Playing through pain leads pitcher to a title

With the championship on the line, Emily Blattel wasn't coming out of the game -- no matter the circumstances.

Blattel was on the mound last week as her 13- to 14-year-old Michael Tanner team fought for a tournament championship in a Cape Girardeau softball league.

She pulled it off -- fibula hairline fracture and all -- in an 8-7 extra-innings win.

"I didn't know what happened," said her coach, Terry Ashby, of the injury Blattel suffered in the fourth inning when she rounded second base. "Never once did she say anything about it. If she would have then, I would have taken her out. Her health comes before any game. Instead she just went back out there and pitched a gem the whole way."

A memorable effort

Blattel's performance led her team to a win that goes down as one of the best performances Ashby said he's seen in 40 years of coaching.

"I am a Yankees fan, and one of my favorite players was Paul O'Neill because they called him the perfect warrior," Ashby said. "I told Emily after the game that that was exactly the way I felt about her. She was the perfect warrior."

Blattel's team earlier won the regular-season championship and was fighting to win the postseason double-elimination tournament when the injury occurred.

"I didn't really know what happened," Blattel said. "It really started bothering me in the seventh inning. That's when I knew something was wrong."

Fighting past it

Not only did Blattel finish the game, but she got herself out of numerous jams along the way.

"I'm glad it ended when it did," Ashby said. "I couldn't have sent her out there again, not because of the injury but simply because you just can't let a girl throw all day."

Blattel will wear a walking boot for the next two weeks after getting news last Saturday that the injury was a fracture. After that she will spend two more weeks in physical therapy rehabbing for what she hopes will be a successful year as a freshman at Notre Dame Regional High School. Blattel hasn't decided whether to play softball or volleyball in the fall.

"Whatever she does, she's going to succeed," Ashby said. "She's the kind of kid that you know is going to succeed."