Saturday was a whirlwind of emotions for the Plano East softball team, tied with Flower Mound, 2-2, in the bottom of the seventh inning of a one-game regional quarterfinal playoff when the Lady Jags appeared to score the winning run.

"When they called [Kelly Powell] safe, my heart just dropped," said Sarah Morales, East junior first baseman.

But the call was reversed and the game eventually made its way to the eighth.

"We thought we had lost and then we got another chance," Morales said. "At that point it felt like it was meant to go our way, we just needed to do something with the opportunity."

Morales took advantage of the opportunity by smacking the game-winning single.

But Morales has been taking advantage of plenty of opportunities over the last 11 months after a car accident nearly left her unable to walk, let alone play softball.

On June 20, 2011, Morales was on a seemingly innocuous car ride in Florida during a family vacation, traveling with her mother, father, brother, two aunts, uncle and two cousins. The boys led the way in a suburban with the girls right behind them.

The family was traveling from Pensacola to Destin when Morales' life changed.

"My uncle swerved out of the way because there was a ladder in the middle of the road," Morales said. "There was an 18-wheeler to the right of us, so we had to swerve left to avoid the ladder. We sort of hit the median, a tire blew out and our car flipped a couple times."

Morales remembers all of that and stepping out of the car.

"The next thing I can remember is waking up in an ambulance," she said. "I guess I blacked out."

Even though she was in Florida, Morales wasn't far from her Lady Panthers' family.

"I was actually in Seaside when I got the text that Sarah had been in an accident," said Karen Kalhoefer, East head coach. "I called her mom to tell her I was only an hour away if they needed anything and I immediately knew it was serious because the whole family was crying."

Amazingly enough, Morales was the only member of the family to suffer anything more than minor scrapes and bruises. That would have been different if not for a rest stop 10 minutes prior in which Morales and her mother switched spots in the vehicle.

"My mom says she wishes she hadn't switched," Morales said. "But really, it was a blessing in disguise because my mom already had a history of neck problems."

At the hospital, Morales was diagnosed with cracked and broken vertebrae.

"I was crushed," she said.

But after a three-hour hospital stay, Morales was told she would be fine after wearing a brace for three months.

A second opinion in the Metroplex would present a more sobering reality.

"I went to a doctor back home about two weeks later and he was in shock that I could walk," Morales said. "He said if my injury was three millimeters different, I would be paralyzed. They said I needed neck surgery the next day. I didn't even want to go home from the hospital because I was afraid we would hit a bump in the road and I would slip a disc."

The surgery was a success, but the road back to the field would be a long one.

"They told me I could start jogging in two months," Morales said, "and that maybe, if I took things slow, I could think about playing softball again some day."

That prognosis fueled Morales during the monotonous rehab process of shoulder rolls and hand exercises. Morales, who made varsity as a sophomore, had her team there to help as well.

"Sarah was at her low point," said Rachel Scott, East senior shortstop, "so we all got behind her and did whatever we could to help."

Morales was released to return to softball activities in November.

"Obviously Sarah sat out the summer and missed fall ball, so there was a lot of uncertainty," Kalhoefer said. "We had to do a tryout and Sarah did great; she was smacking the ball all over the place and I was so proud to see that given all the mental and physical stress she had to overcome."

Similar sentiments were shared by her teammates.

"Sarah could've very easily let this crumble her," said Holly Kern, East senior pitcher. "But instead she came back with a vengeance."

The first sign of that came in January during the Round Rock Invitational when Morales hit her first homer back against Bryan.

"We cried when Sarah hit that home run," Scott said, to which Kern quickly added, "yeah, it wasn't even a game-winning home run or anything like that, but it meant so much to Sarah and the whole team, so we all cried."

Morales had a slightly different perspective of the moment.

"It finally felt like everything was right again," she said. "Like I was back to normal."

Though Morales admitted she still thinks about the accident "all the time," the East junior has returned to a sense of normalcy, spending her free time hanging out with family, friends and reading "The Hunger Games" trilogy.

The first baseman appears back to her old self on the field as well, as evidenced by her game-winning hit Saturday against Flower Mound.

"Sarah loves this sport," Kalhoefer said. "And I think this shows that with her level of heart and desire, she can do anything she wants."

Whether Morales and East can keep the hot streak going this weekend in the Region I Semifinals against Lubbock Coronado remains to be seen, but Morales has already proven all she needs to the Lady Panthers.

"Sarah is so passionate, which I think shows in the fact that she has been able to pick right back up after six months," Scott said. "It really gives you a new perspective on things."

"Sarah was only a few millimeters from being paralyzed," Kern added. "She's a miracle."

Current Rating: 4 of 8 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...