It was a Good Friday and you could feel the excitement because the Holiday weekend was upon us. Many Union Countians crowed in to watch the Union County Bravettes Softball Team take on the Madisonville North Hopkins Lady Marroons in a game dubbed “this is going to be a good one”. It was a game like all others Union County Bravette Senior, Evyn Hendrickson was on the mound and Union County was holding their own. Then in the 3rd Inning you didn’t hear any cheering all you heard was silence as a sound no parent, fan, coach, umpire, or player want to hear vibrated through the field, the sound of a ball striking a player in the face. Hendrickson had just thrown a good pitch when a Madisonville North player hit a line drive that went straight back to Hendrickson. We listened to her pain that day as time crawled by waiting for an Ambulance that would transport Hendrickson to the Hospital where she would later be air-lifted to an Evansville Hospital, and she would go on to undergo surgery to repair 4 broken bones in her face.
A month later Hendrickson took the mound again, this time a little stronger, more courageous, and a lot safer. She wore a face mask. Hendrickson in her time off became an advocate for face masks. She was all over telling people how important the use of the face mask was for the safety of the pitcher. Yesterday KHSAA made Kentucky the first state to require face protection in high school softball.
Here is the press release from the KHSAA; The Board of Control conducted its first organizational meeting of the 2017-18 academic year July 14-15 at the Hotel Covington in Northern Kentucky. Over the course of its two-day meeting, the Board took a progressive step in the area of student-athlete safety by approving a recommendation from staff to mandate the use of face protection in softball for pitchers, first basemen and third basemen. The Board’s action, which follows the recommended use of protective headgear in July of 2014, makes Kentucky the first state to require face protection in high school softball, and continues the KHSAA’s willingness to be at the forefront in regards to player safety.
We would like to applaud all the people who are responsible for making this happen and this just shows that a small town girl from Kentucky can make a difference.