If the Illinois High School Association ever decides to do a take off of the NBA's "I Love This Game" TV commercial, Elgin's Kristy Bromm would be the perfect spokesperson for softball.

Bromm, Elgin's third baseman, is in her senior season - a season that was very nearly wiped out by a severe knee injury.

We'll let Bromm take us through the course of events that led to a Sept. 27 surgery and threatened to take away her final prep season.

"I was playing third base," she said. "I was facing a baserunner. She stopped and moved out of the way and I planted my foot to try and go back the other way. My knee just gave out."

Bromm's right knee gave way in a summer league game she was playing for the Roselle Babes against the Hurricanes of Barrington. She heard something pop, she said, but didn't realize immediately how badly she had hurt herself.

It turned out to be a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament as well as a cartilage tear.

"But we didn't know right away," Bromm said. "It swelled up a lot, but I didn't even start crying right away. But when I tried moving it and straightening it out, it totally killed."

Bromm went to the hospital immediately for x-rays, which were negative.

"They were going to let me go home right away, right up until the last second when a nurse said I better go see an orthopedic surgeon," she said.

That visit drew a diagnosis of a sprained knee with a prescription of therapy.

"I went through a whole month of therapy," Bromm recalls. "Then, we had a big tournament in Texas that I really wanted to play in and I felt fine because I had gone through a month of physical therapy and I had worked really hard at it."

So, being the softball lover she is, Bromm played in the Texas tournament.

"It was really hurting, but I kept playing," she said.

"Then, after I got back, I went back to the doctor because it kept giving out on me and it hurt really bad. So we finally had an MRI done and that's when the doctor came back and said I had an ACL tear and a cartilage tear."

Surgery. A diagnosis of eight months on the shelf. Spring high school season gone, right?

Not for Kristy Bromm.

With all the fortitude of a heavyweight fighter down for the count, but pulling on the ropes to get up, Bromm is playing softball this spring for the Maroons. And playing it quite well, thank you.

The season started slowly for her. She played in the outfield and didn't bat, with a designated hitter in her spot in the order.

But on April 24, she went to the plate for the first time against East Aurora and she's now solidified herself as the leadoff hitter and third baseman for the 18-3 Maroons.

Elgin will face Lake Park Monday in Roselle with the Upstate Eight Conference championship on the line.

Since her return to the lineup full time, Bromm has brought a spark to Elgin's lineup. …