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Melissa Verde referred to it as "nothing special."
Her teammate and longtime friend Holly Tankersley said it was "a little knee injury."
Most observers, however, are amazed at how Verde has managed to play softball for the past six weeks with an injury that would put most athletes on an operating table.
<center><p><a href="http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19728367&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=583964&rfi=6" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
By CHRIS DABE
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Like she has for much of the season, Verde will put aside pain that comes with a torn knee ligament when she bats fourth and plays third base today for Louisiana-Lafayette in the opening game of the Women's College World Series.
"It's nothing special," said Verde, a Kelly graduate who tore her left anterior cruciate ligament during a game March 20. "You face adversity in life, and you have to overcome it. It's like that in softball and in sports, and life in general."
The Ragin' Cajuns (51-13) will play at noon against the top-ranked University of Florida (67-3) in Oklahoma City. The game will be televised by ESPN, which will put Verde and her determination to play with a damaged knee in the national spotlight.
"When the doctor told her it was her ACL and that she doesn't need to play on it, any other person would say OK and not play, but she said she wasn't stopping for that little knee injury," said Tankersley, a senior five years removed from when she led Kirbyville to a Class 3A state championship.
What Verde, a sophomore, has done while playing through the injury has been nothing short of inspiring.
Most notable has been a 10-game playoff run in which she has batted .409 (9-for-22) with seven runs, 15 RBI and four home runs.
She hit a grand slam against former Little Cypress-Mauriceville pitcher Cody Trahan in a 9-4 victory May 17 against LSU in a regional game in Baton Rouge.
She had two hits - a solo home run in the second inning and a run-scoring single during a five-run fifth - in Lafayette's 6-4 victory Friday in Game 1 of a super regional series against Houston.
All told, Verde is living through a dream season that took a nightmarish turn. Go back to that mid-March day, when she chased a foul ball during an exhibition game against the U.S. Olympic team in Fullerton, Calif., and that's when her left knee gave way.
The result was a torn ACL.
Asked if she had any thought to not playing after the injury, she quickly gave a one-word answer.
"No," Verde said without elaboration.
Once a doctor told Verde she could postpone surgery until after the season and continue to play, she completed three weeks of exercises that strengthened muscles around the knee and took stress off the torn ligament.
With the help of co-head coach Michael Lotief, the left-handed hitting Verde also altered her batting stance to help her deal with the injury, and she returned April 12 in a game against South Alabama.
Tankersley, who befriended Verde when both played for the Beaumont Blast club team, said she and teammates occasionally get nervous when Verde makes a sudden movement while chasing a batted ball or running the bases.
"Anybody watching her play sees that she goes all out no matter what," Tankersley said. "You have that little scared feeling in the back of your mind. We all get a little skittish sometimes because we don't want to see her get hurt again."
A daily exercise regimen has helped Verde avoid another injury, she said.
Verde credited support from teammates and family for helping her play through the knee injury. Doing so has allowed her and Tankersley to chase lifelong dreams.
"We've been playing this game since we were little kids, so it's an honor to be able to say we're going to Oklahoma City," said Tankersley, who ranks among the top 10 nationally in batting average (.452), home runs (21) and RBIs (72).
Making the trip a bit sweeter is to know what Verde overcame to reach the goal.
"It's a great feeling because my whole life, I've wanted to go to the World Series," Verde said.
"It's an exciting feeling to be here."
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