Penn-Trafford grad Emma Nedley toughing out senior softball season at Penn

The pain is constant.

On the field. Off the field. Driving in her car.

Major knee surgery awaits Penn softball player Emma Nedley next month, but don’t expect the Penn-Trafford graduate to sit out many games the rest of the season. The pandemic already robbed Nedley of most of her sophomore and junior years, so she is attempting to make the most of her final season.

“I’m just trying to go out there with joy every game and appreciate how much this sport has meant to me over the years and continue to have fun and spend time with my teammates,” Nedley said.

Nedley, an outfielder, initially injured her left knee as a freshman and knew she was going to require a Matrix-induced Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (MACI) procedure, which involves using a person’s own cells to regrow new cartilage. But in Penn’s season opener this season, she tore her left medial patella-femoral ligament (MPFL) when she threw across her body. Her kneecap “flew out,” as she describes it.

Although she stayed in the game, she said she could barely walk the next day and went to the doctors who already were going to do the original surgery. They said Nedley couldn’t do any more damage to the knee and cleared her to play. She wears a special brace that cups her kneecap and holds it in place.

“I’ve kind of gotten used to it,” she said. “I’m kind of short a step in each direction in the outfield. And then hitting-wise, I can’t really come down on my leg any more, so I’ve changed my stance a little bit. I’m just trying to make it work.

“Yes, I’m in constant pain, but wanting to be out there for my teammates is what keeps me going.”

Nedley entered the weekend hitting .246 with two homers and five RBIs. Those numbers are down from the high point of her freshman season, when she batted .435 with five homers and 23 RBIs in winning Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Staying patient has been a point of emphasis.

“It’s definitely hard,” she said. “I’ve been chasing pitches. … Pitchers are afraid of me, especially freshman pitchers. Right now I’m swinging at pitches that I shouldn’t be swinging at, and I need to be more disciplined because I do have this reputation, and I am a good hitter. I need to be able to take command of my at-bats.”

Nedley played a combined 23 games as a sophomore and junior because of the conference’s covid limitations, which “threw everything out of whack,” Nedley said. Throughout her four seasons, though, her value has been about much more than stats.

“She set a really great example from the time she was a freshman,” Penn coach Leslie King said. “She has set a tone for the culture of the program. There’s not a player on the team that doesn’t look up to her.

“I’ve been at Penn for 19 seasons, and she’d be top 1 percent as far as character and leadership.”

Those traits figure to serve her well in the next stage of her life. She is attending dental school at University of California San Francisco in the fall. She has yet to visit the campus but said her “gut told me to go out there, meet new people, explore a new city and grow as an individual.”

And one of her motivations for attending dental school?

“When I was volunteering at a local drug rehab facility, I was talking to some women there, and they were overcoming their drug addiction but the second they would look in the mirror, they had a constant reminder of their past through their teeth,” Nedley said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just want to help you.’ I didn’t realize how reformative dentistry could be until I was talking to them.

“I think there’s such a need for it, and health overall is linked to oral health.”

But first, Nedley needs to worry about her own health. Her surgery is scheduled for five days after graduation in May. Then she’ll be bedridden at a Philadelphia-area hospital for two weeks before heading back to her parents’ house. She won’t be able to sit in the front seat of a car for about two months. After about six months, she might be able to start jogging. And she’ll be attending physical therapy for about a year.

Between now and her surgery, though, Nedley figures to spend much of her time on the field.

“She wants to win for her team,” King said. “She wants to be there for her team. It speaks a lot about her character that she wants to be out there. There’s no way I can put her on the sidelines.”