The Miracle Field of Rome, which is host to the Miracle League, opened in the spring of 2012. The Field eliminates the obstacles that keep children with mental and physical disabilities off the baseball field and provides them a first-hand experience of the excitement of America’s favorite pastime.

The Miracle League Website states that the main barriers for disabled children arise from conventional natural grass fields, but the Miracle Field uses a custom-designed, rubberized turf that accommodates wheelchairs and other medical devices while also helping to prevent injuries.

The Miracle League’s mission is to provide opportunities for children with disabilities to play baseball, regardless of their abilities, to promote community support and sponsorship of Miracle Leagues and to promote the construction of special facilities that meet the unique needs of Miracle League players and their families. Because the organization believes “every child deserves a chance to play baseball.”

The League only has four rules: each player bats once each inning, each player is safe on the bases, each player scores a run before the inning is over and each team and player wins every game.

But, the Miracle League is about more than just baseball games.

The League strives to provide each player with a memorable experience. The League is about helping the players make new friends and build self-esteem, and it strives to treat the players just like other athletes.

Star Crone, Miracle League player Trey Crone’s mother, says her son who was born with Down syndrome fell in love with baseball at a young age. Trey, who is now 27, has been participating in the Miracle League since he was a boy, and Ms. Crone remembers when her son had to play on wet, muddy fields that posed a challenge to both him and his teammates.

“That’s why Miracle Field is such a great thing for our players,” Ms. Crone said.

The Rome Braves’ Director of Special Projects and the Director of Miracle Field Christina Shaw said the Field enables challenged players in Northwest Georgia and the surrounding areas to enjoy playing baseball in their own community. She added that it’s important for their caregivers to be able to sit in the stands and to enjoy watching their player and cheer them on.

The Rome Braves Organization plays a significant role at the Miracle Field, where they maintain and upkeep the Field as well as make any improvements. They also coordinate volunteers and work closely with the Rome Recreation Department.

A normal game day at the Miracle Field consists of the Rome Braves staff opening and cleaning the facility in the morning. Volunteers arrive about 30 minutes prior to the games, and they fill out forms and receive their t-shirts. The national anthem plays prior to the start of the first game, and two one-hour games are then played.

The Rome Braves players also visit the Field during the spring season to serve as buddies.

The League uses a “buddy” system of pairing each player with an able-bodied peer to help the athletes, and the result is an indescribable bond.

Ms. Crone believes it’s amazing that the Rome Braves players take time out of their day to come out to the Miracle League games.

“The Braves come out and pitch for our players and let them get their pictures taken with them,” Ms. Crone said. “It makes our kids feel important when the Braves volunteer to be buddies for them.”

Ms. Crone said her son has made many memories at Miracle Field, but there is one that stands out.

“Trey was in the outfield and had his glove out, waiting to catch any ball that came his way,” Ms. Crone said.

Then the miracle catch at Miracle Field happened.

“It’s like God put the ball right in his glove,” she said. “At first, it scared him when the ball fell in his glove, but then he looked down started smiling and jumping up and down saying, ‘I did it, I did it’.”

The Miracle League and Miracle Field have an impact on more than just the players.

It never ceases to amaze Ms. Crone how time spent at the Miracle Field can turn her whole day around.

“The atmosphere at the Field just puts everyone in a good mood,” Crone said.

One of her favorite stories is about a Rome Miracle League player, who is also a Rome Braves employee during the season.

“He’s known for his love of the game, and he constantly supported and cheered on a local little league team in Rome,” she said. “In turn, they all showed up on his last game of the season with signs and sat in the stands cheering him on.”

Shaw’s favorite part about being involved with Miracle Field and the League is being able to share that impact with people who may have not been able to experience it before.

The Miracle League website states that “our players may not be able to run the bases or hit the ball as well as some of their peers, but they have an equal amount of love and determination to play baseball, and we want to help them achieve that dream.”

And that’s exactly what the program is doing.

Surely for a nine-time national champion and 12-time conference champion this would be just another race. All she would have to do is get down in the blocks and make sure that when the gun goes off she doesn’t get left behind. Sounds simple, right?

