Interview and Story by Emma Breer

Challenges cross our paths every day, but the description of the case is different than how we face it. Ask Evie Sanchez. Evie Sanchez is a senior outfielder who plays for the OC Batbusters Lara and she has been diagnosed with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy (CP). This neurological condition, caused by damage to the developing brain, affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance along with their posture. “You can’t tell on the field until she starts running,” said Clay Lara, Sanchez’s coach. “She looks like a softball player.”

Sanchez started playing softball when she was eight years old. She grew up watching practices at a young age. Coach Lara remembers her “playing with a pink glove, watching older kids and wanting to play with them.” After watching a lot, Sanchez finally told her parents that she wanted to play. From that moment, she wasn’t a softball player with CP, she was a softball player. And when they “told (Evie) that they wanted (her) on his team,” she jumped at the opportunity (Sanchez).

Softball has helped Sanchez in many ways physically. Sanchez has never viewed her condition as a “setback.” She goes to therapy, she wears a brace, but none of it halts her desire to play. However, you can see a limp; it becomes noticeable when she starts running and sometimes when she’s throwing. Through playing, though, she’s noticed a difference because of the strength she’s building. “Softball made me stronger because my left side is now even,” Sanchez said.

“It’s a testament to her hard work.” Coach Lara says that Sanchez is the hardest-working kid he has ever had. “She’s always full of energy…always happy…asks questions…she never lets it get in her way” (Lara). When describing Sanchez, Coach Lara described our recruiting philosophy. Everyone wants the hitter with the most home runs, the pitcher with the most strikeouts, and the runner with the most stolen bases. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m coaching, I’m not opposed to that. But no one takes the time to recognize the daily grind of all players, and no one plucks out the kid running around with their full effort in everything on display. No one searches for things outside of talent. In Sanchez’s case, her path could likely end after travel ball, but she still has plenty to offer a program beyond diving plays and walk-off doubles. She can help out in other ways at the college and can still get her fill by simply being a part of the university.

Softball has also helped Sanchez as a person. She says that softball has helped her “advance leadership and communication skills.” Softball has also helped Sanchez with her confidence and taking that feeling with her throughout life. “(Softball) is pushing me to be better,” Sanchez said, “My Batbuster sisters push me to be better.”

Sanchez has not only dealt with her condition and still grown as a person, but she has also helped her teammates through herself and her CP. In most situations, people make the presumption that divergence makes others uncomfortable. That they’re not willing to accept one’s differences. In Sanchez’s case, they eat it up. “She doesn’t want to be treated differently, but she still wants to make them aware,” Coach Lara said. Coach Lara and Sanchez started by advising them about the condition. Instead of being uncomfortable by the condition, Sanchez’s teammates were shocked that she was playing with it. “When they see her succeed, they take it as a spark of energy” (Lara).

If no one had ever mentioned Sanchez’s condition, you may have never viewed her differently; you would only see a young softball player. When the information is out, certain people don’t acknowledge that nothing about her changed. Sanchez is still the same Sanchez, you’re just no longer in oblivion. She has grown as a person, both physically and mentally, and has helped those around her through information and inspiration. All Sanchez did was work hard to be the best athlete she could be, and hopefully, that unwillingness to let her condition stop her encourages others in years to come.