When Fear Collides With Faith

Junenile Diabetes Won’t Stop Smith

Editor’s note — This is the first of a three part series examining Jordin Smith’s athletic lifestyle with juvenile diabetes. FARMINGTON — When fear collides with faith, something has to give, and a choice is made that either promotes success or hampers it.

There is an opponent Farmington pitcher, Jordin Smith, faces on a daily basis with every intention of striking out. Smith has battled juvenile diabetes for eight years but the 15- year- old incoming sophomore hasn’t let the affliction prevent her from playing softball, the game she enjoys.

Smith’s athletic career has been enhanced by parents, coaches and a doctor, who have chosen to allow her an opportunity to excel at softball rather than giving place to fear that would restrict her.

Smith wears a pump to regulate her body and can unhook for two hours at a time. She has to make sure her blood sugar is under a certain level and always keeps a gatorade or something on hand in case she starts dropping.

“Between every one of the games, I have to rehook my pump to make sure it’s at a good level,” Smith said. “If it’s too high, then I do a correction, which means my pump will give me a certain amount of insulin to bring it down.”

The last two seasons, the Lady Cardinals have fallen into the loser’s bracket and had to battle their way back through a marathon day during the Farmington/ Fayetteville tournament. Smith was a freshman pitcher on the team which rebounded to win the 2011 tournament.

This past season, she pitched in a Saturday morning 4-2 loss to Rogers, then played third base while Madison Barnes, took the mound and defeated Nashville, 2-0 and Conway, 5-3, on Farmington’s home field. The scene then shifted to the Lady Dawgs’ ballpark in Fayetteville and there was one little hitch.

“When the bus drove them over there, she had forgotten her pump over here at the Farmington field,” said Smith’s mother, Lorinda. “Her and dad were standing there at the bus waiting for her when she got off and she didn’t have her pump and she had to go behind the dugout and do a shot that night.”

Barnes beat Rogers, 5-2, in a rematch and after that it was up to Smith.

“I pretty much tell the kids what the plans are going into the day,” said Randy Osnes, head coach for the Farmington softball team. “She does a very goob job of knowing what her limitations are with that situation and it’s never been a problem.”

Although she gave up a home run to the Lady Dawgs’ Brittany Hoskins while Fayetteville built a 4-0 first inning lead, Smith doggedly hung in there. The turn- around started after Fayetteville scored another run and put runners at second and third. A ground out to first and pop up to first ended the inning with Farmington down, 5-1.

In the top of the third, Farmington loaded the bases and Smith drove in two runs with a single to ignite a rally. Before it was over, Farmington was back in front, 65, and Smith made the lead hold up. She then pitched against Greenbrier and the Lady Cardinals absorbed an 8-0 loss to place second in the tournament.

Osnes noted the Lady Cardinals day began on the field at Farmington at 7 a.m. The tournament concluded after 11 p. m. that night at Fayetteville.

“It is so hard out there to try and keep their blood sugars in a normal range when they are trying to do all these activities,” Lorinda Smith said. “You can’t wear the pump during these physical activities, cause if the pump breaks, insurance doesn’t cover it.”

Smith’s younger sister, Brooke, who will be a freshman this fall along with her twin, Taylor, also has juvenile diabetes and the family has had to deal with some very outstanding medical bills. Yet, they remain undaunted when it comes to the girls playing softball. Over the summer, the girls travel a lot with teams and recently returned from a tournament at Colorado.

Dr. David Jelly, an endrocrinologist out of Tulsa, has been the primary care physician for the Smith girls and Lorinda Smith points to Jelly’s influence with her daughter’s success on the diamond.

“A lot of the teaching comes from Dr. Jelly. When you go over there, they make sure you know what you’re doing with your child,” Lorinda Smith said. “We want them to think there’s nothing that they can’t do and that this medical condition can’t stop them from doing anything.”

MARK HUMPHREY