Running through practice drills out on the field quickly escalated from catching line drives, from second to first base, to needing emergency oral surgery for senior varsity catcher and left fielder Preslie Walters.
Walters’ injury shouldn’t have happened, it was a routine mistake. She said Coach Esparza had thrown the ball completely normal—but the sun had gotten in her eyes, and everything went downhill from there.
“I couldn’t see the ball at all, and I didn’t put my glove out fast enough,” Walters said. “The ball hit me square in my mouth, I fell to the ground and just started to spit out blood.”
While teammates and coaches were concerned and rushing over, two of Walters’ teammates, junior Nevaeh Green and Walters’ younger sister sophomore Khloe Walters, rushed to her side.
“I went over to her and her mouth was just full of blood,” Khloe said. “At the moment it was just her and I and any time we get injured, we’re always kind of like the first ones to be near each other–which is definitely a sister habit.”
All hands were on deck from the trainers, her coaches and teammates—now all Walters was waiting on was her way to the hospital. Unfortunately it took longer than she ever expected.
“I called my grandma, but she didn’t answer, I called her eight more times and on the ninth call, she finally answered and was on the way,” Walters said. “It took her an hour to get to school, and mind you, I live ten minutes away.”
Walters’ grandmother was stuck behind a train and had to go all the way around down to highway 183 during rush hour to get to her granddaughter, but this wasn’t the end of their troubles for the afternoon, Walters said.
“By the time my grandmother got to me it was almost 5:00 p.m., and we had not gone to one but two hospitals to get help,” Walters said. “The first hospital said they couldn’t help us, so we went to Dell Children’s Hospital, and they got us in 30 minutes.”
Finding out the severity of her injury was something Walters’ wasn’t quite prepared for. Walters said that while she was in the trainers they were able to push two teeth back into place but it didn’t do much and definitely didn’t stop the pain.
“[Dell Children’s Hospital] gave me x-rays, they even tried to push my teeth back together while I was still awake,” Walters said. “Once they realized they couldn’t, they let me know I had to have emergency surgery the next morning.”
Walters wasn’t able to sleep that whole night and was in excruciating pain due to her teeth being pushed so far back that they were hitting the bottom of her mouth. She wasn’t even able to close her mouth.
“I had my surgery the next morning and they put the (maxilla) bone back into place,” Walters said. “When the ball hit me, it had completely broken the top part of my jaw. They pushed more of my teeth back together, and they shaved my teeth down as well and put a wire over them to keep them from moving.”
Walters’ surgery may have seemed like an easy process of putting the teeth back in the right places and letting them heal, but because all of her teeth were smashed inward there was a major loss of blood circulation.
“I recently went to the dentist and was informed that all my front teeth are dead,” Walters said. “All my teeth up to the root are gone but still in place. I have no feeling in my top row where I was hit, finding that out was scary and horrible.”
Causing permanent damage for walters has raised many concerns as she grows not only in her sport but also physically.
“The dentists said braces might be a temporary option,” Walters said. “They also let me know when I’m 20-years-old I might need implants, so they would have to pull all my teeth out, that’s the thing I worry about most.”
Walters had a lot to think about after her surgery and questioned continuing to play through her senior year, but she came to the realization and said that she’s come this far through her highschool career and doesn’t want to stop now.
“At first I was having nightmares about my injury and then I was also, like, grinding my teeth together really hard due to stress,” Walters said. “So I would wake up in excruciating pain, but now I’m just scared to get re-injured. I have to wear a face mask and a mouth guard to protect my jaw and teeth, but I still love and want to play this sport, so I’m going to go the extra mile and overcome it.”
Walters’ injury was out of the blue. She said it caused more worry and physical trauma than what she expected and wanted—but through it all, she prevailed and hopes her teammates will do the same.
“Push through anything that happens, no matter what happens, continue to play,” Walters said. “You never know when it’s gonna be your last game or your last time on that field, so, continue to push through all the pain and circumstances, because I promise you’ll make it through eventually.”
