Inside Wilkins Stadium, Wichita State softball fans can see redshirt senior outfielder Bailey Urban wearing the number seven on her jersey and a brace on her right knee.
During her junior year, Urban had her best statistical season, starting 13 of 16 games and hitting .333 with three home runs, five doubles and 13 RBIs.
In a practice before a game against the University of Nebraska Omaha, Urban heard a haunting sound — a snap — Urban had torn her right ACL. The injury would sideline her with a nine-month grueling recovery. Urban was no stranger to the recovery process as she had previously torn her ACL during her senior year of high school.
Having gone through recovery once, she contemplated if she even wanted to return to play her final year of eligibility. Ultimately, Urban decided to end her career on a high note.
“It was mostly just thinking about all this softball I’ve worked so hard (at) my whole life; it’s been everything I’ve done since I was 5 years old,” Urban said. “It was really important to me to try and end it on a positive.”
Urban said having a support system allowed her to not feel so alone in her recovery. She said the coaching staff and teammates reassured her to take it one day at a time.
“Recovery takes nine months, and it can drag, and you can’t do a lot of things that you feel like you can do,” Urban said. “So having people behind you and saying a lot of reassuring things like that really helps; it really meant a lot.”
Her roommate and teammate, senior Madyson Espinosa said it was admirable to see Urban return after facing adversity.
“I think it’s just amazing that she’s able to just persevere through everything,” Espinosa said. “She considered not coming back and thank God she did because Shocker softball wouldn’t be the same without her.”
Head coach Kristi Bredbenner said Urban’s confidence and desire to play was the culmination of her comeback of the previous season.
“Her best years are going to be her last year because of all the work that she’s put in, and so I just think that she’s persevered, and if anything, she’s an inspiration,” Bredbenner said.
Urban will graduate this spring with a degree in accounting and has begun to think about life outside of softball. With a potential job and lease lined up, Urban, better known to her family as “Bailey, the softball player,” said the change and transition will be “weird.”
“I’ll have to kind of figure out who I am as a person instead of as a softball player,” Urban said.