By Mindy Holmes
During the conference-opening game against UNLV in April, BYU softball pitcher Brooke Boyce was pitching to the fourth batter of the game in the first inning with two outs and a runner on first. The batter hit a line drive right back to her face.
'I didn''t get a glove up,' Boyce said. 'I didn''t even see the ball until it smashed into my face.'
Boyce''s first thought was to find the ball and get the girl out.
'I thought there''s no way she''s getting on base after she hit me in the face,' Boyce said.
But soon Boyce realized there was blood gushing out of her face, and she fell to her knees deciding to let someone else make the play. The inning was ended by third baseman Ashlyn Russell, who picked up the ball and got out the runner who was advancing to third on the play. Then everyone rushed to see if Boyce was OK.
'I remember all the girls coming in,' Boyce said. 'The first baseman offering to take off her shirt because I was just bleeding everywhere. I''ve never seen so much blood in my life.'
The hit to the face gave Boyce a fractured sinus cavity, multiple breaks in her nose and three lacerations. She actually considers herself lucky that it wasn''t worse.
'I just remember everyone saying how lucky I was because that was all I had,' she said. 'It could have hit me in the eye; I could have lost an eye. It could have hit me in the forehead; I could have been dead.'
After the game, no one knew if Boyce was going to be back for the season. Amazingly, the following weekend only two days after surgery, she pitched three innings against the University of Utah and picked up a save.
'It shocked me,' BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. 'I didn''t want to bring her back too early, but the doctors and the trainers were all insisting that it was fine, so we used her.'
After only one week, Boyce was ready to come back.
'That little bit of time out killed me,' she said. 'I just wanted to be out there so bad.'
Boyce said she was scared because she didn''t know if she was going to be able to come back when her team needed her. But once she got out there, everything fell into place.
'When I was thrown out into the situation, I knew I could handle it,' she said. 'I love the pressure of the game, and it was so exciting to get the adrenaline pumping again.'
Boyce had a team-low 1.73 ERA this season, a 13-8 record, 15 complete games, six shutouts and 61 strikeouts.
'She''s just really pitched well for us,' Eakin said. 'She had done that all year long, but the injury was a little setback for her, but to her credit, she''s come back very strong.'
'I''ve worked really hard and it''s all just starting to fall into place,' Boyce said. 'My teammates had a lot to do with that. I have great defense behind me, and I couldn''t do it without them. But it just feels good to know that you''ve worked that hard and things just happened to work out.'
At the time of her injury, Eakin told reporters, 'If anyone can come back from something like , it''s Brooke.'
Boyce said she''s remained grateful during the whole experience.
'I was really lucky,' she said. 'I count my blessings everyday.'