Amazin’ nurse ready to cheer on Alonso & Co.

Katie Daza summed up the beginning of her Mets fandom simply: “It kind of just became a thing.” She grew up in Flushing, her school would have events at Mets games and her close friend’s father frequently took them to games. Before moving to Long Island, she attended 40-50 games per season.

“Baseball is such a huge part of my life. It’s such a huge part of who I am,” said Daza, who cites her favorite Mets as Pete Alonso currently and David Wright growing up.

The last several months, though, it took a backseat. While her heroes were sidelined, the 28-year-old Ronkonkoma native has been someone others can look up to, working as a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip. Ordinarily, she works in the pediatric unit. But that was converted into an adult ICU as the coronavirus terrorized the area.

“Once it hit, it was insane,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, and honestly in my nursing career I never thought I would see something like it. It was really sad. It was really hard.”

As a nurse, Daza has two goals: Help patients get better, and if that’s not possible, provide comfort in their final moments. But for long stretches, neither was attainable. She never had second thoughts about going to work, though, as scary as it may have been at times.

Now that the virus has subsided locally, and baseball is set to return, Daza hopes it can be around through October, serving as a diversion. There’s nothing she would like better than to finish a shift and watch a Mets game on television.

“I think it gives people something to look forward to,” she said. “You have something that is a constant, something that you know is going to be on every single day, whether it’s 4 p.m., 7 p.m.”