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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 25, Issue 5

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 5 79 was bouncing from leadoff to as low as sixth in the batting order. Through the same span, she field- ed at a .979 clip. And that was despite rotating from center field to left field to third base. "If you're going to do well, you just have to have that mentality of be ready, be ready no matter what. I think she has it," Parsons said. "If she's put fourth in the lineup to be cleanup, she'll take big hacks. If she's batting first, she'll lay down a bunt. Same thing in the field. In the fall, she played first base, third base, outfield, second base. She played ev- erywhere. "You trust that your time will come and when your time comes, you do have to produce. That's the mentality she does have because ev- ery time she comes in, she produces no matter where she's put. It's cool to watch." And a bit remarkable it's even happening this season. Before the start of last season, Koorsen noticed pain in her shoul- der when she threw. She didn't think much of it at first, but it didn't go away. So, after a couple weeks of pain, she told the team's athletic trainers. An MRI revealed a torn la- brum. She could have had surgery last summer, maybe would have been the smart thing to do, even if it would have kept her from fall ball. But because it would have kept her from playing, she didn't schedule surgery. She also didn't want to jeop- ardize being fully recovered by the time the season started this spring. That would have been a risk, too, of surgery. And the "only" thing that could happen if she kept playing, she said, was that the tear could get worse. And it's already torn, so … "You play until you literally can't play anymore," she said. "When you're so in love with the game and being with your team and being a contributing member of something, you do everything you can not to lose it. You make the most of it. "The pain is playable. It hurts and some days, I can't throw. Some days, I can. You just learn to live with it and keep taking whatever medi- cine the doctors give you to get you through." Koorsen's also been "getting through" with two injured, if not broken, fingers after getting drilled on the hand by a pitch in one of Purdue's final homestands. Not only didn't she miss a game, she didn't even miss a pitch. The trainers came Tom Campbell Despite having a torn labrum in her right shoulder, Koorsen has battled and been a reliable fielder.

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