On any other occasion, Marissa Santos probably would have been upset after a rough showing like the D’Hanis softball team endured this weekend at the Natalia Lady Mustang tournament.

Santos, a standout junior pitcher/second baseman, might have even lamented about squandered scoring opportunities, miscues, and a few pitches that she would love to have back. The shortcomings were paramount in the Cowgirls exiting the two-day event with four straight losses, including three by shutout, and being outscored by a combined 34-5 margin.

But reflection is a powerful thing. A year ago, D’Hanis and the rest of the teams in Texas were about to see their seasons halted because of a coronavirus pandemic. So, Santos was happy to simply step into a pitching circle and batter’s box again.

“Even though we lost, we really realized how grateful we all to get to play with COVID still going on,” Santos said.

Santos, a Texas Tech commit, perhaps understands this aspect better than most. Nine months ago, Santos was at a medical center feeling as if she “got hit by a bus.” Other than the seasonal flu, Santos said she rarely gets sick. But suddenly in late June 2020, she began experiencing bad headaches, a loss of smell, taste and appetite, nausea and trouble breathing.

Santos, despite adhering to prescribed precautions (wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer), was diagnosed with COVID-19, a virus that has killed more than 524,000 and infected 29 million in the United States. Her mother, Becky, also tested positive for the virus but didn’t have as severe symptoms.

“I remember I was so sick (that) I was lying on the floor in the waiting room next to my mom’s feet,” Santos said. “I couldn’t sit up straight. I could not even get off the couch. I could not stand up. It’s way more unpredictable than even the experts said. I’m sitting over here (feeling as if I’m) dying and I’m 15, and my 40-year-old mom is completely fine, basically. That kind of taught me no matter what age you are, it can affect you in ways you would never expect.”

Santos’ symptoms remained for the next 12 days, but her health took a turn for the better nearly two weeks after her diagnosis. She lost 18 pounds in the process, but said she’s had no lingering issues.

‘It saved me’
A bout with COVID was just part of transformative summer for Santos. After the UIL canceled the softball season in April 2020, the 5-foot-8 Santos decided she needed a break from the sport. She left her Dallas-based club team, took a few weeks off, and got a job.

Santos had soured on the demands of playing year-round and the stress of the recruiting process, pointing to moments during the fall where she would return home from tournaments in Mississippi, Colorado or California early on Monday mornings, shower, get a few hours of sleep, before having to attend school.

Santos didn’t touch a bat, ball or glove for months.

“It saved me,” Santos said of the break. “It was either a make-it-or-break-it point. At the end of my break, that was when I was dying to play again. I could not go find my glove again. At the time, I didn’t have a good relationship with softball. It was a very, very hard time. I loved it — I knew I loved it — and I didn’t want to quit, but I needed a break.”

Santos continued to work out at home on her own before joining Firecrackers, a local club.

“A know a lot of girls that kind of go through that in high school, where they’re getting burned out and they don’t want to play anymore,” said Firecrackers coach Aimee Felices, who played at Clark and Alabama State. “I kind of just told her that if you choose to walk away from it, one day you might be, ‘I can’t go back.’ “I think it was just the pressure of everything, with the pandemic and everything.”

In July, Santos began her return to softball. Besides one episode where she became winded and lightheaded — a byproduct of not being far removed from having COVID, she believes — the 2019 Texas Sports Writer Association Class 1A player of the year, quickly found her form. It was on display at the highly-regarded Ronald McDonald tournament that October in Houston.

“The real Marissa,” Felices said of Santos, who was 19-5-1 with 166 strikeouts in leading D’Hanis to a state title two years ago and was being recruited by Oklahoma State, Texas, Nicholls State, Tarleton State and Marshall before pledging to Texas Tech. “I think it’s a testament to how hard she worked that she was able to come back, and in my personal opinion, improved on what she had before and not just come back the same.”

Back in the circle
Just before 6 a.m. on Friday, members of the D’Hanis softball team arrived at school for a moment that had been 360 days in the making. The last time the Cowgirls played a game, they walked away with a 17-6 rout of Brackettville. D’Hanis appeared poised to make a serious run at a second straight state championship.

But a global pandemic ended the goal before it could truly get started. There would be no district championship. No playoffs. No chance to win a state crown. Only a lifetime of wondering what could have been.

“The hardest part for me was that I knew we were either going to go back or be extremely close,” Santos said. “We were kind of in the dark for a while. The UIL was saying that if everything clears up from COVID at a certain point in time, then we would just start off in playoffs. That went on and on and on, and the dates kept changing on whether they were going to do it or not. There was like a huge rain cloud over our heads. We’re just sitting there saying, ‘What are we going to do now?’ “

For the Cowgirls, the choice was to try to make up for what was lost a year ago. With only three days of practice because several athletes were playing on the school’s regional semifinalist basketball team, D’Hanis lost to Class 6A Southwest (2-0), Class 4A La Vernia (10-5), and Devine (6-0) and Class 3A Natalia (16-0).

“We could’ve gone and played at a smaller tournament with not very good teams in it,” Santos said. “We learned a lot this weekend. We saw some really high-caliber teams and that helped us more than going to a smaller tournament and beating everybody.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1