Harrison Dale was scheduled for surgery on July 22. Instead, he chose to play baseball.

Struck in the face while playing in a tournament in St. Louis on July 6, Dale suffered a broken nose. The injury obviously caused some immediate discomfort, but remarkably, it did not harm his ability to breathe. Doctors informed Dale the only reason for him to undergo the procedure would be for cosmetic purposes, but once he had the operation, Dale would be forced to miss the remainder of the season.

Dale, who is a pitcher and utility infielder for the Bryant Blacksox American Legion team, said he spent several nights pondering the decision.

"The night after I pitched in the [zone] tournament finals, I told my mom that might have been the last game I would ever play," Dale said. "I began to realize that sometimes you only get one shot at things. Even if I fall short, at least I could say I had that one shot."

Going against the wishes of his family, doctors and coaches, Dale skipped the surgery and told his coaches and teammates he was available for action.

"The doctor said if you're going to have the surgery, you need to have it in the next couple of weeks if you're going to have it," said Blacksox Manager Darren Hurt, whose team plays Louisiana champion Retif Oil of New Orleans in today's first round of the American Legion Mid-South Regional Tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock.. "[Dale] pitched the district championship game. We won it and the next day he was scheduled to have the surgery. We had already talked about it. [We] told him he needed to do it. He was going to do. But he texted me the next day and told me that he wasn't going to miss the state tournament."

With lead-off batter Trevor Ezell unavailable for the championship game of the July 4th tournament, Dale was given a rare start at shortstop. During the sixth inning, the Blacksox had just taken the lead on a double by Brandan Warner. Dale stepped into the batter's box, hoping to expand on Bryant's newfound advantage.

"I'm thinking, 'Let's seal the deal,' " Dale said. "I'm wanting to get another base hit and knock [Warner] in."

The pitcher got his signal, went into the stretch ... "and he hits me right in the face.

"It was coming right at me and it didn't break a bit. I didn't have any time to react," Dale said.

Dale had been hit before plenty of times. He had taken pitches to the arm, to the leg and there was even a time where he had his helmet knocked off. This pitch, however, left him stunned.

"It sounded like it hit me in the helmet, but I knew this one hit me under the eye and on the nose," Dale said. "I think I stood there for three or four seconds, and then I saw [Coach Hurt] running out of the dugout and telling me to go to my knees. I looked down and it was like there was a hole in my nose. Blood started pouring out. That's when I started thinking that this was kind of serious."

"It pretty much knocked him out," Hurt said. "It was gruesome."

Dale first asked if he could remain in the game. Instead, he was taken to a hospital. When he returned home, his doctor recommended surgery, but that the operation was not something that he had to have.

"I encouraged him to have the surgery, but I wasn't too upset when he decided not to," Hurt said. "Our pitching depth takes a big hit without him."

"If my nose was cocked 90 degrees sideways, I would want to get that fixed. But I don't think I look that much different at all," Dale said.

"He would have had [the surgery] if it had not have been for baseball going on," Hurt said. "But he weighed his options and said 'I can live with the way I look and I rather go win a state championship.' "

Bryant won that state championship and Dale was a huge part of the team's success. He was on the mound for only six innings during Bryant's five games, but he was effective.

In a second-round game against Jonesboro, Dale entered the game with the Blacksox trailing 6-3. He pitched three scoreless innings and was the winning pitcher in a 14-6 victory.

Hurt said his team's plan was to start Dale in the fourth game of the tournament, but when second-game starter Zack Jackson was forced to throw more than 70 pitches to get out of the first three innings, the Bryant manager was forced to abandon his original intention.

"[Dale] was not who we planned on going with, but he was ready," Hurt said. "He wanted the ball and he pitched three quality innings that game. He calmed things down."

Dale also pitched two innings in a 23-10 victory over Texarkana. He also pitched a scoreless inning to close out the championship game against Jonesboro.

"Every time he came in, he settled things down," Hurt said.

Dale compiled a 7-0 record and a 2.05 earned-run average for the Blacksox, who enter today's regional with a 41-4 record. If Bryant continues its winning ways early in the tournament, Dale may get that start.

"He'll come to you every day and say, 'I'm good. I'm good to go,' " Hurt said. "He would also tell [you] he's ready if he had thrown 100 pitches the day before. We have to use common sense with him. But that's the way he is.

"He's never ever been a superstar on any team or in any age group. But if you take a poll in our dugout, he's the guy they want to go to war with because he's one of those guys. He's just a great teammate."

Sports on 08/07/2014