The mere thought of competing at the NCAA Track and Field Championship was enough to make her squeamish. This was also Shorter’s first full year in the NCAA Division II. So she was determined to make a mark for the program.

As Walker loaded the van to head to the Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala., her mind began to wander. She reclined her seat and plugged in her headphones to listen to her favorite pre-warmup song.

“The song ‘Trust Me’ by Richard Smallwood is a great reminder that I need to submit myself to the Lord. The lyrics remind me that I am not capable of doing anything on my own strength,” Walker said.

Over two hours passed before Walker and her coach reached the Crossplex. Before exiting the van, her coach reassured her that she was meant to be here.

Walker has known since her senior year of high school that Coach Scott Byrd was the kind of person she needed in her life.

“He’s like my second dad. I can’t even begin to explain how much he has shaped me not only into the runner, but also the person that I am today,” Walker said.

As she walked through the Crossplex double doors, her nerves fought to escape her body. Her stomach howled despite having eaten breakfast hours earlier.

Making her way through crowds of athletes and coaches, she eyed those who brushed past her. After checking in for her race, she looked at her watch.

10:30 a.m.

Only two hours until go time.

Walker searched the bleachers to find her coach. She already knows what he is going to say.

“You deserve this.”

After chatting with her coach,   she was greeted by her family and friends. The nerves swirling had now turned to adrenaline. She started to think that this race was bigger than her. It was for everyone in her life who had a hand in getting her where she was that day.

Greeting her supporters with hugs and smiles, she came face to face with her most important one of them all – her mom, Pamela Walker-Luke. Of the five years she has been at Shorter, Walker’s mother has been to almost every track meet. No matter the distance.

“I don’t care if I was in Alaska trying to pin a tail on a donkey, my mother would be right there to support me,” Walker said.

The time was 11 a.m., and Walker needed to get ready for her race. She made her way past unfamiliar faces and hummed Smallwood’s song from earlier to relieve her anxiety. She went through 45 minutes of warmup drills all the while channeling every ounce of worry from her mind.

“The nerves were eating away at me, but at that same time I was more confident than I had ever been. I knew I had placed all my trust in the Lord, so that my confidence was lying solely in him,” Walker said.

But just a day before, the same pre-race confidence was nowhere in sight. While participating in a practice session, Walker nearly collided with an opposing athlete who walked out in front of her. In an attempt to not run over the athlete, Walker tweaked her hamstring. According to her athletic trainer, Walker had sustained a grade 2 hamstring injury.

Her coach says despite his unwavering attempts to scratch her from the meet, Walker was adamant she could run.

“She was not going to let me take her out of the race and no matter how much I pleaded she had already made up her mind,” Byrd said.

She spoke one final prayer before stepping onto the track. “Trust Me” was replaying in her head. Her focus was on winning and nothing could deter her from it.

She found her way to the outside lane, set her blocks and hummed lines of Smallwood’s song.

“I will be with you …I’ll never leave you …I’ll fight your battle …If you will only trust Me.”

Walker clutched the handcrafted, coconut shell, cross necklace she got from a Belize pen pal in 2009 and moved it inside her shirt, just as she always did since the first time she wore it. It is a token of her and the girl’s friendship.

“I wear the necklace as a constant reminder to pray for the less fortunate people of Belize and as a reminder that all that I do is not for my own personal gain but for the glorification of the Lord,” Walker said.

Once the starting gun fired, Walker led the race. The bell rang as the officials signaled that the runners were entering their final lap. Walker increased her stride as she jetted off the last turn to cross the finish line.

53.29 seconds.

Not only had Walker secured the 2015 NCAA 400-meter national title and set a new school record, she also made Shorter University’s history as the first NCAA national champion in its first full year as a Division II member. Unlike champions who know their win immediately, Walker didn’t even realize she had won until an hour later.

“I was in shock. It didn’t hit me until I was in the training room and the athletic trainer reminded me that I had won,” Walker said.

