By MIKE CAPUTO
Sandra, 13, of East Meadow, is deaf. With the use of a cochlear implant, she can hear almost as much as someone with normal hearing, but a lot of simultaneous chatter can sound so distorted that it can be painful for Sandra, who, like any pitcher, wants to tune out distractions and focus on the next batter.
"She just turns it off," said her chuckling father, Tom Foster, who is an assistant coach of his daughter's softball team, sponsored by Valley Home Care in the East Meadow Baseball/Softball Association. "Just watch."
Sure enough, before she delivered the first pitch, Sandra did exactly what her father predicted, turning off her implant. Then she struck out the first batter. She would strike out five more hitters en route to Valley Home Care's 2-0 shutout of the CEMCO team at the East Meadow Baseball/ Softball Complex.
For Sandra, who regularly reaches double-digits in strikeouts, a total of just six is unusually low. But that evening, she achieved something truly special: A final scorecard check by her father and head coach Joe Bova confirmed that Sandra had tossed her first no-hitter.
Valley Home Care was scheduled to compete for the Majors division championship on Wednesday night. Then Sandra was set to move on to the summer season as a member of the East Meadow softball travel team, which will compete across the region beginning later this month.
Life-changing events
Moments like her recent no-hitter have become the norm for Sandra, whose future looked bleak during the first few years of her life. Twelve years ago, her parents faced a life-or-death decision, because their daughter suffered from a potentially deadly disorder known as intussusception, which affected her intestinal tract.
One option was risky surgery that, if successful, would save her life. But if the Fosters opted to go without surgery and instead try an alternative treatment, there was a good chance Sandra would die. They went with option No. 1.
She made it through the surgery, and appeared to be headed toward a healthy childhood - until a year later, there was another problem.
Her mother, Denise, recalled an afternoon when she repeatedly shouted Sandra's name, but the child was nowhere to be found. Denise finally discovered her looking for toys in another room. Even then, Sandra did not respond to her voice. Something was wrong.
Doctors deduced that Sandra was rapidly losing her hearing. They prescribed hearing aids, but had no explanation. Tom and Denise said that one theory is that the hearing loss was a complication of the surgery a year earlier. Despite the ironic fact that Denise had lost most of her hearing in one ear as an adult, during a loud fireworks show, deafness did not run in the family.
Whatever the reason, the Fosters prepared to take on the challenge of raising a deaf child. From ages 3 to 7, Sandra steadily lost her hearing. When her speech grew difficult to understand, her parents enrolled her in a full-day, Nassau BOCES intervention educational program.
Changing batteries for her hearing aids became a routine until she was 7, when the Fosters were introduced to the cochlear implant. Because surgery was required to install the device, Tom and Denise were apprehensive at first, and Denise remained so when she was given a sample of what her daughter would hear with the implant. It sounded to her like a static-filled radio. "I didn't want it," Denise said. "Tears came to my eyes."
But as they learned more about the long-term advantages of an implant, they signed on, and the Fosters clearly made the right decision. They now hold normal conversations with Sandra, her older brother, Thomas Jr., 15, and her younger sister, Rosie, 7.
"Look at her and see how good she does," Denise said. "It must be good for her."
A shared love for the game
The diamond is special to Tom, who had an impressive high school baseball career in Valley Stream. So it was hardly a surprise when Thomas and Sandra developed a love for the game.
Tom and Denise knew their daughter could hit, but because verbal communication is such an important part of playing almost anywhere on the field, they figured it would be difficult for Sandra to master a position.
She was not only versatile, however, but had a passion for the game. "She liked it so much that we overcame our fears of her getting hurt," Denise said.
Playing softball in the EMBSA's younger divisions, Sandra held her own at various positions, but never stood out - until this year. During her occasional stints on the mound, Tom said, he saw real potential in his daughter, and he helped her hone her skills last winter at indoor offseason workouts with the Little League. Whatever the month, Tom can frequently be found throwing a ball with Thomas and Sandra in the backyard of their Wilson Road home.
Before this season, Sandra was known for her bat and her versatility. Bova, who had seen her throw during winter workouts, decided to try her out as a starting pitcher. The experiment was successful.
"Without her, we aren't accomplishing anything," Bova said. "To be honest with you, she's the best pitcher in the league."
Off the field
Sandra's 13th birthday, May 28, was a perfect day: she had a game that evening. That morning, Denise asked her if she wanted to wear something special that day. "It's already on," Sandra said, pointing to her softball uniform. "That's what's special to me."
Then she was off to school. Much like when she is on the pitcher's mound, she is intent on acing her schoolwork, and her grades speak for themselves. At Woodland Middle School, the seventh-grader's average is in the 90s, and she's a member of the National Junior Honor Society.
As a clarinet player in the school band, Sandra not only stays in tune and keeps up with her fellow musicians, but she excels at the instrument her mother once played, having earned high scores at the New York State School Music Association Festival as a sixth-grader.
In the classroom, she is mainstreamed with regular students. She wears a headset device in class that helps her hear the teacher's voice more clearly, and is usually seated at the front of the classroom.
Nancy Schwartz, who teaches deaf children and has worked with Sandra since she was in first grade, meets with her for one period each day. "Sandra is a good, hard-working kid," said Schwartz. "She just has a great, positive personality and strives to do well all the time."
Schwartz recently took Sandra and a group of deaf students on a tour of East Meadow elementary schools to discuss their disability and answer other children's questions. "We try to do everything we can to help them feel good about their hearing impairment," Schwartz said.
Sandra's friends and teammates treat her like any other kid, often inviting her to movies and parties. "You wouldn't know she has a hearing impairment," Bova said. "Sandra is a regular kid as far as we're all concerned."
Although she is outgoing among her peers, however, Sandra was mum when it came to discussing her accomplishments. When asked what it's like to live with her hearing impairment, she simply shrugged and said, "I feel like everyone else."
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
