When Lindsey LaChiana returned to the pitching mound from a three-week absence, she noticed one face missing in the bleachers — her biggest fan, her dad.

Vittorio LaChiana never missed his daughter’s softball games; it was never even a question.

But those days are over. Her father’s gleam isn’t there when she looks into the stands, just an empty seat next to LaChiana’s mom. Vittorio died earlier this spring after a battle with cancer.

“My mom is [in the stands],” LaChiana said. “But I miss him.”

For the first time ever, LaChiana’s mother, Linda, made the journey alone and watched her daughter pitch in NIU’s home opener.

While the families of team members shared condolences with Linda, they couldn’t remove the difficulty of being in the bleachers without her husband.

But Linda knew she had to remain strong for Lindsey and her brother Tony.

“It’s hard to carry on alone,” LaChiana’s mother said. “But I have to for them.”

It was during the difficult “waiting period” of Vittorio’s life that LaChiana’s extended family showed the sizes of their hearts.

“The girls sent [Lindsey] letters and the coaches came by the hospital,” LaChiana’s mother said. “They’ve been wonderful from the coaches on down.”

That sense of family, compassion and love for the game drove LaChiana back to playing.

Although it was challenging, LaChiana had to leave her family to return to the mound. Her father would have wanted it that way.

So she returned to the “therapy” of softball and the extended family that was supportive while the LaChiana family spent Spring Break at a hospital in Florida.

Although LaChiana was back doing what she loved, her mother could tell her daughter wasn’t the same pitcher she was just a month earlier.

While Lindsey believed she retained her extreme focus, her mother thought otherwise.

“She doesn’t think it’s affecting her, but I can see her concentrations are not there,” Linda said. “Softball was their connection.”

And yet, softball was so much more than just a connection for the daughter and father. It was their joy, passion and lives.

LaChiana’s father put his daughter through pitching lessons and summer teams. He was always there in the stands cheering for her. He was her biggest fan.

“If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am today,” the senior said. “I want to [pitch] not only for myself and my team, but for him as well.”

And LaChiana will get another chance to do that at 5 p.m. Today in DeKalb against her former teammates from Loyola.

The game will be a unique opportunity for her to reminisce with old teammates.

And so life will go on. LaChiana will continue to pitch, Linda will find her seat in the stands behind home plate, and both will have the game of softball to ease their pain.

And LaChiana will simply have to look up now, instead of the stands, to see her father’s gleaming face.