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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Freshman Gives Softball Ol' College Try

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
          Brenda Hearn had all but given up on being able to play collegiate softball.
        "I had planned to go to UNM, just study," said Hearn as she sat at the dining room table in the home of her grandmother, Betty Whittet, in Tijeras on Aug. 13. "But then I said, 'What the heck? I'll play some over the summer.' "
        The recent Manzano High graduate's efforts while playing with her 18-and-under club team, the New Mexico Blazers, did the trick. Hearn — she lives with her parents, John and Regina Hearn, next door to her grandmother — got noticed and wound up getting a tuition-covering scholarship to play softball for Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.
        The Cougars are the reigning champions of the National Junior College Athletic Association's Region 9.
        "We had spent some time watching the Blazers (at a club tourney in Denver in July)," WNCC fifth-year coach Maria Winn said in a telephone interview on Monday. "We had signed (Los Alamos') Megan Burditt. With Brenda's size and with some fixes to her swing, we thought she could be a great designated hitter."
        After a phone call from Winn and a quick trip to Scottsbluff, Brenda Hearn later signed on the dotted line.
        "They've got a Sonic, a Wal-Mart, a Target, and they're building a Chili's," said Hearn, in her typical, come-rain-or-shine, bubbly, rapid-fire manner. "And they have a theater. Cheyenne (Wyo.) is about an hour away, and Denver's a couple hours."
        No wonder she's so ecstatic. The turn of events were against the odds.
        Hearn, who left for Nebraska on Wednesday, was diagnosed with scleroderma in March. The disease, whose key symptom is a painful tightening of the skin, can be fatal and can spread to internal organs.
        Scleroderma, according to Webster's, is "a disease in which connective tissues, anywhere in the body, becomes hardened and rigid."
        For quite a while, assorted medical people, including a doctor, were not able to identify scleroderma as the culprit. Yet, Hearn continued to persevere.
        Despite the pain, she played through the Lady Monarchs' volleyball, basketball and softball seasons.
        Back in April, she pulled off a glove, worn because the cold aggravated the condition, during a softball game at Eldorado High to briefly reveal scabs on her fingertips. But still she persisted.
        "I had to practice with gloves on," said Hearn, a 5-foot-8 first baseman. "And during volleyball season, I'd go up for a block, but then instead of celebrating or pumping my fist, I'd hold my hand because it hurt so much. And in basketball, if I jammed my hand, it really hurt."
        Now, after multiple tests and the establishment of a strict medicinal regimen, Hearn's health and her life seem to be back on track.
        "I talked to her parents, and she seems to have a handle on it," Winn said. "It'll be a challenge, but we have a full-time trainer on staff, and there's a doctor she can see here. I think she'll be just fine."
        Hearn's world is full of opportunities now.
        "We only have three outfielders and a pitcher returning," Winn said. "It's going to be open. She'll see some playing time, and we'll be able to see where she fits. She may play in the outfield starting out."
        Hearn's folks said it's a go.
        "She's had a CAT scan, lungs, heart, everything," her mother said. "It looks good."
        "I had it for a year and a half," Hearn added. "Now, I think I can do it. If I take care of myself, I'll be fine. I'll be good if I keep up with my medication and follow up with my doctor."
        Hearn credits her club coach, Randy Burditt, and her former Monarchs and club teammate, Amity Livingston, for telling the Cougars' coach about her.
        "Now, I've got a scholarship in a sport I love," said Hearn, who wants to be a teacher and coach. "At one point, I didn't know if I wanted to do softball anymore. I also got a scholarship from Manzano. It's called the Richard Oliver Memorial Scholarship. ... I'm proud of that."
        Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com.