In the warehouse portion of the ISF headquarters, Kayla Cox today saw equipment being packed into "starter kits," which the ISF ships to other countries.

PLAYER IN SOFTBALL, WINNER IN LIFE
2010-03-24

In boxing they use the expression “down for the count.” After all that 18-year old Kayla Cox went through, the referee should have stopped the match.

But her game is softball. And just like the sport itself has shown over the years, you just can never, ever give up.

On an invitation from the International Softball Federation, the pitcher for East Bay High School in Gibsonton, Florida, today visited the ISF’s world headquarters complex, which is in the same county. Her story had recently been told in an article that made the front page of the Tampa Tribune. The piece moved ISF officials to want to have her in for a day of recognition. On the field the pitcher turned in performances that will soon have her throwing for North Carolina State University. She was the 2009 Tampa Tribune Hillsborough County Softball Athlete of the Year, having amassed 267 strikeouts, which was tops in the county. Along with a 0.85 earned run average, Cox helped guide her team to their first playoff appearance since 2005. Just recently she pitched a complete game that saw her strike out an amazing 20 of 21 batters.

But it’s that she withstood everything thrown at her off the field that is truly remarkable.

Her parents divorced when she was a toddler and at age 7 she (along with her brother) moved in with her grandparents. The grandfather is battling emphysema and his wife eight years ago underwent quadruple gastric bypass surgery. In the past two years Kayla has lost two siblings – her eldest brother died and then one year later her eldest sister died in a car accident. Now her mother has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, which is in stage 4, meaning that it is untreatable.

Softball, however, has been the cure for Kayla’s off-field emotional pain.

The visit today to the ISF complex in Plant City brought an athlete to the home base of a sport that in the early years was told ‘no’ on countless occasions when its desire was to someday be added to the Olympics. But, like Kayla, softball pressed on. Then after the July 2005 vote by the International Olympic Committee resulted in softball being left off the programme of the 2012 Olympics the sport showed strong determination to Olympic reinstatement efforts. And now that the sport has also been left off the programme for the 2016 Games, softball hasn’t given up. The sport is continuing and will go on so that athletes around the world like Kayla continue to have opportunities to compete at a high level.

ISF President Don Porter today gave Kayla a game ball from the 2008 Olympic softball competition as well as a limited edition souvenir (miniature) softball bat from the Beijing Games, plus one of the gloves given to those who threw out a ceremonial first pitch during the competition in China.

“Kayla has already overcome more emotional challenges than one person should have to go through in an entire life,” Mr. Porter said. “Her resolve and her character are truly admirable. It’s unfortunate that I’m sure there are others out there like her, but the fact that softball is what has helped her get through all of this adversity just inspires us that much more to never give up in working as hard as we can to provide opportunities for boys, girls, men, and women to be able to play our sport.

“We also certainly wish her the best as she finishes out her high school season and then when she goes on to play college softball. And maybe we’ll even see her one day in an ISF competition.”

In the meantime, those that see her on or off the field are sure to see a young lady who continues to hold her head up and keep her sights looking forward.