Brenna Brownfield's blast a fitting reward for sticking it out through hard times

Byproducts of participating in competitive athletics are the life lessons acquired through competition.

Brenna Brownfield has repeatedly learned the hard way over the past three softball seasons that life is not fair.

After earning the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year award as a sophomore in 2019, the Kent State fifth-year senior slugger’s last three seasons have all been interrupted by catastrophic events that she could not control.

Brownfield’s 2020 campaign ended after 19 games along with the rest of the team due to COVID-19.

Her 2021 season lasted 21 games before she was shelved by a knee injury.

Brownfield then missed over a month of the current campaign after suffering a major injury to her other knee.

Had Brownfield decided to hang up the cleats after her latest setback, no one would have blamed her one bit. Instead, Brownfield huddled with her doctors and trainers, who helped her find a way to get back on the field for her fifth and final collegiate season.

Due to her refusal to fold, Brownfield learned another valuable life lesson from sports earlier this week.

Perseverance and positivity pay off.

Tuesday afternoon at the Diamond at Dix, facing rival Akron with the score tied at 1 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Brownfield entered the contest as a pinch hitter. After working the count to 2-0 she sent an opposite-field laser beam screaming over the right-field fence for a grand slam home run that proved to be the difference in the Golden Flashes’ 5-2 victory.

As Brownfield slowly rounded the bases, it was difficult to tell who was happier— Brownfield, her teammates, or her coaches. All that kept Brownfield from absorbing the most pleasant beating of her life at home plate were those balky knees that teammates didn’t want to risk irritating.

“It was just emotional for me. To get put in that situation, and for that to happen was … I'm kind of still speechless about it,” said Brownfield on Wednesday. “It was like a full-circle moment, very exciting. It was just a very good day.”

Good days have been sprinkled in between many rough ones for Brownfield over the past three years.

Life’s Not Fair, 2020: COVID-19

After a standout career at Lakewood High School in Hebron, Ohio, where she played on back-to-back Division II state championship teams and batted .610 with 10 home runs and 45 RBIs as a senior, Brenna Brownfield joined her sister Bailey at Kent State in 2018. They played together two seasons before Bailey graduated, leaving as a two-time All-Mid-American Conference first-team performer with 206 career hits — the second-highest total in program history.

Brenna made an instant impact as a freshman both at the plate and in the circle, batting .298 while winning nine games to earn All-MAC second-team honors. She then established herself as an elite player in 2019 by earning the MAC Player of the Year honor after batting .488 in conference play and belting six homers.

Brownfield picked up right where she left off the following spring. She was batting .429 with seven doubles, four home runs and 21 RBIs when the season abruptly ended in mid-March due to COVID-19 issues and concerns.

Life’s Not Fair, 2021: Left Knee Injury

Action resumed in the spring of 2021, and after a slow start by her standard, Brownfield caught fire during the final three games of Kent State’s second MAC series of the season at Northern Illinois. She went 7-of-12 during that stretch with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs, lifting her season average to .317 with four doubles, five home runs and 22 RBIs in 21 games.

Those would prove to be her last games of the season.

“I tore my left ACL, and both sides of my meniscus as well,” said Brownfield. “I was done [for the season].”

Life’s Not Fair, 2022: Right Knee Injury

Brownfield used her extra year of eligibility awarded due to the COVID season of 2019 to return to Kent State for a fifth year this spring.

“I rehabbed [the left knee], then in January [2022] I was cleared,” she said. “I practiced for about two weeks until we had our first games.”

Brownfield spent the first month of the season trying to regain her groove at the plate, but the strength in the left knee was slowly returning. All signs were pointing toward another Brownfield breakout once the MAC season began until her career was once again brought to a screeching halt due to injury.

“In our third weekend we were [playing Drake] at Kentucky. I was going into home plate and slowed up, and tore my right ACL,” said Brownfield. “At that moment I thought my career was over.”

Once the shock of the injury subsided, Brownfield learned that playing through it was possible.

“After talking with the doctors and trainers we decided, since it was my last year, to try to push through,” said Brownfield. “So I took a month off and rehabbed.”

Back in the batter’s box

After five weeks of intense rehabilitation, Brownfield was given the green light to return — in a limited capacity. The same Brownfield who had pitched and played multiple positions for the Flashes in the past was now unable to play defense, and couldn’t be inserted into the starting lineup as a designated hitter since she could barely run.

Kent State head coach Eric Oakley would have to use Brownfield as a pinch hitter, carefully choosing moments that give her the best opportunity to impact the game.

“It’s definitely been kind of an eye-opener,” said Brownfield. “My first four years, I was pretty much starting every game and playing all the time. It's been a challenge to adjust to being just a pinch hitter. I've had to learn to accept that this is what my body can do right now, and I just do what I can. [Oakley] knows the right moments. He's done a good job of knowing when the opportunities are there. But it’s definitely been mentally hard for me, sitting there wondering when am I going to go in?”

While the limited role has been difficult to accept, support from her teammates and coaches has kept Brownfield plugging away.

“It’s very tough mentally going up there and knowing that I have this injury that’s holding me back. But the girls and the coaches have helped me so much,” said Brownfield. “Every single day they are there cheering me on. The coaches have been more than amazing, always checking in on me, asking how I'm doing. They’ve all been better than I could have imagined in helping me through this.”

Ironically, Brownfield returned to action in mid-April at Northern Illinois — where she suffered her first knee injury. In her second appearance as a pinch hitter, Brownfield singled home a run to help Kent State earn a 3-0 victory.

“That was my first hit with my torn ACL,” said Brownfield. “That was a really good moment for me.”

A special moment for sure, but nothing like one that would materialize 10 days later.

Brownfield’s Seismic Slam

After splitting the first two games of their regular-season series in late March, Kent State and Akron met for a makeup affair last Tuesday at the Diamond at Dix. A pitcher’s duel through five innings left the score tied at 1, and Flashes senior hurler Andrea Scali — who suffered a season-ending knee injury of her own last year — posted another 0 in the top of the sixth.

In the bottom of the frame an error, walk and single loaded the bases for Kent State with one out, providing the perfect stage for Oakley to send Brownfield to the plate.

“In the moment I was just trying to stay calm and take a breath,” she said. “I knew we needed to get a run in to go ahead, so I was just trying to stay patient. I was thinking, I'm going to get the job done. It helps me a lot to envision what I'm going to do, envision myself being successful at the plate.

“I was just trying to get a run across, do my job. But four runs, that was good too.”

Oakley and all of his Flashes nearly exploded with joy when Brownfield’s shot sailed over the right-field fence.

“Great moment not just for Brenna, but for the team,” said Oakley. “She’s had ups and downs throughout her five seasons, but has brought positive energy to the field every day. For her to have that moment in the rivalry game goes beyond words. It’s why we love sports.”

Thanks to Brownfield’s homer, Kent State won the game and the series over its bitter backyard rival.

“That’s kind of like the cherry on top for me,” said Brownfield.

The grand slam also served as a reward for Brownfield, who has kept swinging despite all the nasty curveballs life has tossed at her the past three seasons.

“It’s just been a lot,” said Brownfield. “It’s really emotional knowing this is the last (year) I’ll play, and I can't play all of the time. But I want to give this program everything I have while I can. I want to go out and do as much as I can right now.”

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Brenna Brownfield overcame injuries to hit a grand slam against Akron