By Michael Steenstra:
Kelsey Lineberger was diligently preparing for her sophomore season when disaster struck. "I was working on speed and agility doing sprints. I pushed off my leg wrong and landed awkwardly, which led to a displaced knee cap." A displaced knee cap is a rather painful injury that occurs when your knee cap slips out of its normal position and settles outside of where it's supposed to be.

After Kelsey suffered the injury, she had to complete 3 weeks of physical therapy and work hard just to be able to play at all this past season. For Kelsey, the hardest part was not suffering the injury and completing the physical therapy, "the hardest part is missing playing time." She continued, "because I've missed playing time, it made me work that much harder to get back in there."

When the 3 weeks of physical therapy were up, she came back to the team but was forced to wear a brace on the injured knee. Wearing a brace on her knee was not the only post-injury change for Kelsey either.

When she got back, she was moved out of her usual spot in the infield and placed into a strictly offensive role as the team's designated hitter. Kelsey could have let her early season injury and switch from the infield negatively affect her attitude but she used it as an opportunity to mature and get better offensively.

Her coach, Pat Flannagan marveled that "her attitude could not be better" upon returning back to the team. Kelsey chose not to dwell on the role change and the injury, deciding to embrace the new opportunity for what it was, not for what it wasn't.

Kelsey explained, "This year, my role on the team was strictly an offensive one. I devoted most of my time to getting my swing to be the best it could be." Well, it was time well spent for Kelsey and she became an offensive force on a very good Sherwood team that went on to finish 17-2 overall.

Coach Flannagan gives a great description of Kelsey's hitting prowess, "she hits the ball with such force and such power that people just want to get out of the way." She laughingly continued, "I wouldn't like to be playing infield with her up at bat."

One of the highlights of the season for Kelsey came in the 4th inning of a May 3rd game against Blake. Kelsey came up to the plate with 2 on base and showcased the power that she is capable of producing.

Coach Flannagan recollects, "Kelsey comes up and just crushes the ball. It must have gone 230 feet to dead center and that ball got out of there in a hurry". Gameday writer Adam Chasen, who attended the game that day, wrote in his May 5 article that "Kelsey Lineberger smacked a home run that may still be orbiting".

The home run was not only an impressive display of power; it was also the turning point in a game that Sherwood went on to win 7-3.

Unfortunately for Montgomery County high school softball pitchers, Kelsey Lineberger is only a sophomore right now. Next year Kelsey looks to get back into the field and help her team out in the field as well as continuing to help them out at the plate. In just 2 short seasons, Kelsey already has her coach saying, "In the 35 years that I've been coaching, she is one of the best hitters I've ever seen."