WOODSTOCK — Receiving the game ball meant more to John Sollenberger than collecting the game-winning hit. It meant more than scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning against Riverheads. And it meant more to him than becoming the winning pitcher.
When he handed that ball over to his mother after the game, everything that happened on the diamond was forgotten. But it was a game Marilyn Sollenberger will never forget.
That night, a week ago today, her son came up in a big situation and delivered. In the process, he earned a measure of sweet redemption against the Gladiators. Earlier this season, Sollenberger took a shutout into the bottom of the ninth inning, but Riverheads pitcher Travis Brake hit a walk-off home run to end the game.
He made up for it last week when he launched a 2-2 offering from Brake into the right-center gap for a triple. The throw to third was off the mark and sailed into the Central dugout, allowing Sollenberger to trot home as the winning run.
"With everything he's gone through, I had a feeling he'd be the one to come through for us," said teammate Justin Stickley, who, along with the rest of the team, mobbed Sollenberger as he crossed home plate.
Earlier this spring, just before the Easter holiday, Marilyn Sollenberger started to feel sick. Thinking she had a simple case of pneumonia, she made an appointment with her doctor. As it turned out, pneumonia would have been great news.
Instead, she was told she had thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura. TTP is a rare but serious blood disease that causes a disturbance in the nervous system. TTP often causes kidney failure, and it wasn't long before Marilyn Sollenberger's kidneys stopped working.
The exact cause of TTP is unknown, but its effects on the body is downright frightening. In short, life stinks with TTP. Headaches are brutal, and in most cases, TTP sufferers experience high fevers.
Survival rates for TTP used to be in the range of slim to none, but the miracle of medicine has increased the rate to about 80 percent, and Marilyn Sollenberger seems to be headed that way. She travels back and forth to Front Royal a few times a week for kidney dialysis, which has worked magnificently.
About two weeks ago, however, things took a turn for the worse. Marilyn's kidneys weren't the problem — breast cancer had slowly crept into her body.
"Every bad thing you could think of just happened all of a sudden," John Sollenberger said.
That his mother was able to attend last week's game was a victory in itself. She had seen only two games all season, but it was senior night and she wanted to see her son play for the final time in front of the home fans.
"I pitched well and got a good hit, and it was because my mom was there," Sollenberger said. "I wanted to do it for her."
Sollenberger made his mother proud that night, but it hasn't been easy being the team leader on the field and a worried son off it. To show how dedicated he is to his teammates, Sollenberger has missed less than five practices all season.
"He's taken a lot on and he's handled it really well," Stickley said. "He doesn't show a whole lot [of emotion]."
That reserved personality didn't develop overnight, either. Sollenberger has always been a quiet assassin. He's also making his last season at Central a good one.
For most of his varsity career, Sollenberger has been an outfielder, and a darn good one.
"Last year he pulled a hamstring against Wilson Memorial on an incredible catch," Central coach Donn Foltz said. "We won the game 11-0, but we were not the same the rest of the season with him not in the outfield."
This year, with a trio of senior speedsters roaming the Green Mile, Sollenberger has been given plenty of time to work on his pitching. Heading into today's Shenandoah District quarterfinal matchup against Luray, Sollenberger is 4-4 with a team-best 2.41 ERA. He sports nearly a 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, but his most telling stat is his four complete games.
Always an efficient pitcher, Sollenberger threw just 108 pitches in the nine-inning loss to Riverheads earlier this season. His biggest weapon is that he can throw three, sometimes four pitches with amazing success.
"Most pitchers in our district have two pitches," Stickley said. "Either fastball/change-up or fastball/curveball. Coach let [Sollenberger] pitch live BP to us one day and it's harder against a guy with that third pitch. You can't guess what's coming."
When he's on, Sollenberger has a drop ball that can't be touched.
"If I can hit my spots, it's really dangerous because I can get into people's heads," Sollenberger said. "That's a big part of my success because I'm not a fast pitcher."
Because of his mother's medical condition, Sollenberger has been forced to grow up faster than the normal teenager. The pre-game goof-around in the locker room isn't that funny anymore and academics, all of a sudden, have added importance. Foltz said the teachers have noticed a more focused Sollenberger in the classroom, and that concentration has carried over to the baseball field.
"It's always on my mind," Sollenberger said of his off-the-field issues. "But during baseball, I just do what I have to do."
The season could end any day now, but the younger players on the team will always have next year. Sollenberger doesn't have that luxury. He doesn't take anything for granted anymore, especially his mother.
"I appreciate my family a lot more now," he said. "Every moment I can spend with her is great because you don't realize how much time you have left."
