As the Mountlake Terrace High School baseball team heads into the final stretch of their 2014 regular season, the team’s leader in batting average and doubles is hoping to return to action this week after being injured on April 22.

Dominic DeMiero was hit in the left hand by a pitch thrown by Meadowdale Maverick’s Matt Hill, an incident that proved painful but not disastrous for the MTHS senior.

“That was the most intense pain I have ever felt,” DeMiero said as he described how the rising fastball hit him between his little finger and left wrist. “I was so scared that it might have been broken.”

DeMiero, who had been pitching a no-hitter through four innings at the time of the injury, came out of the game and was taken to Swedish/Edmonds Hospital for x-rays. The images showed no broken bones in his hand, but doctors put the 6-3 lefthander in a half cast to wear 24 hours a day for a while.

DeMiero knows the outcome could have been much worst. “If there had been a fracture, I would have been done for the year,” he said.

In addition to leading the team with a .436 batting average and 10 doubles this season, DeMiero is a key starting pitcher for the Hawks. The senior has a 2.88 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched this year.

DeMiero hopes the hand will be ready when the team takes the field to open a three-game series with Shorecrest on Tuesday, April 29. The Hawks (5-7 in Wesco League play, 6-9 overall) are clinging to one of the final berths for postseason tournament play, and picking up some wins against the lowly 1-14 Scots will be key in securing a district tourney bid.

The WIAA District 1 3A Baseball Tournament opens on May 10.

MTHS Baseball remaining 2014 regular season games
Tuesday, April 29, vs. Shorecrest, 4 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
Wednesday, April 30, vs. Shorecrest, 4 p.m. at Shorecrest High School
Friday, May 2, vs. Shorecrest, 4 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
Monday, May 5, vs. Marysville-Getchell, 4 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
Tuesday, May 6, vs. Everett, 7 p.m. at Everett Memorial Stadium

— Story and photo by Doug Petrowski