But Walker has not always seen such sweet victories. She has had to endure countless struggles of depression and injury that have set her back from the goals she had envisioned for herself. Her sophomore and junior seasons were plagued with hamstring injuries and eventual depression; the challenges led to several downward spirals. Unknown to those around her, Walker’s faith and patience were being tested.

Even Walker’s childhood friend Zandra Lake has seen only hints of Walker’s worst moments.

“There’s been many times where she’s called me upset and overwhelmed, but one time in particular left a very unsettling feeling over me,” Lake said.

Lake remembered walking back into the dorm room they shared as sophomore roommates to find Walker on the ground. Lake thought Walker was playing a game. It wasn’t until she heard Walker saying she couldn’t breathe that she realized her friend was in trouble.

“She kept giving me one worded responses and not really showing me any signs of getting better,” Lake said. “It was only after I talked her down and positioned her upright that she then began to recuperate.”

For much of her life, Walker was able to rely on the support of her friends and family to get her through tough times. It wasn’t until after she graduated and moved to Clermont, Fla., to pursue a professional track and field career that she realized she was on her own for the first time in her 24 years.

Her challenges and lack of a support system drove Walker back to Rome, Ga., in August 2016 where she decided to train with her Byrd again. According to Walker, the switch was necessary if she wanted to continue having passion for track and field.

“Florida was great including the coach and teammates, but the pressures of money and making sure that everyone had my best interest at heart was daunting,” Walker said.

Walker secured a job at the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce, the same place she did her college internship. As her training progressed, so did her attitude on life. No longer did the uneasy feeling of being isolated haunt her; instead, she focused on preparing herself for the 2017 USA Indoor Championship and the 2017 World Championships.

But that same month, she began to feel a pinch in her hip. A local physician diagnosed her as having a torn labrum in her right hip.

“I said to myself, of course this would happen to me. I remembered letting out a hysterical laugh when the doctor told me my diagnosis,” Walker said.

Walker said it took long nights of frustrated talks with God before she remembered the lesson of patience she had learned earlier.

Walker’s teammates know that this is another setback that she will overcome.

“To see someone endure so much and still find a way to praise God is unbelievable; her testimony in the end will be so much greater than the pain she has had to bear,” teammate Jasmine Crump said.

Though Walker’s national championship aspirations have been put on hold, she admits the journey will be worth it in the end. She hopes that one day she can wear the USA logo across her chest.

Cecil Robinson
Guest Writer
cecil.robinson@hawks.shorter.edu

With the short miss, Taylor, and the Shorter men’s basketball team, headed into overtime against Georgia Tech. Yes, the Division I ACC school, that Georgia Tech. Shorter – the tiny, Christian, DII school in Rome, Ga. – was actually going into overtime with the Yellow Jackets.  As a basketball fan and student athlete at Shorter, I was ecstatic.

My brother and I attended the game with the hopes that the Hawks could upset the Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.

Taylor, the 5’10 guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., led the Hawks with 37 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds that night. Taylor steered the Hawks into overtime, but the team lost 95 to 87 in the end.

Despite the loss, the team would enter into the season feeling strong, and Taylor would embark on a journey few could have predicted…

Taylor was born in Brooklyn and then migrated to the metro-Atlanta area. After finishing high school at Wheeler HS in Marietta, Ga., Taylor decided to play college basketball at Florida International University (FIU) under head coach and NBA legend Isiah Thomas.

Making the decision to play at FIU over other top programs was based on the coach.

“It was an honor being coached by Isiah. I had offers to go to ACC and SEC schools, but I wanted to be coached by a hall of famer,” Taylor said.

Thomas eventually parted ways with Florida International, as did Taylor. The mellow, but focused guard decided to take time and focus on what he really wanted to do, which was to play basketball.

Finding his way to Shorter, Taylor has done more than just play basketball for the Hawks: He has put Shorter on the map.

Leading the NCAA in scoring,     Taylor has shattered critics’ remarks about guards under 6 feet tall. After scoring 62 points in a home game against Carver College, which broke the GSC’s standing record of 51, Taylor proved that he was a scorer, especially when he was hitting threes over other players 6 inches taller than him.

