky after early injury

It looked like Michigan catcher Lilly Vallimont might’ve been done for the day after just a few pitches in Michigan’s 4-2 win over Kentucky in an elimination game in the Stillwater Regional, as she took a foul ball of her right wrist in the top of the 1st inning.

But the redshirt freshman powered through, wrapping up the swollen protrusion on her throwing arm and sinking back behind the dish. But just staying in the game wasn’t enough, as she would hit a two-run home run to account for half of the Wolverines RBIs in a must-win game.

“I’m really feeling it right now but I was just trying to give my all to my teammates,” Vallimont said on the ESPN broadcast postgame. “If my bat’s struggling, I’m trying to give my all to my pitcher behind the plate. It was a great win, it was a great team win.”

Despite toughing it out, Vallimont was feeling the pain in her forearm throughout the day as the adrenaline peaked and wore off.

She joked she came to the plate with an aggressive mindset prior to her home run, in part because of the pain in her arm.

“Honestly, I think it helped me because I was just — I didn’t want to get to two strikes,” Vallimont said, “so I was like, ‘First pitch, I’m swinging.'” 

And behind a valiant effort from Vallimont behind the plate and the rest of the Wolverines, Michigan has rolled on into the regional finals, where it’ll face hosting Oklahoma State on Sunday.

It’s a safe bet that quite a bit would have to happen to keep Vallimont from getting back behind home plate once again.

“I’ve had my fair share of injuries, so I was a little nervous but nothing can keep my away from this team,” Vallimont said. “I just love these girls so much.”

Michigan head coach Bonnie Tholl addressed Vallimont’s injury during the game

Tholl explained that a bursa sac had burst from the contact, but she was happy to let Vallimont tough it out.

“Well, I think she burst a bursa sac right there, and those things hurt,” Tholl said. “When she looked down at her arm and it was a big lump on her arm, I just told her, ‘Look, it’s gonna hurt; you just burst a bursa sac right there.’ Luckily, we had our trainer come out (and) the Kentucky trainer helped us, was able to wrap it up, and she got after it. She’s like, ‘I’m fine.’ You know, after the initial view of looking at her arm, she was back at it.”