WASHINGTON —
There are some people you always enjoy being around. These are the people who smile and seem to find the best in every situation they find themseleves in.
In high school sports, there are a lot of thing that can keep student/athletes from smiling. The pressure to win, to find an edge, combined with grueling travel, short seasons and long practices, homework, expectations — both personal, parental and from the community, can all take their toll on 16 and 17 year-old.
However, there is one young lady I can always count on for a smile and a laugh, regardless of what was happening — WHS junior softball player Allexis Lemon.
Lexi competes as hard as anyone I know and her love of softball is evident to anyone who has even spent five minutes with her. However, she also has an infectious smile and positive attitude that is just as evident to anyone in the same amount of time. She is a young lady with a promising softball future ahead of her.
This year, like her first two as a Hatchet varsity pitcher, she was in the middle of another season of dominating area hitters, when she began to feel pain in her left (non-pitching) elbow last week.
Knowing something wasn’t right, she went to the hospital last Wednesday and it turned out to be blood clots that have had to be removed. She has had several surgeries in the last week and it looks like there will be several more to take care of what was causing the clots.
From talking to her grandfather, Hatchet softball coach Alan Lemon, the situation is serious enough to end her season and still has some significant risks, but hopefully will not be career-ending.
She is scheduled to be in the hospital for several more more days at Deaconess in Evansville. Alan Lemon said that she is in good spirits, and in spite not being able to play, she has received a lot support from family and friends.
The Lemon family are truly some of the “good guys” in both education, as well as high school sports. Alan is charge of the Twin Rivers automotive program, while his wife Candy teaches in the alternative education program.
Alan has had plenty of ups and downs as the only-ever softball coach at WHS, but he quickly mentioned how this puts things in perspective.
One wonders why things like this happen to folks like them, but then again after knowing Alan for more than 12 seasons, and Lexi for the last three, one also knows they are the type of people who will handle it — and probably with a smile.
State News
Related Photos
-
Lexi Lemon T. Daniel Lancaster
Discussion
Making lemonade out of Lemons
- State News
-
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Indiana’s reported high school graduation rate continues to improve, moving from 77 percent to more than 88 percent in less than a decade, but there are still significant achievement gaps marked by race and income.
-
Schools chief Ritz on fast learning curve
For many occupants of the Indiana Statehouse, the week after the General Assembly wraps up its final frenzy of work is a quiet one. But not for Glenda Ritz.
-
SLIDESHOW: Governor Otis R. Bowen
Photos from the Indiana State Archives of the late Otis R. Bowen, who served as governor of the state as well as in the Ronald Reagan White House. The Bremen native died Saturday
-
Out of office, Lugar shuns retirement
One year ago, Indiana’s longest serving U.S. senator was rejected by Republican primary voters and forced into an unwelcome retirement from a distinguished political career that spanned 46 years. But at 81, former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is hardly in a resting mode.
-
Lugar wary of Syria involvement
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar has been out of office since early January, but he’s still being sought after for his opinion about foreign policy matters he once helped shape.
-
Judge grants class status to lawsuit again BMV
INDIANAPOLIS — As many as 4 million Indiana drivers could become plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has overcharged for driver’s licenses since 2007.
-
Budget deal includes little funding for criminal code reform
Facing the end-of-session deadline, Indiana legislators moved forward on a bill to overhaul the state’s criminal sentencing laws but left undone the issue of where local communities will get the money to implement it.
-
Legislators closing in on final budget
In his first four months as the chief budget maker in the Indiana House, Republican Rep. Tim Brown hasn’t been surprised by the long hours, multiple demands and intense debate that goes with crafting a $30 billion spending plan.
-
New poll shows voters tepid on Pence tax plan
With just days to go before the deadline for a final budget bill, a new independent poll shows Republican Gov. Mike Pence may not have gotten much mileage for his travels around the state pitching his 10 percent tax cut plan.
-
DOC hopes ‘cold case’ cards lead to solved cases
Indiana state prison officials are using customized playing cards for a deadly serious purpose: To help unlock the mysteries of unsolved murders and persons gone missing.
-
Indiana attorney general says Congress must act on immigration reform
Amidst concerns that the Boston Marathon bombing may derail federal action on comprehensive immigration reform, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is turning up some collective heat on Congress to move ahead.
-
Disagreements stall criminal code reform bill
Negotiations over the final language in a bill that rewrites Indiana’s criminal code may come down to the last week of the legislative session.
