Cooper: A glove with a secret and a Paterson softball player's big reward

The glove held a secret Stephanie Viera never dreamed.

She never knew the glove would reveal a connection to a superstar, to a scholarship and a brighter future.

At the time, the Paterson native was 8 years old, her father asked he if she wanted to try playing softball. Her friend Desiree Marquez was going to play. What did she think?

Viera said sure, and got a glove. She started playing for the Paterson Recreation Department – first some shortstop, then some second base. Her coaches teased her that she “ran like a princess” and she was always short.

But she was always game.

Viera had found her sport. She kept with it through high school playing for Eastside while also working and making the National Honor Society.

“We would go to games in a little van and we would listen to music and have fun,” Viera said. “We were like sisters and they made me feel like a family.”

The Ghosts didn’t win a lot of games, but that was OK to Viera. She was looking forward to her senior season. She’d watched all the pomp and circumstance for Senior Day in the past and couldn’t wait to get her flowers, and maybe a homemade sign.

Fate had other ideas. Viera’s 2020 season, her senior year, was canceled because of COVID-19. Ghosts coach Leslie Dickerson tried to put something together for her seniors, but it rained.

Oh well, Viera thought. Her high school softball career was over. The glove’s secret was locked away.

A new beginning

Major League Baseball runs a unique program called Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, also known as R.B.I. to spur growth of the game in urban areas. But it’s not just a baseball program. They have softball as well.

Dickerson was active in the RBI program coaching softball teams, and she got Viera to play last summer on a U-19 squad. Viera was back playing second base. The games were fun, more pick-up maybe than anything else, just girls getting together and having a good time.

Dickerson had an ulterior motive though. She knew that there was an award, the Jennie Finch Empowerment award named for the softball superstar who had a record-breaking career as a pitcher at Arizona and won a gold and silver medal for Team USA in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, respectively.

Motivated to do something for her seniors who lost out on their senior season, Dickerson nominated three players from Paterson.

Dickerson also knew her players probably had no idea who Finch was. The summer Olympics were on, so Dickerson pointed out the players on the U.S. team and the great players in the past, talking up Finch’s accomplishments.

“We were not allowed to tell the players about the award,” said Dickerson in an email to NorthJersey.com. “I set up a Google meet with myself and the girls and we discussed the top players and looked at photos and film of the top softball players.”

Paterson and Viera started playing in the RBI Regional Tournament in Jersey City. Viera wondered what was up, there were cameras following her.

“I was stretching and he was in there and I was like, ‘why is he filming me stretching?’” she said.

And the award goes to…

The second day of the tournament, Finch entered the Paterson dugout and asked to talk to Dickerson. The girls on the bench began yelling to one another that this was the player they had just watched the film of the night before.

Finch confided in Dickerson that Viera had won the Empowerment award and a $10,000 scholarship that went with it. They would also both join Finch for Game 4 of the World Series and be recognized during the game.

“Everyone was like, oh my goodness, you’re famous,” laughed Viera.

Finch signed autographs, posed for pictures and took Viera out to the field and they played catch. Viera said they talked about softball and their backgrounds growing up. There was an immediate connection.

“It was just like having a conversation with a friend,” Viera said. “It was amazing.”

Then Finch looked at Viera's glove. It was the only one she ever had. The same one she used when she was 8, the same one she played with at Eastside, the same one she was using now.

“She said, ‘oh my gosh, that’s my glove,’” said Viera. “It had her name on it. I had never noticed that before until she pointed that out.”

Atlanta-bound

A few months later, Dickerson and Viera were invited to Truist Park to watch Game 4 of the World Series (Braves won 3-2). Viera’s name was posted on the big screen with the other winners. For Dickerson, she couldn’t believe it. She had crossed off one bucket item list when she went to the Softball College World Series, now here she was at the baseball World Series too.

“We sat and our seats were so low,” Viera said. “We could see everything. It was just so cool because I got to meet people from other places that won the same award as me.”

Dickerson still can’t believe how a girl from Paterson got this far. The journey went from the season being canceled because of COVID to the World Series.

Viera, now 19, is currently enrolled at Passaic County Community College and studying psychology. She still has her glove, but as of now, nowhere to play. But if anyone needs a kinda-short infielder with a magic glove, she’d be willing to sign up.

And she has an amazing story to go with it.

“I was just talking about it the other day because nobody really knows,” Viera said. “I was talking about it at my new job and they said it was so cool. They saw my pictures and videos with Jennie Finch. It is something I will talk about and remember for the rest of my life.”

Darren Cooper is a peachy-keen high school sports columnist for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: cooperd@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @varsityaces