The Montoursville baseball team noticed some added energy in Wednesday's 6-1 win over Central Columbia.
"Him not being there, we were missing something," Montoursville junior infielder Cameron Wood said. "So, I think right when we got here today, it's just something different. We felt more energized and it was great to have him back."
It was the first game back in the dugout for Corey Twigg. The long-time Montoursville head coach and now assistant spent his preseason like he usually does - helping out his players, but tossing some pitches, he had a scary moment.
"Literally on the last ball that I was going to throw, I said to the hitter that was in there, I said 'hey, last ball,' Twigg recalled. "I threw it. It came through a net and it hit me in my right eye and I just remember saying 'Guys, I need help. I can't see' and they got they got me up and luckily they got me to the E.R."
Two surgeries later, it looks like they can save his eye, but not his vision, but even that couldn't keep Twigg away from the diamond.
"It was just awesome to get back out here," Twigg said. "I finally felt like myself yesterday at practice and now I'm just learning to do everything I used to do and just doing it with one eye, that's all."
Coach Twigg has a third, and hopefully final surgery scheduled for later this month, he says he doesn't expect to leave that dugout for very long.
"If you have a car accident, and the car is totaled, you get a new car and you drive it and this is all I've ever done," Twigg said. "It's really all I know and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the baseball field to go to."
"This is his passion," Montoursville Head Baseball Coach Jeremy Eck said. "He breathes, sleeps baseball and he loves it and we knew right away that this is healing for him."
And inspiring for his team.
"We let him know that we were all here for him," Wood said. "It was an awful sight to see. I'm happy he's doing pretty well for the most part."
"The guys are playing for him and it's a freak accident. It's basically going to change his life forever," Eck added.
It has changed his life, but nothing can change his positive outlook.
"What are you going to do?" Twigg asked rhetorically. "You've got to get up. You've got to get dressed. You've got to move forward and you've got to keep going because the world's not going to wait for you and it's just what you've got to do."
He's a warrior - in every sense of the word.