THIRD OF 3 PARTS
Two years later, Quintin Torres-Costa is right back where he started.
The Hawaii left-hander will open the season No. 2 in the rotation against nationally ranked Oregon, just as he did in 2013 when he made his collegiate debut.
Nearly everything since then has not gone the way the Waiakea High alumnus would have liked. But as Torres-Costa has figured out, the past is pretty pointless now.
"You just live with what life gives you, right?" Torres-Costa asked rhetorically. "That’s what I’ve learned over these past (two) years. Just roll with it and make the best of what you got."
Fully recovered physically from Tommy John surgery, the redshirt sophomore is ready for a fresh start to his UH career.
He came back last season to pitch 211⁄3 innings for the Rainbow Warriors, but was never close to what he was when he came to college as the reigning Star-Advertiser state pitcher of the year.
At times, Torres-Costa struggled just to touch 80 on the radar gun, but it didn’t keep him from going out and giving his team everything he had.
"He was way ahead of schedule with his rehab but he wasn’t even close to 100 percent and just gutted his way through," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "The first thing you will see now is that he is physically back to where he was pre-injury. Now we see him in the high-80s touching 90 and 91."
Torres-Costa said the actual injury wasn’t as hard as the rehabilitation it took to get all the way back. It’s been a two-year process that is still going today.
Physically, he’s where he wants to be. Mentally, he’s still learning to get comfortable turning it loose.
"I’m still a little hesitant," Torres-Costa admitted. "I feel like there’s still more I can tap into, but it’s more mental and just making sure I get back to my old mechanics and staying smooth."
That hesitance will likely go away when he is on the mound pitching in front of the home crowd against the Ducks.
Torres-Costa is a gamer, whether it’s leading his hometown Hilo team to the Senior Little League World Series title or striking out 13 in six innings in the 2012 state title game against Baldwin.
As soon as he steps on the mound, something goes off inside him that turns him into the ultimate competitor.
"He is as competitive as anybody we have," Trapasso said. "In fact you hope some of it will rub off on some of these new guys that aren’t as competitive.
"They could take a little cue from ‘Q’."
