College softball: OC’s Dees overcomes surgery to get on field

The Odessa College softball team needs Shanna Dees on the field.

Dees, on the other hand, needs to be healthy.

During the shortened fall season, the two needs were battling each other — Dees was on the field, but she wasn’t healthy.

For the first time in her career, the Odessa High graduate was feeling some pain in her left elbow each time she pitched. Then, her arm started to go numb just when she was sitting down.

“If I had it raised on the back of a chair, it would be numb in 10 minutes,” Dees said. “I’d never been hurt, so I went to several doctors to find out what was going on, and everyone had a different opinion.”

Dees finally found a physician who pinpointed the problem for her. She had thoracic outlet syndrome. The muscles around the top rib on Dees’ left side were pinching a bundle of nerves called the brachial plexus, and that was causing the numbness in her left arm.

Once the problem was isolated, Dees began looking for treatment that would alleviate the pain and numbness. All signs led to the best possible solution being surgery.

At the end of October, Dees traveled to Plano to have the rib removed to keep it from pinching the nerves.

“I kept the rib as a souvenir,” she said. “It’s really small, and it’s amazing to think that it could have caused everything.”

What it did cause was for Dees to miss the rest of the fall season. She wasn’t able to work out for several weeks following the surgery, but she hasn’t missed a beat with OC so far this season.

She has been in each of Odessa College’s first nine games as the designated hitter or first baseman. She played in five games this weekend during the Lady Wranglers’ annual First Pitch Tournament.

Dees has yet to throw in a game, but she has pitched two bullpen sessions. OC coach Joel Prickett is very optimistic about getting her back on the mound soon.

“She was sore the first time, and that’s because there was some scar tissue that had to be broken up in her shoulder,” Prickett said. “We are not going to rush her, but she’s back faster than the doctors said she would be. They thought it would be the middle of February, and she came back right at the beginning of the semester.

“Shanna’s a competitor and she wants to be out on the field, and I know that she’s very happy to be throwing without pain. She never complained and tried to battle through it, but you could see it was bothering her, and it’s good that everything was taken care of.”

Odessa College First Pitch Tournament

At Odessa College, UTPB Fields

Friday

At Odessa College

Wallace State (Ala.) College 16, Vernon Junior College 11

Wallace State College 7, Odessa College 3

Odessa College 14, McCook (Neb.) College 5

At UTPB

McCook College 13, Frank Phillips College 3

College of Southern Idaho 4, Frank Phillips College 3

Western Texas College 4, Western Nebraska 3

Northern Oklahoma 11, Western Texas 0

Midland College 5, Otero Junior College 4

Midland College 5, Western Nebraska 3

Northern Oklahoma 2, Ranger College 1

College of Southern Idaho 8, Navarro College 4

Central Arizona College 12, Frank Phillips College 4

Central Arizona College 2, Ranger College 1

Western Nebraska 6, Navarro College 2

Trinidad State Junior College 10, Navarro College 9

Otero Junior College 7, Howard College 3

Ranger College 9, McCook College 0

Howard College 4, Northern Oklahoma 3

Wallace State College 5, Howard College 3

College of Southern Idaho 4, Midland College 1

Trinidad State Junior College 8, Odessa College 7

Saturday

At UTPB

Central Arizona College 18, Navarro College 3

Central Arizona College 3, Western Texas College 2

Navarro College 6, Otero Junior College 5

Vernon Junior College 16, McCook College 3

Vernon Junior College 6, Otero Junior College 0

College of Southern Idaho 3, Odessa College 2

Western Nebraska 7, Odessa College 5 (8)

Midland College 3, Northern Oklahoma 1

Northern Oklahoma 13, Frank Phillips 5

Western Nebraska 9, Howard College 0

Howard College 15, McCook College 5

Trinidad State Junior College 10, Ranger College 8

Midland College 9, Trinidad State Junior College 1

Wallace State College 9, Frank Phillips College 1

Wallace State (Ala.) 7, Odessa College 3

Odessa College 012 000 0 — 3 9 3

Wallace State 301 021 x — 7 6 0

Maritza Rocha and Dominique Salazar; Jennifer Sexton, Holli Hill (3). W — Holli Hill. L — Maritza Rocha. 2B — Odessa: Louisa Stover; Wallace State: Kaitlyn King, Rachel Baucom 3B — Odessa: Alisha Carrasco; HR — Wallace State: Ashley Smith.

Odessa College 14, McCook (Neb.) College 5

Odessa College 413 002 4 — 14 16 4

McCook College 103 010 0 — 5 6 6

Courtney Fogle, Maritza Rocha (3) and Amanda Tinkley; Erin Kinsey, Jennifer Deal (3), Marie Sieperda (5). W — Maritza Rocha. L — Erin Kinsey. 2B — Odessa: Erin Fudge, Courtney Fogle, Amanda Tinkley 2, Louisa Stover, Marissa Araujo; Wallace State: Marie Sieperda, Jessica Adler 3B — Odessa: Noel Garcia.

Trinidad (Colo.) State 8, Odessa College 7

Odessa College 200 410 0 — 7 13 8

Trinidad State 011 221 1 — 8 3 2

Marissa Araujo and Dominique Salazar; Jenni Trujillo and Kayla Litton. W — Jenni Trujillo. L — Marissa Araujo. 2B — Odessa: Erin Fudge, Courtney Fogle, Marissa Araujo; Trinidad State: Nikole Morgan; HR — Odessa: Louisa Stover; Trinidad State: Alyse Billick.

College of Southern Idaho 3,

Odessa College 2

Odessa College 000 000 2 — 2 6 0

Southern Idaho 200 010 x — 3 3 2

Maritza Rocha and Dominique Salazar; Desirae Thomson and Anna Sorrell. W — Desirae Thomson. L — Maritza Rocha. 2B — Southern Idaho: Stephanie Holmes; HR — Southern Idaho: Megan Zimmerman.

Western Nebraska 7, Odessa College 5 (8)

Western Nebraska 020 300 02 — 7 8 3

Odessa College 102 101 00 — 5 9 4

Natasha Dypchey, Kelsey Garner (4) and Amanda Torimaru; Hannah Dodson, Erin Fudge (4), Courtney Fogle (7) and Amanda Tinkley. W — Kelsey Garner. L — Courtney Fogle.