GAINESVILLE, Fla. – To better appreciate the Ava Brown comeback, it's necessary to revisit the comedown.
And at the time, make no mistake, it was a complete downer.
"It ripped my heart out," Florida softball coach Tim Walton recalled Sunday of the day he saw his team's leader suffer what appeared to be a serious lower body injury. "The pain, the sound coming out of her gut, the tears that followed ... ."
Walton was describing the moment back on Feb. 26 in the Judi Garman Classic at Fullerton, California. The Gators were facing California when right-fielder Taylor Shumaker charged what looked like a line-drive single, only to glove the ball on one hop and gun down the Bears' batter with a laser throw to Brown at first base. Ava Brown
But just as soon as Brown (and everyone in the Gators' dugout, Walton included) reacted in celebration over the play, she collapsed to the diamond and let out a primal scream. The stadium went dead silent. Brown was carted off the field. Everyone feared the worst.
"Obviously, when it first happened, it was scary," said Brown, the junior from Montgomery, Texas.
That was more than five weeks ago.
"To have her back is not something that on that day or that weekend I expected," Walton said.
Friday night, the fifth-ranked Gators not only were locked in a scoreless tie in the sixth inning against No. 13 Mississippi State, but they were being no-hit. That was until Kenleigh Cahalan jacked a two-run homer for the lead to send Presley Stadium into a tizzy.
When the next hitter, Brown, stepped into the batter's box, the place went tizzy-times-two.
"I think it was probably one of the most surreal moments I've ever experienced in my career," Brown said. "I felt the love. I needed the love. It felt good to feel that support."
Brown flew out in her lone plate appearance of UF's 2-0 victory that night. On Saturday, she was called on to pinch-hit in the fifth inning and ripped a single in what became a 9-5 defeat, as the crowd again went nuts. In Sunday's rubber game, Brown made her first start in 38 days and went 1-for-2 with a walk, as the Gators took the series thanks to Townsen Thomas' walk-off, bases-loaded fielder's choice RBI in the seventh for a 5-4 win.
Afterward, Walton said he felt as though the identity of his Gators returned this weekend.
That's because Brown is the heart and soul of the locker room, the dugout, the team. He saw it coming in the way Brown immersed herself in the rehab process and trusted the health staff's and coaching staff's plans to get her back on the field.
"From the beginning, I've tried to be as positive as possible," said Brown, who praised the doctors, athletic trainers and physical therapists for getting her right. "It was more so, 'You don't need surgery, so this is not going to end your career. This is not the worst thing possible. We're going to get you through this and you're going to play. Our goal, is help you play again and be as good as you were before.' "
Well, she was hitting .325 at the time of the injury. In three games against MSU, she went 2-for-4, reached base three times and now sits at .341 on the season. During a series where the Gators hit just .197, Brown's offensive performance was as good as anybody on the team. From here, she's only going to get more chances to return to form.
Someone is happy to be back.
Walton saw it coming, especially last week with the way she attacked her cuts in batting practice. The work has not been relegated to the batting cage, either. Brown, who was 5-0 with 0.49 ERA in the circle at the time of the injury, has been throwing in the bullpen, also.
What's the next step?
"It's day by day," Brown said.
And today will bring a little more than yesterday.
The Gators (36-5, 11-4) sit in fourth place in the Southeastern Conference standings with three league series to go. The SEC Tournament is May 5-9. The NCAA Tournament begins May 15. That's another five weeks away.
Think about the dark place Brown was in five weeks ago, the place she's in now and where she'll be in another five weeks.
"We didn't handle her like she wasn't coming back," Walton said. "We handled her with care, but with the intention she would be back at some time."
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