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For months, the end weighed heavily on Hailey Guerrero.
As her senior softball season at Iona University wound down this spring, the Mepham High School graduate couldn’t stop thinking about life after her final game.
The uncertainty followed the Bellmore native everywhere, even onto the field.
“What am I going to do without softball after my last college game?” Guerrero told Greater Long Island. “I couldn’t focus and it took me a while to get out of that funk.”
She was convinced the final out of her college career would also mark the end of her playing days.
Instead, just minutes after walking across the stage to receive her diploma in May, everything changed.
Guerrero learned she had been accepted into a summer softball league in Puerto Rico, giving the 22-year-old one more unexpected chance to keep playing.
“It took me a week to decide,” Guerrero said. “I thought about doing it. I almost didn’t go, but everyone told me to do it, so I went.”
The youngest of four children, Guerrero grew up in a family of athletes. Her older sister and two brothers all played lacrosse, but after watching a group of girls playing softball when she was 7 years old, she decided to carve out her own path.
That decision led to a standout career at Mepham, Division I stops at Stony Brook and Iona, and a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology.
This fall, she’ll begin graduate school at Adelphi University as she works toward becoming a speech-language pathologist, with hopes of one day coaching softball as well.
But before turning the page on the game that had defined much of her life, Guerrero got one more unexpected adventure.
There was just one problem.
She had never traveled alone.
She had never even boarded a plane by herself.
“My dad dropped me off at the airport and I looked at him and said, ‘Dad, I’m scared,'” Guerrero recalled.
She got on the flight anyway.
It turned out to be one of the most rewarding decisions she’s ever made.
“I realized now that I needed this,” Guerrero said with a laugh. “I was so dependent on my parents for my whole life. I cried the first day and then I got over it and started having so much fun.”
Guerrero arrived in Puerto Rico on May 27, reconnecting with a place that holds deep family roots. Much of her father’s side of the family is Puerto Rican, though she hadn’t visited since she was 10 years old.
She quickly found herself thriving on and off the field.
Playing for Juncos, Guerrero helped the club earn the top seed in the league playoffs. Her performance also earned her an invitation to spend three days with Team Puerto Rico, an opportunity she called “an amazing experience.”
“This was one last test for me,” she said. “I needed it, one last time. And it checked the box.”
She’ll remain in Puerto Rico through at least another week as Juncos competes in the playoffs.
Whether those games become the final ones of her competitive career remains to be seen.
The league has no age limit, leaving the door open for a return next summer.
“I know I want to be realistic and get my degree, but I also know I love playing,” Guerrero said. “It’s a weird feeling, but I’m thrilled that I got all this extra time to play.”
For now, graduate school awaits, along with her goal of helping children as a speech-language pathologist. Someday, she hopes to return to the game as a coach.
Looking back, Guerrero said the unexpected six-week detour gave her exactly what she didn’t realize she needed.
“These last six weeks or so, it was validation.”
Top: This fall, Mepham grad Hailey Guerrero will begin graduate school at Adelphi University as she works toward becoming a speech-language pathologist. (couretesy)
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