RANKINGS
EXTRA EXTRA
Advertising Opportunities
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Katie Sullivan is a feisty fast 5-foot-1 freshman at Waynesburg University who patrolled the outfield for the Yellow Jackets this past fall and has been excitedly looking forward to this spring’s softball season for the Div. III program.
According to her mother Shannon Sullivan, who is the President of Steel City Athletics travel ball organization located in Pittsburgh, Pa., and the head coach for the 23U team which Katie also plays for, 2024 was to be a great year for her first college softball campaign.
“She loved her fall season and fall semester,” the athlete’s mother explains, “and was looking forward to Spring and her full Spring season with her team starting in Florida this March.”
Waynesburg, a private institution founded in 1849 and which today has approximately 1,100 undergrad students, is the two-time Presidents Athletic Conference champions and made it to the regional round elimination game last May in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Christmas holiday season went well but the beginning of the New Year was anything but a happy one for the Sullivan family and all who know and love Katie.
“Our medical nightmare began on January 1,” Shannon begins, “when we arrived at the hospital to find our daughter was septic due to a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) that had created three abscesses in her kidney, liver and back muscle.”
Katie was life flighted on Jan. 2 at 2 a.m. to Allegheny General Hospital Medical Intensive Care Unit in Pittsburgh for higher level care.
Her mother continues:
“She got worse and went into septic shock on Wednesday requiring mechanical ventilation to help her breath and dialysis for her failed kidneys.”
Katie remained stable but Saturday afternoon her doctors found Katie had sustained a toxic brain injury with small areas of bleeding in her brain with seizure activity.
“We were given a poor prognosis for survival due to her deterioration in her neurological status,” Shannon explains. “We knew we needed a miracle.”
Ron Lantzy, who had previously coached Katie on the Steel City Athletics, shared her story on Facebook Wednesday.
“We had a significant prayer response,” the athlete’s mother continues, “and after I received the devastating news, I knew we needed to share Katie’s story with my softball family, family and friends because we need a miracle.”
“Me and my Team Mom, Heather, took to social media and the entire softball community responded including her coaches and teammates at Waynesburg University as well as all of the Steel City Athletics organization and the entire softball community.”
Katie’s mother continued:
“We posted, ‘Katie needs a miracle,’ and the response has been tremendous. Although we are still early in her recovery, we have had positive outcomes from all the prayers.”
“We are asking everyone to keep praying for a miracle, for a full recovery, so she can her return to Waynesburg University and to her Waynesburg softball family to continue playing the game she fell in love with at three years old.”
On Jan. 8, the club organization posted the following update:
This morning’s update on Katie pic.twitter.com/kstqzOOaJp
— Steel City Athletics 18U+ Sullivan (@SCA_Sullivan) January 8, 2024
Katie was a four-year letter-winning softball player at Central Valley High in Monaca, Pa., and helped lead her team to a co-section championship. After her college career is finished, she looks to become an Early Childhood Education Teacher.
Also on Jan. 5, members of the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets softball team posted this touching message to their teammate:
The balls, the strikes, the rivalries, the game itself all mean very little in the grand scheme of things. The bonds that are forged and the relationships that are created are what really matter.
cont… pic.twitter.com/xhWcsFIpYs— Waynesburg University Softball (@WUJacketsSB) January 5, 2024
Speaking to the softball community on behalf of her daughter and family, Shannon concludes:
“Thank you for all your prayers… keep them coming as they are working but we have a long road of recovery ahead of us. We’re looking forward to Katie returning to the softball diamond in the future.”
*****
More Information on Katie:
- Click HERE to send an e-card to Katie and her family. Note that the hospital she’s in is Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburg.
- Messages of support can also be emailed to Katie’s mother at Shannon_4123@hotmail.com
Click HERE to see Katie’s YouTube recruiting video from April of 2022:
- More links:
- Steel City Athletics webpage
- Steel City Athletics Facebook page:
COPYRIGHT © 2024 Extra Inning Softball TM
Check out our other EIS links: