HICKORY, N.C. — There’s different elements that go into being a good athlete. There’s the obvious talent, but work-ethic and commitment are the things that tend to push an individual to his or her highest potential.
Then, there is the question of, ‘can you handle the pressure of it all?’ Not everyone can, but there are those few that push themselves to be great no matter what the circumstance may be ahead.
This is what St. Stephens High junior Mayson Lail had to face on her way back to the mound during the 2021 season.
Coming off of an All-Conference freshman season, Lail saw her sophomore campaign come to an early halt in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although Lail was able to compete in travel softball during the summer of 2020 as some restrictions were eased, something else would stand in her way: injury.
She said that she injured her right elbow on July 10, 2020, but insisted on playing hurt, and she did so until Sept. 18.
“My elbow would hurt all the way down into my wrist and fingertips,” she said. “I thought that I could have possibly had tendonitis so I continued to play through the pain. I tried to manage through the pain during tournaments by rotating Advil and Tylenol, while also rubbing Aspercreme on it. I finally realized I had to go to the doctor; my elbow would almost double in size after a tournament.”
She said that when she first went to the doctor, the thought was that she had a pinched nerve. During this time, she wasn’t allowed to play softball, and she had to go to physical therapy for the probable pinched nerve and the pain didn’t get any better.
“After five weeks of PT, I was recommended to Charlotte to figure out the real problem,” she said. “I went to Charlotte, my doctor was amazing, and he knew almost immediately that I had something called ulnar nerve displacement, which is where the nerve subluxes and dislocates over the anterior part of the elbow. By the time I had surgery, it had been two and half months of me being out of softball.”
Lail said that her surgery took place on Dec. 2, and after this she was finally released to pitch with the supervision of a pitching coach on Feb. 24, 2021. However, she wasn’t permitted to pitch in a game until March 29 (the first game against Hickory).
“Overall, it was about six months before I could play in a game,” she said. “It was heartbreaking; I knew I loved softball, but I never realized how much my life revolved around it until I couldn’t play.”
Although she missed being out on the mound during her injury and post-surgery, Lail decided to give pitching lessons to younger girls which she said helped her out tremendously.
“Being around young kids learning to love the game as much as I do helped me get through the fact that I couldn’t play myself,” she said. “I (also) came to every school practice to support my team and to do as much as I could. After I got my splint and sling off, I would field ground balls and catch pop flies and then sit the balls beside me because that was all I could do.
“Seeing my teammates play without me was extremely hard, but I was so proud of them. We had two girls step up to pitch when I couldn’t, one who has never pitched before until then [Zoey Boston]. Although it broke my heart to not be able to play, I was happy that my teammates put the team before themselves to step up and pitch when they didn’t want to.”
“I (also) realized that even though I wasn’t in the game, my team still counted on me to be there for them and be there as a leader. Our pitcher got down on herself in some of the tougher games, which is very easy to do when that isn’t your primary position. I tried my best to cheer her on, talk her through it, and even talk to her afterwards about her emotions and how well she did. I was being honest too, she did amazing. Never pitching before and stepping up to pitch made me more proud than ever…Every team needs that person to keep them going, to keep them together, and I felt like it was my position to take charge.”
Prior to returning to full action on March 29, Lail said that she was in the batting lineup to bunt a little bit.
“I bunted in order to move a runner or try to find a way on base,” she said. “Not going to lie, the beginning of that was rough. In the past, I had been a pretty decent bunter; I didn’t do it often but when I did I could normally get it down, which is why I was put in the line to bunt. It took me a couple (of) at-bats to even get a bunt down…The first at-bat looked like I had completely forgot how to. It got better after that; I started going through all the basic fundamentals to bunting in my head to improve the next at-bat.”
As far as the coaching decision to have her bunt, Lail said it was a spur of the moment thing. She said the team was on its way to a game when head coach Ricky Deyton called her to the front of the bus and basically told her his plans to put her in to bunt. He asked how she felt about it, and she told him that it had been awhile, but she would do her best.
Following that little teaser in the batting lineup, the time finally came for Lail to get back onto the mound. Unfortunately, the Lady Indians had dug themselves into a hole with a 1-3 record.
Nevertheless, despite not being 100 percent, Lail returned against rival Hickory and pitched a complete 7-inning game in a 3-0 road victory. She struck out 10 batters and only allowed four hits, almost like she never left.
“The first time back on the mound I was full of emotions,” she said. “I was excited, eager, anxious, and nervous all at once, but I remembered that my team needed me, and I couldn’t let my own personal emotions take over the way I played…I was noticeably slower, but my spins were still where they needed to be.
“I’ve always been told that spin and location is more important than speed, and I’ve never seen proof so visible than my first games back…My speed wasn’t there, so without those spins and location the other team would have killed the pitches. I slowly got a little faster each week. I am now close enough to where I was before, not quite there yet.”
She was initially told to only pitch the first four or five innings, but she said she was eager to do well and finish out the game. She said that she didn’t have any pain, but her body was weak.
“I wanted to win so badly, and no matter how tired I was, if I came out of the game I (would have) felt as if I had given up on my team, so I stayed in the game until the end,” she said. “I told myself that if I had to lay down my life on that field to pull out a win, then that was what I had to do. I knew my team needed a win more than anything.
“I could see the difference in how they carried themselves. The losses discouraged the team, and I knew that a conference win was the boost of confidence we needed. After that game, we went into games with more confidence, we became a team, and had each other’s backs.”
Including her first contest back as the starting pitcher, Lail helped propel her team to a three-game win streak to push St. Stephens to an above .500 mark (4-3 record at the time). The Lady Indians finished the 2021 season in 4th place in the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference with a 6-6 record and a 7-6 overall record.
In 30 at-bats, Lail obtained six hits (two singles, one double and three triples), as well as a pair of RBIs with a .683 on-base percentage.
In her element on the mound, she garnered 95 strikeouts and only 12 walks while allowing 25 hits and 18 runs (.840 ERA) in 66 ⅔ innings pitched.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect when Mayson returned after her surgery, but it didn’t take long to see she was back,” said Deyton. “She wasn’t a hundred percent and her strength and stamina were not there but accuracy and desire to play was. Her return was not just a confidence boost for her but for the team as well. Mayson works hard at her craft and always does it with a smile on her face. As for next year, I expect more of the same from her. Strikeouts and smiles.”
She even posted up a pair of 16 strikeout games (coming in the final two games of the regular-season), along with four shutouts in 9 appearances (6-3 record). She also had four two-hitter nights, as well as a pair of one-hitter games. She pitched complete games in all of her match-ups in 2021 including an 11 inning night in the season-finale against McDowell on April 28, in a 3-2 loss.
“I think some of our losses would have been a different situation if I was 100 percent,” said Lail. “The majority of the runs were in the 5th-7th inning(s). I did a lot better than anyone and myself expected coming back from a surgery though.”
Although the Lady Indians didn’t make the state playoffs this season, Lail is ready for her senior year in 2022, and she already has a particular aspiration in mind.
“My goal for my senior season is to break the school record again. Freshman year, I broke the school record for the most strikeouts; I had 182 strikeouts,” she said. “I have improved much more since then with speed and movement, and I want to break that record again as a senior.”
