HAYS COUNTY, Texas — March 9, 2020 changed Megan Kelnar's life, when a routine hit to centerfield led her to the wall, then to the ground.
Megan, who was playing in the outfield, broke her tibia and fibula during the play.
"My cleat got caught in the bottom of the fence," said Kelnar. "I turned around and tried to step on it again and I realized that I couldn't get back up. Both of my bones were snapped all the way through, and they just weren't lined up anymore."
Coming back from this type of injury proved to be difficult both physically and emotionally.
"The nights were especially hard when it was just like you couldn't sleep because you were on all these different pain medications," said Kelner. "You're laying in bed all day so at that point sleeping just comes and goes."
Megan received motivation to keep fighting back to full health from her family, teammates and a promise she made herself.
"I made a promise to myself like, 'I will touch the softball field again,'" said the Hays centerfielder. "It's been my dream since I was 7, so I didn't want to break little 7-year-old Megan's heart."
Not only did she progress through rehab, but she did so at an astonishing pace – a recovery that doctors expected to take about 10 months, was complete in half that time.
"You know I was amazed and I admired watching that hard work payoff," said Hays softball head coach Lisa Cone.
Midway through the 2021 season, Megan leads her team in hits, doubles, runs scored and she has four home runs.
"At this point, any time I'm on the field I play my best and give 100%," said Kelnar. "You really never know when your last game is going to be because my last season was taken away from me within two seconds, when I ran into that fence."
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