Margaretta softball's Cassidy Lane not afraid to try new things
· Yahoo Sports
Cassidy Lane had a good idea of what it might look like. But, coming back from an injury, you never know.
The Margaretta senior missed her junior softball season with a wrist injury. She made it clear what was to come with a home run in back-to-back at-bats in the first game the next season.
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"Junior year, I knew I'd have a big role," she said. "I went down with an injury and it bummed me out because my team needed me. 'I have to get back and do what I can to be better than before.' I can't let my team down. It was a little nerve racking (this year).
"Nervous excitement. I hadn't seen live pitching or thrown to anyone in a few months. My mechanics all came back. 'I got this.' We're finally comfortable."
Lane didn't stop hitting home runs as she's established a single season program record by three with seven.
"Hitting the ball out of the park, 200-plus feet," she said. "You come up and people know you have power — they're scared — it's a good feeling. They respect you."
Lane drove in 37 runs and scored 33 with a .543 average. She set a single-game program record by driving in six runs in a win over Norwalk St. Paul.
She's struck out 118 and walked 25 in 75 innings in the circle.
She played first base as a sophomore after rotating between third base, second base and pitcher as a freshman.
"I was trying to develop as a leader," she said.
She was ready for her role in the circle to expand as a junior, before an injury forced her to miss most of the year. She jammed her wrist before the season and trudged through the first eight games.
"It was a struggle," Lane said. "I wasn't used to sitting out. It helped me become a better leader. I was still a captain; I had to be a positive impact."
She was excited for her role this season.
"I played over the summer, trying to develop my skills back," she said. "I had a good summer."
It helps to have a catcher you can appreciate in Brooke Hastings.
"She's always so happy and so positive," Lane said. "She gets hit so much and she takes it like a champ. She gets up. If you're in a slump, she laughs with you. It's a game. That relationship you build."
Polar Bears win league championship
Margaretta (17-5, 9-1) split the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division crown with Edison. Lane pitched one of the best games in her career as she allowed Huron one hit in a victory.
The Polar Bears advanced to a regional semifinal two years ago and a district final the season before that.
"It's so cool and so special," Lane said of the league championship. "We won when I was a freshman and sophomore, as well. Now that it's my senior year, we're finishing strong. We're ending on such a high note and we've accomplished so many things.
"Not just my sports. We won so many championships. We're a winning school right now. That's something to be so proud of."
Lane gets plenty of help in the lineup, including Ellaynah Schaefer, Lucy Edwards and younger sister Tessa Lane.
"Not many people get the opportunity to do it," Lane said of playing with Tessa. "You see each other develop over time and then you play together, 'This is happening.' It's her first season; it's my last season. It's a great accomplishment."
Isla Palomo shares perspective with Lane after also missing last season with an injury.
"Take nothing for granted," Lane said. "One game at a time."
Big South Conference part of Lane family
Lane continues her basketball career at Division I Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. She was first-team all-state and a recognized top performer in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division as a senior for the league champ Polar Bears.
"I wanted to go out of state," she said. "Both of my parents played in the Big South. I wanted to explore a home away from home. I needed to push myself; not many people get an opportunity to play Division I."
Lane's mother, Samantha Lane, played softball at Winthrop before finishing at Charleston Southern. Rob Lane played baseball at Winthrop and then Gardner-Webb.
They treated their daughter as though they'd been Division I athletes. They pushed hard on occasion and there were no excuses.
"They have high expectations," Cassidy said. "I hold myself to a high standard. I'm thankful for my parents; they helped me become the person I am."
It was not an easy decision to forgo her softball opportunities.
"I love both (sports)," she said, "but I'm drawn to basketball. I want to follow in the same footsteps, but try something they haven't done."
Speaking of attempting something new?
Considering that Lane was trying to give herself a bit of a break, adding a third sport as a senior initially came as a surprise to her parents. It was decided by all, however, that golf could actually be a nice change of pace.
"Just for fun," she said. "We won the SBC Tournament. We started the first week in August; that was my first time ever swinging a club. I was Most Improved. I improved by like 20 — I dropped like 15 strokes. I just wanted the experience."
Lane broke her leg in the eighth grade. She remembers thinking "'I'm over with," unable to even consider what the future might hold.
Her injuries didn't feel like blessings in disguise at the time, but Lane learned about herself and about life.
"God makes you come back stronger," she said. "My injury was just a setback. I learned to give myself time and help myself. I wasn't doing that. I could have got burned out or made the injury worse. I love to compete. I'm aways competing.
"When everything is go, go, go — you forget to take a breath. I've grown close in my faith. (The break was) like a thank you. All my work has paid off."
She learned about patience, although her ordeal made time fly in a way. She was forced — or able — to take a step back for once.
"You don't realize, but your years go by fast," Lane said. "You have to take in every moment. Life won't revolve around sports the rest of my life. I'll have to deal with that. My relationship with Christ has grown so much and I'm so excited to see what God has planned for me in the future."
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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Cassidy Lane heads to Gardner-Webb from Margaretta