It limited her preparation for her sophomore year, but she still made 13 starts and 24 appearances, which is not a small amount when pitching behind a dominant #1 starter like Ellen Renfroe.
Tennessee had previously applied for a medical hardship waiver (known commonly as a medical redshirt) for Gabriel's freshman year. That was denied because she doesn't meet the standards by the letter of the law (more on that in a second). The initial appeal at the time was also denied. You can't make the final appeal that until after the athlete completes his/her eligibility, so there is a final appeal that has been made, and while no one is super optimistic, there is certainly a hope.
The standards for receiving the medical hardship are that a player cannot have participated in 30% of a team's games. Now, when Gabriel was a freshman, the rule was 20%, but she only played in 9 of 64 games, so she's good on that qualification either way. The second part of the rule is what gets her. The injury that ends the season must occur in the first half of the season. Tennessee played 64 games in 2013, meaning those games in which she appeared must have been prior to the team's 32nd game. At the time, she was trying to do rehab to get through the injury, which limited her playing time, but her final appearance came against Tennessee State in the Lady Vols' 37th game.
The appeal is very simple. Before that final appearance, she had only played in 8 games and they were well before the cutoff. In fact, Gabriel hadn't pitched in 3 weeks before starting (and having to leave the game early) against TSU. The fact that she had tried to play through it both works for and against her. The initial injury occurred very early and seemed to just be a long-term issue, but eventually they had to shut her down. Tennessee is VERY actively pursuing it on her behalf and the compliance staff has had great success in recent years in pursuing these appeals. We'll see, but neither Erin, nor the coaches are counting on it