At that game, I was sitting in my usual spot behind the bench, and I could just feel the magic in the Winthrop-King Centre. Magic. That was what it was like to watch Taylor that night. Every time the Hawks got a stop on defense, Taylor would call for the ball and his teammates would get it to him. Everyone in the gym knew the ball was going to him, and every time he hit another shot, usually a difficult fade away or a three in front on someone’s face, the crowd would explode with cheers.

“I felt like I was the only guy in the gym that night,” Taylor said, adding it was the most memorable part of the season so far.

Many basketball players would be overdramatic with hand signs or emotional yells when shooting like that occurred at home, but not Taylor. I have been to almost every home game this season, and I have never seen or heard Taylor be an obnoxious or arrogant player. Complaining to the refs? No. Yelling at teammates? Nope. Fighting with the other team? Never.

Fans can see that Taylor has matured to be an athlete with a desire to do whatever it takes to win, regardless of who is guarding him and how tall they are.

This season has been a highlight-reel for the senior, and the basketball nation has noticed. Newsweek writer John Walters and NCAA writer Wayne Cavadi both compared Taylor to the Boston Celtics’ All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is also under 6 feet tall.

“It is an honor to be compared to someone in the NBA. I feel like he plays just as hard as me, and we have a shared desire to be unstopped. Short guys are underestimated,” Taylor chuckled.

Taylor and Thomas are the type of players youth look up to because they challenge the “status quo” of basketball. You don’t have to be tall to pla
y the game, and if you think you do, then watch these guys play.

After surpassing the 1,000-point mark in December 2016 (after only two seasons, might I add), Taylor has proven his play is mightier than his size.

But, his scoring ability and leadership would not be enough to lead the Hawks past the first round of the GSC Tournament. The Hawks fell to the Delta State Statesmen, 93-85. This is the third consecutive year the men’s team has lost in the first round of the conference tournament.

Junior guard Warren Helligar, who transferred to SU this season and helped the Hawks off the bench, said the season has taught him many lessons.

“I loved being around my team. This season was a really good learning experience,” Helligar said.

Despite the loss in the postseason, the Hawks hope to advance farther next year.

As for Taylor, you may see him playing in the NBA Development League, working on fufilling his dream of making it to the NBA.

Maggie Pruitt
Sports Editor
maggie.pruitt@hawks.shorter.edu

The Lady Hawks softball team will look to have another successful year after making it to the NCAA Division II Regional tournament last year. First year head coach Jessie Homesley, who spent five years as an assistant before being named the head coach this past summer, has her squad charged and ready for what they hope will be another successful year.

Homesley is optimistic for the season.

“I am super excited for this year. This group of girls have great team chemistry, and that should help us a lot this year.” Homesley said.

The Gulf South Conference (GSC) has proven to be a challenging conference in the past and coach Homesley knows that.

“The GSC is a very exciting conference, and anybody can be beat on any given weekend,” Homesley said.

But the team knows its talent, having a nearly identical, returning roster. They only lost one senior last year. Eight of their starters, including all three of their pitchers, have returned. Senior Kalei Clark, junior Hannah Draper and sophomore Payton Lippet, who was selected to the GSC pre-season all-conference team, will be key players against the opposing teams’ hitters. Lippert looks to build off her freshman year, where she threw over 190 innings and had over 100 strikeouts.

“My main key to having a good year is to never be satisfied,” Lippert said. “I have to work hard to be better every single day, and work to have more than one go-to pitch this year.”

Senior corner infielders Kameron Carter, who hit .337 with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs last year, and Ericka Bynum, who hit .260 with one home run and had 22 RBIs last year, will lead the offense for the Lady Hawks this year. Junior catcher Taylor Oda, who batted .223 with 6 doubles, one triple, and had 10 RBIs last year; junior outfielder Peyton Barthel, who batted .268 with three home runs and had 22 RBIs last year; and sophomore outfielder Tiffany Holland, who batted .368 with 24 RBIs and had 13 stolen bases last year, will all be vital players for the Lady Hawks this season.
“The biggest things that will help me this year are being consistent at the plate and working hard every day at practice to be the best that I can be to help my team,” Holland said. “I think the biggest key to our success this year will be maintaining our team camaraderie. We will also need to be consistent and bring our athleticism and ability to the field every game.”

