“Senioritis” clearly isn’t a part of Sadie Ross’ vocabulary.
Ross — a star pitcher/infielder for Eaton’s powerhouse softball team, while attending Highland High School — worked harder than ever in preparation for her senior season on the softball diamond, and she’s continuing to work just as hard.
But perhaps even more remarkable than the work Ross put in to come back from twice tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in her right knee, are the results.
Ross is quite possibly better than she has ever been.
That is no small thing considering the last time she was healthy for a full season, she was the Class 3A Player of the Year and clearly one of the most talented players in the state among all classifications as just a freshman.
“It’s not really surprising considering how hard she worked with her conditioning and her rehab,” Eaton’s veteran, universally respected head coach Dale Hughes said. “We’re letting her run. We’re letting her play. She’s 100% go. And it’s all because she worked so hard to get herself back.”
The type of statistics Ross is putting up this fall is the type normally reserved for those playing video games on the most generous of difficulty settings.
Entering this weekend, she’s hitting .474, slugging .973, with four home runs, seven doubles and 17 RBI in 38 at-bats. She came into the weekend having maintained a 6-1 record and 0.85 earned-run average, while striking out 78 batters and walking 11 in 41 innings in the circle.
She’s played in every one of the Reds’ games.
But perhaps even more meaningful than the sheer numbers is the way Ross’ return has further elevated the mood and spirit of an Eaton program that was already fresh off winning its second state title in three years a season ago.
“Sadie and I have a really good bond,” Reds senior Julia Meagher said. “We get into a good rhythm, pitching back and forth between games. It’s just nice to be able to have someone to be there for me. We don’t have to rely on just ourselves. We have each other.”
When Ross sat out this past season, new leaders emerged for Eaton — Meagher, among them, as she pitched 132 2/3 of a possible 165 2/3 innings a year ago.
In addition to Meagher enjoying the comfort of having one of her best friends back on the field, Eaton is also reaping the benefits of having a three-headed monster in the pitcher’s circle — Meagher, Ross and fellow senior Destrie Greiman — without the need for any of the hurlers to carry too much of the load.
Ross’ return has been masterful. But the rehabilitation was a sheer grind.
Mere weeks after earning 3A Player of the Year honors from CHSAANow.com, Colorado Preps and MaxPreps — and leading Eaton to its first state softball title — Ross initially tore her ACL and meniscus during her freshman basketball season with Highland.
After nearly a year’s worth of rehabilitation, Ross returned to the diamond in mid-September of 2021 and was able to return, in a limited fashion, for the final 11 games of the 28-game softball season. The Reds went 24-4 and were a state semifinalist.
Then, about 15 months ago, she again tore her ACL and meniscus while playing club softball early in the summer.
The injury cost her entire junior season.
Remarkably, Eaton went 22-7 and won its second state title in three years, playing without Ross, arguably the team’s best player.
Though Ross was no doubt the Reds’ biggest supporter, feverishly cheering on her teammates from the dugout, the championship season was understandably bittersweet.
“I’m not going to lie. It was pretty hard,” Ross said. “But, honestly, it just felt good to be there for my team, be a supporter and be there on the side, every step of the way. I was there every practice and just through everything. But it was pretty hard not being out there. I still cherished it as much as I could.”
Having to sit out her entire junior season only fueled Ross’ desire to put in the countless hours of work needed to return as perhaps the best version of herself so far.
“I wasn’t fully back, but I started getting back out there in July,” Ross said. “Rehab was just 12 months straight. I rehabbed a lot at Simple Speed Coach (a performance training facility) in Windsor. It was a lot of work.”
Eaton (14-1 entering the weekend) is also perhaps the best it has ever been with Ross back — and with returns to full health by two other top players, junior catcher Zoe Hamilton and senior Stephanie Bingley, who both suffered in-season injuries a year ago.
Further elevating her status within the statewide, regional and national softball community, Ross committed this past July to play college softball next year for Division I top-25 program Baylor University.
With that, she’ll follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Remington Ross, who starred for Eaton from 2016-19 before playing DI college softball at Cal State Fullerton and, currently, at Ball State.
But as eager as Sadie Ross is to head to Waco, Texas, to play high-level college softball, she is just as determined to complete her comeback in storybook fashion with the Reds.
Eaton entered the weekend as MaxPreps’ 17th-ranked team, nationally, among programs from states that play high school softball in the fall.
“Us five seniors are really, really cherishing this moment,” Ross said. “We’re taking it game by game and enjoying the time that we have. But that (state title) is what we want really, really bad. It’s good to set the tone for the incoming freshmen, too, because we have a good freshman class.”
— Bobby Fernandez covers high school sports for the Greeley Tribune. Reach him at (970) 392-4478 or by email at bfernandez@greeleytribune.com.
