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East Central CC's Fortenberry loses eye after taking line drive in 1 T l m vokt• on the other end of tlw phout•linc sounded ,_ ttplu·al l~t·markably upbeat, ,.,..111idt 1illJ.t berry said. "But thenmywhole little element of fear out to the face went numb. I didn't feel much mound. after that." litllriO t;<•~ lu the right," he said. friends," Fortenberr TheWarriors hav•

in the air from my follow-through. He hit a shot. I tried to catch it ..." The ball struck the right side of Fortenberry's face. The 6-fo?t· 3 • 211 •

Old-school baseball fans know He had surgeryat University of the taleofHerbScore, a rising star MississippiMedical Center in with the Cleveland Indianswho Jackson that day and another was hit in the face by a batted ball round sixdays later, 11-'h hours all in 1957 andwas never the same told. pitcher when he returned. Doctors reconstructed the right Fortenberry, as courageous ns sideofFortenberry's face, but they he is optimistic, hopes to pitch couldn't save his right eye. again for theWarriors nextyear. 0 th b . ht "d "I'veasked (the doctors) about n e rig Sl e· . . it," he said, "and they told me if t In a broader contert, Fortenber- . felt I could, they'd let me go." rywas lucky. He could've been "He wants to come back, and wt• killed. look forward to having him back," A batted baseball can easily Yarborough said. reach speeds of 120 mph or more, Fortenberrysaid he has 20/20 and if you pitch longenough, vision in his left eye and the you're going to get hit. And there's adjustment to seeingwith only always the chance you'll get hit in one hasn't been that difficult. the head. Every pitcher takes that '1 just have to turn my head n +

the season to him, ar his No. 29 on their c; open ThursdayagaiJ in Booneville. Fortenberry,who classes on Monday, s Booneville, too, weru riorsjacket if nota fu "Oh, yessir, I plan games," he said, aga remarkably upbeat. "Wewere countin starter this year," Ya said, "and he's still a team." • Contact staff wri tensen at (601) • mchristensen@cl com.

"'I'IIIIIL''I .IIt' J.(oinggreat," John Pot 1 cuhttry •,;~id 'fuesday (rom lluJ oil h1•ul F.1sl C<'ntral Commu– niI y t nllt·f:•· hasdmll coachJake Yull~< •tnn~~~~ !Itt~ 1lcK'Im·' tt·ll me my rccov- 1}' i:lli!

Christensen

pound pttcher went down in a heap. '1t happenedso quickly, but we knewrightawaywe had to call 9-1- 1," Yarborough said. "Mymain con– cern wasmakingsure he didn'tpass out. Our trainer, Derek Jones, was right there. Johnwas responsive. It look maybe 5 to 8 minutesfor the ambulance to get there, and John wa~ laUd ng to us thewholetime. I lhou~o:htlhatwasagoodsign." "Rif,!hllhcn, for about 10 min– ul• •• 11 hurt pr<'llY bad," Fortcn-

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