-
Budget forecasters predict bigger drop in gaming revenues
While a gaming bill is still in play in the General Assembly, state budget forecasters are predicting the payoff to the state from legalized gambling will be even lower than they thought.
-
Legislature heads into final stretch
The Indiana General Assembly has slogged its way through hundreds of bills since convening in January but in some critical ways, the real work has just begun.
-
Criminal records bill passes Indiana Senate
Legislation that would allow some people with long-ago arrests and convictions in Indiana to wipe clean their criminal record has moved one step closer to the governor’s desk.
-
Court challenge likely for welfare drug-testing bill
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly have passed a bill that ties drug testing to welfare benefits, but if signed into law, the next debate may be on the question: Is it constitutional?
-
Push to roll back ban on in-state tuition for immigrants stops short
House Republicans who wanted to roll back a two-year-old ban on in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants have abandoned their plan to expand a Senate bill covering a much smaller group of students.
-
House committee OKs in-state tuition for some undocumented students
The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed for the Indiana House.
-
Legislators working on funding plan for criminal code rewrite
As legislation that overhauls Indiana’s criminal code moves forward, supporters of the bill are working on finding funding for local communities to implement it.
-
Republican super PAC leader backs immigration reform
As the politics of immigration reform heats up in the Statehouse and Congress, a prominent Republican is ramping up his efforts to rid the influence of what he calls anti-immigrant “extremists” in his party.
-
House considers bill to shorten school day
Legislation that would have freed the state’s high-performing schools from the mandatory 180-day school year has been amended in the House with a provision to shorten the school day instead.
-
House committee debates ban on in-state tuition for immigrant children
Two years after banning the children of undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition rates at the state’s public universities, Indiana legislators are debating whether to roll back that prohibition.
-
Pence says Senate GOP plan for 3 percent tax cut not enough
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence appears to be still dug in on his demand for a 10 percent income tax cut, despite a “nod” from Senate Republicans willing to give him a smaller slice of what he wants.
-
Conservative coalition supports rollback of immigrant tuition ban
Supporters of a national coalition of conservative clergy, law enforcement and business leaders are calling on Indiana lawmakers to roll back the state’s ban on in-state college tuition for the children of immigrants who came here illegally.
-
Pence’s 'ERASER' bill appears dead
Legislation pushed by Gov. Mike Pence to eliminate licensing requirements for more than a dozen occupations is apparently dead, killed by a lack of support from both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly.
-
Bill limiting seclusion and restraint to discipline students moves ahead
Legislation aimed at reducing the use of physical restraints and locked isolation rooms to discipline students continues to gain support in the General Assembly.
-
House committee pushes Pence to negotiate Medicaid expansion
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has insisted he won’t expand what he calls the “broken” Medicaid health insurance program for the poor, but some state legislators are encouraging him to do so, even it’s called by another name.
-
Debate over pot penalties not over in Indiana
The politics of pot may keep Indiana lawmakers from rolling back the state’s tough marijuana laws this session, but it won’t eradicate the push for decriminalization.
-
Gun-rights lawmaker wants tougher gun penalty
One of the chief sponsors of legislation that would rewrite the Indiana criminal code wants to amend the bill to add a mandatory five-year prison sentence for using a gun to commit a felony.
- More State News Headlines
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
Jodi Arias: Death Penalty Would Cause More Pain
IRS Official Pleads 5th Amendment
Florida FBI Shooting Has Boston Bombing Links
Okla. City Mayor: Up to 13K Homes Hit by Tornado
Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff
Garcetti Elected Los Angeles Mayor Over Greuel
Lawyer: Feds Investigating Susan Powell Case
Looking for Love? Take the Prague Metro
Today in History May 22
Paperless Scanner, Vision of the Future
Raw: Aerial View of Moore Tornado Damage
Raw: Costa Rica Volcano Roars to Life
Former Rep. Weiner Running for New York Mayor
Families Begin Returning to Their Homes in Moore
Raw: Students Clash With Police in Chile
First Person: Baby Falcons on a New York Bridge
Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul
Okla. Teens Get Video of Deadly Tornado Overhead
AK-47-wielding thug may be the most bumbling crook ever
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Trout's cycle a boost for Angels
Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece
NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery
Shakira's Shocking Talent
Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air
GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape
Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public
Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls
Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place
Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill
DWTS Crowns a Winner
Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House
Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
