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  • Rusk pitching ace Callie Collins is pictured in action during the 2010 season, prior to a late-season hand injury that halted her high school career prematurely. Collins’ days in the pitching circle are far from over, however, as she will be continuing her softball career at the University of Texas-Arlington (NCAA Division I) in the fall. Photo courtesy of Lynn Littlejohn

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May 29, 2010

Collins: It wasn’t supposed to end this way

Season-ending injury forces Rusk standout to persevere

Jay Neal Jacksonville Daily Progress

RUSK — Callie Collins’ Rusk Lady Eagle pitching career came to a sudden and unexpected halt on April 6 in a game against District 18-3A rival Lufkin Hudson.

For it was on that evening that Collins had the misfortune of being hit by a pitch in the worst possible part of her body — her pitching hand.

The accident affected Collins’ thumb, forcing her hand to be placed in a cast for several weeks as a part of the healing therapy.

“I had no idea the injury was as bad as it turned out to be when it first happened,” Collins said. “I had pain, but I figured it would go away.

“By the next game I couldn’t move my hand and at that time I knew it was something more serious.”

Collins, who will also graduate in the top 10 of her class, said in nearly 10 years of softball she had never been injured, until April 6.

“I never played scared or worried about getting hurt, because I never was injured.” she said.

So much was lost with that one errant pitch — the chance to possibly lead her team into the state playoffs and the potential of Collins reaching her goal of 1,000 strikeouts during her high school career — she finished up with 988 K’s.

Collins, who had signed a scholarship to continue her softball career at the University of Texas-Arlington (NCAA Division I) prior to the start of the high school season, said she had braced herself for the worst when receiving the diagnosis of the extent of her injury.

“I was prepared for it,” she said. “I knew I would still have to give my team my all and do what ever I could to help them, even though I couldn’t pitch.

“Honestly, one of my first thoughts was about my senior friends on the team. I knew I would be playing softball in college, but for the (rest of) our seniors this would be their last chance at seeing their softball dreams come true.”

Unfortunately, those dreams of a post season appearance, and maybe even more, did come to an end a couple of weeks later as Rusk, who finished the regular season tied with Lufkin Hudson and Carthage for second place first lost the coin flip (Hudson won and as a result took second) and then lost the tie-breaking game with Carthage, 1-0.

Seemingly, to make matters even worse, Collins who was being used as a courtesy runner in the game, was stranded at third base as the game came to an end.

“I was very upset after that game,” she said. “So many chances and the reality of everything falling apart set in quick.

“All I could think about was being on third base and wishing there was something I could have done to make it home and score to tie the game up.”

After pitching over 700 innings in a Lady Eagle uniform, compiling a record of 108-32-2, and an earned run average of 0.93, Collins’ time as a Lady Eagle ended right there on third base.

Despite having helped Rusk to a bi-district title, two area championships and making All-District First Team for three years, 2009 District 18-3A Co-MVP and earning a spot on the 2009 Texas Sports Writers’ All-State squad, there would be no final playoff hurrah for Collins and company in 2010.

It wasn’t suppose to end that way.

Collins’ cast is now off and she is on the road to what appears to be a full recovery.

About two weeks ago she started her comeback — the next chapter in her life so-to-speak — by going out to the Rusk tennis courts with her dad, Darvin Collins, and working on overhand tosses and her pitching drills, fueled by her “new found sense of appreciation of the opportunity to play this great game of fastpitch softball and (the) desire to be successful at the next level,” in the words of Darvin Collins. 

Callie Collins seems to be in a good frame of mind as to what it will take to return to the pinnacle she has enjoyed for so long.

“I know I have a lot to do physically to be ready for college,” she said. “But, you know, I have never really worked on the physical part of my game, just pitching, so by spending time doing both now should make me even stronger.

“No is never an answer for me, I’ll be back and ready. I am not intimidated by the challenges and I know at the college level everyone can hit, so I just have to work that much harder to make sure I am at my best.”

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