Life Lessons Dispel F.E.A.R.

LINCOLN -- Life lessons keep coming for Brinkley Moreton learning that F.E.A.R. can be an acronym spelled out as "false evidence appearing real."

While the covid-19 crisis became cause for world-wide concern some of the fears accompanying an unprecedented set of circumstances distorted perceptions about the future of sports for young athletes.

When sports shut down across the board to prevent a possible spread of the coronavirus in mid-March young athletes didn't know what to expect. Brinkley feared her softball career was over and that all of her investments into developing softball skills had no future.

Sports Shutdown

Watching every level of competition from Major League Baseball, the NBA and NHL on down to high school, junior high and travel ball suspend play with some seasons canceled and schools closed to on-site instruction disheartened young athletes.

Brinkley, a rising eighth-grader at Lincoln Junior High, couldn't see any way she and her travel team, Tulsa Elite NWA06 comprised of 10 girls from Mansfield, Mena, Vilonia, Hackett, Greenwood, Clarksville and Sallisaw, Okla., could get together with all the restrictions in place.

Brinkley's life revolves around the sport, and she questioned whether a Feb. 29 game might have been the last for her and her teammates.

"It's fun, but I thought I'd never get to play again, honestly," Brinkley said.

Her parents, Dax and Christina Moreton, of Summers, reassured her sports would return and while an exact timetable couldn't be predicted she needed to keep prepared for the moment play resumed.

"My parents told me I'd get to play so I just kept practicing," Brinkley said.

To give her a sense of normalcy her parents kept up her weekly softball pitching and hitting sessions with Jaclyn Herrera, Brinkley's personal trainer, who has coached her four years.

Travel Ball Returns

Eventually, restrictions were relaxed for softball and baseball and Brinkley helped Tulsa Elite NWA06 win their first tournament of the summer held Memorial Day weekend at Sand Springs River Park Sports Complex in the Tulsa, Okla., metropolitan area. After going 1-3 in pool play Saturday, May 23, the girls won seven consecutive games to capture first place.

The next weekend she was back at it as the Moreton family traveled to Oklahoma City, Okla., on Sunday, May 31, for another travel ball tournament with the Tulsa Elite NWA06. Brinkley alternates as a pitcher with teammates, Alyson Edwards, of Mansfield, and Makenzie Freeman, of Hackett.

The Oklahoma City Challenge 16U Division tournament typically plays out as sort of a companion to the College World Series softball championship, but NCAA sports got canceled due to the covid-19 crisis so there was no opportunity to watch the top teams in the nation compete at the highest level of softball outside of Olympic competition.

Brinkley, who was recently honored as the No. 15 ranked player in the nation for her age group, by Extra Innings Softball, continued to play well. During a quarterfinal, Helena Riptide Fastpitch 16U, a group of older girls, put two runs on the board in the top of the sixth narrowing the Tulsa Elite NWA06 lead to 5-2.

In the bottom of the inning Brinkley helped her cause by hammering a two-run homer out of the ballpark. She also enjoyed solid run support in the circle with the team going 11-for-32 at the plate with 7 RBIs.

"My team helped me a lot through scoring runs," Brinkley said. "They all work really hard on the field and off the field. I consider them my family."

Brinkley picked up the win throwing a complete game with 75-of-116 pitches pounding the strike zone. She scattered 5 hits over 7 innings allowing 2 runs while striking out 12 with 3 walks. Makenzie Freeman and Edwards pitched the final two games to get wins over Tulsa Elite OKC 2024/2025 14U (4-1) and American Freedom Angels (5-4) to wrap up the championship. Makenzie Freeman and Brinkley combined to record a double play in the semifinals.

At 10:35 p.m. Christina celebrated another successful outing with this Facebook post, "Only took seven games this weekend to win the Oklahoma City Challenge 16U Division."

Leaving OKC

After hoisting the trophy and taking a championship team photo families started on their separate journeys home, which for the Moretons amounted to a three-hour, 180-mile drive.

"We weren't the first to leave. We were somewhere in the middle of the pack," Dax said.

After stopping to get something to eat Brinkley tumbled into the backseat worn out from a long, but fruitful day at the ballpark.

The Moretons didn't travel far when they encountered an unexpected hazard. Chatting as they came over a rise suddenly an object appeared in the roadway in the vicinity of mile marker 200 where I-40 runs two lanes east and two lanes west.

Dax had a split second to decide what to do and ran over the object which turned out to be a wheelbarrow.

"You don't anticipate seeing a wheel barrow on I-40 at 11:15 p.m. at night," Dax said. "You don't want to swerve when you're going that fast."

There was a loud crunching sound as the wheelbarrow went underneath the vehicle and Dax pulled over as soon as he could safely stop to inspect the damage.

Unfounded Fear

Startled, Brinkley looked around at her surroundings seeing a concrete embankment near an overpass. She feared they had just ran over a homeless person, who might have been camping out underneath the overpass.

"She was just at wits end and exhausted from the day. We got out and looked over the situation," Dax said.

Dax noted the family was in good shape considering the potential for harm.

"The biggest thing about it was whenever we hit that it went down underneath the car and got stuck underneath," Dax said. "If it had went over the car it might have hit the windshield and caused bodily harm or even killed someone. It was extremely fortunate that it happened the way it happened."

Christina took a photo showing the wheelbarrow lodged into the lower grill with plastic ripped away from the impact.

At 11:34 p.m. Christina posted the incident to Facebook, "Someone will be missing this, thankful for God's protection. We are okay - it was sitting in the middle of interstate 40 - yay.... It was a really nice Stanley Wheelbarrow."

Good Education

Dax realized the vehicle remained drive-able in spite of the damage which took out the cruise control.

"I had to physically pull the wheelbarrow out of the grill," he said. "It didn't break the radiator. There were no (leaking) fluids, no busted tire."

Dax told Brinkley to settle down and let her know "the car's fine, nobody's hurt." Jeff Oxford, of Greenwood, another parent from the team, was behind the Moretons. He and his family stopped and together Dax and Oxford utilized athletic tape to secure the lower grill which was dangling.

"The most amazing thing was that with Christina and the other moms, there were six out-of-10 players' parents there at the next gas station to check on us and make sure we were OK," Dax said. "That shows a lot about their character, and I really appreciated that."

Brinkley experienced another life lesson overcoming F.E.A.R. when false evidence appeared real. When the incident occurred the family had traveled beyond the Oklahoma City metro area and were in a rural location. The probability of the wheelbarrow falling off while in transit seemed more likely than it being left behind by a homeless person.

"It was a good education for my daughter," Dax said. "In life bad things are going to happen. Are you going to get excited and panic? Or are you going to rationalize the situation and go forward?"

The crisis passed just as quickly as it appeared and grace prevented a potential tragedy protecting a promising athlete's career.