The Hempfield softball team took a bus straight from their April 12 game at Connellsville to Barnhart Funeral Home in Greensburg.
Still wearing their uniforms, with yellow ribbons pinned to their jerseys, the Spartans formed a circle as one player recited the Lord's Prayer aloud.
Our Father ...
They were there to pay their respects to Hempfield pitcher Morgan Ryan's father, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey Ryan lost his five-year battle with multiple myeloma, a cancer formed by malignant plasma cells, April 9 at age 48.
Morgan wasn't prepared for the tears that followed the arrival of her teammates.
“That was one of the hardest parts of the night,” Morgan said. “He knew all of the girls, so seeing all of them emotional made me emotional, too.
“It's a powerful thing, to know that I have 28 other girls and coaches behind me. To see them come in, there's no words to describe how much it meant.”
Similarly, Hempfield had no words to describe how much it meant to see Morgan in the pitching circle three days later.
“It's just a horrible situation,” Hempfield coach Bob Kalp said. “There's no manual for how to do this stuff. I've never been involved with a team that's had this happen and don't know if there's a protocol.”
Morgan isn't just Hempfield's pitcher but the Spartans' star. She was the Westmoreland Tribune-Review Player of the Year last season, leading Hempfield to the WPIAL Class AAAA championship and PIAA semifinals, where its playoff run ended with a 1-0 loss to Cumberland Valley.
When her father's health took a turn for the worse, Morgan made it a private matter.
“As the pitcher on the mound you're looked at as a leader on the field,” Morgan said. “I kept it to myself and tried to be strong.”
But she had to figure out how to be strong without her biggest supporter.
Jeff Ryan sent his daughter a text message before every game, with words of encouragement and a tagline: Play Like a Champion Today.
That's the motto for Notre Dame football, and Jeff was an incurable Fighting Irish fan. He encouraged Morgan to attend Notre Dame's softball camps and was thrilled when she chose the Irish last summer.
“That was his dream,” Kalp said, “that Morgan would be good enough to pitch at Notre Dame.”
Kalp called Morgan “as humble of a great player as I've ever been associated with,” yet worries whether she is ready to play while coping with her loss.
“It's difficult because you see her struggling,” Kalp said. “You don't know whether to allow her to have space. You don't know if it's something to do with the game or if she's having a moment about her dad.
“I'm looking at it like, there has to be a point in time this all takes a toll. She's 17 years old. Eventually, she's going to run out of gas.”
But there is something about sports that serve as a solace, a temporary safe haven to escape the pressure and the pain.
“That's just her style, to keep things closer to herself,” said Morgan's mother, Shelly, who played softball at Hempfield in the mid-1980s. “She wanted to make sure she could do what she needed to with her team. She doesn't like to cause drama.
“She was definitely interested in coming back. She wanted to return to normalcy as much as she could. She was ready to get back and try to be focused.”
Guess who top-ranked Hempfield played last Saturday? That's right, PIAA runner-up Cumberland Valley. And Morgan pitched seven innings, allowing two hits while striking out 12 and walking one in a 5-0 victory.
“She was outstanding that game,” Kalp said. “That was some performance.”
Hempfield had four more games this week, including a 5-3 loss to Class AAA No. 1 Yough on Wednesday.
The next day, Morgan hit two home runs against Norwin. That always prompted a “Whoa, Nellie!” from Jeff, who usually found a spot behind the center-field fence and took notes.
“He always was very excited when I hit a home run,” Morgan said, “so I was definitely thinking about him.”
Thinking about her father and biggest fan, and playing like a champion for him.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