The Lady Hawks are slated to finish seventh in the conference this year. Their season started Saturday, Feb. 4, against the University of Montevallo and Flagler University in Columbus, Ga., in a crossover tournament.

The Shorter baseball team is putting on the final touches for what they hope will be a great year. Second year head coach Wes Timmons has added many new pieces — 19 freshman and four junior college transfers.

“I am excited about having a new group of players who are eager to change this program into what we are hoping it will be,” Timmons said.

The Hawks will be looking for some junior college transfers to play vital roles this year. Coker College transfers Will Winslow and Jack Leech are two fifth year seniors who the Hawks will rely on to lead their high-powered offense. Two other big transfers that the team is counting on are Isaiah Maddela at shortstop and left-handed pitcher Jesse Wheeler out of the bullpen.

“I’m excited to see how this recruiting class and the transfers that coach brought in will do. Shubert, Banks and Pintaro will help us pitching wise, and the transfer guys such as Will and Jack will definitely bring us experience,” Wheeler said.

The team will also look for key contributions from senior middle infielder Patrick Sanderson, first baseman Dustin Lawson and right fielder Blaze Vasquez.

Vasquez said, “I am going to try and provide the same offense that I did last year and hopefully do better this year. I also hope to be a good leader to this talented group of freshmen we have.”

Wes Timmons and his team are picked to finish 11 in the Gulf South Conference this year.

“I have big goals. I want to be the best player in the world.”

Alex Morgan, one of the star strikers of the USWNT, recently announced her move to the French club, Olympique Lyonnais, which is one of the most high-volume women’s clubs in the world.  Success is part of this club’s history – 14 first division titles, three UEFA women’s Champions League trophies and eight domestic cups (Athena Sports).

Morgan is also a part of the Orlando Pride which is in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The league was established in 2013 after replacing the Women’s Professional Soccer league. The NWSL is home to many of the U.S. Women’ s National Team (USWNT) players, as well as several international players.  There are prestigious clubs outside of the U.S. that also have women’s teams.

Morgan released a statement on Twitter explaining her reasoning behind the unexpected move.  She hopes interaction with the new club will challenge her in new ways and evolve her overall play.

“I have big goals. I want to be the best player in the United States … the best player in the world.,” Morgan said in her statement in The Players’ Tribune.

Morgan’s move may have sparked a new wave of players relocating to Europe.  Heather O’Reilly and Crystal Dunn are two other players migrating to European club teams.

O’Reilly retired from the USWNT and international soccer in 2016 but wished to continue playing club.  The 32-year-old veteran midfielder and long-time leader on the USWNT announced her move to join the Arsenal Ladies in January.

Dunn, who was the runner-up for U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year, played for the Washington Spirit in the NWSL but left in early January to sign with Chelsea, located in Fulham, England.

Three high-profile players leave their U.S. club teams to play with other women from around the world, but fans of the game wonder why.  Could compensation play a factor?  The NWSL has a starting salary of $7,200 and a maximum salary of $39,700.  For many players, the physical stress is not worth the money they are paid as club players.

In addition, the salaries are immensely less than what American male players make on the U.S. National Team and in Major League Soccer (But, that’s a different issue).  Since 2013, the NWSL has seen about 50 players retire early, and for many of those players, it is due to their pay, according to Fox Sports.

For Morgan, O’Reilly and Dunn, the decision to move was probably influenced by multiple factors.

“I think part of it is for money, but also to help improve their play,” senior nursing major Julia Raymond said.

Having three of the top American players leave to play overseas may affect the NWSL, but Morgan and Dunn will each return to their club teams once their contracts are up with their foreign counterparts.

David Thompson
Guest Writer
david.thompson@hawks.shorter.edu