Top 2022 Recruit Alyssa Jinright Doesn’t Let Type 1 Diabetes Slow Her Down

If you’re in the Class of 2022 and trying to elevate your game enough to get seen by college coaches, it’s hard enough to do with all the practices, workouts, tournaments and travel that club ball entails, not to mention balancing school and other aspects of life.

For Alyssa Jinright, a talented 14-year-old versatile player who pitches, plays the middle infield and is a dangerous lefty slapper from Hayden, Alabama, her success to date—which included recently being listed as one of the top 250 players in the Extra Inning Softball player rankings—is even more impressive when you consider one thing almost no one knows: she’s a type 1 diabetic who wears an insulin pump on her 24 hours a day.

As her father, Ronnie, put it: “Her opponents fear her on the field, but they almost never know she is insulin dependent.”

Alyssa plays for Hayden High and for the last two travel ball seasons competed with the Birmingham Vipers 04 team, helping the squad finish 5th at ASA Nationals in Dallas and take 4th place in the 14U bracket at the Bolts 5 Star Showcase.

She had a strong summer and fall, too, batting an impressive .486 with an on-base percentage over .800.

Primarily a second baseman, her versatility to play the infield and pitch has drawn her early notice as has her all-around athleticism which includes playing basketball and volleyball for her high school.

This summer Alyssa will travel with the North Alabama Prospex organization headed up by Matt Adams and her talent on the field should get her significant college interest. College coaches should be even more impressed when they consider how hard the young athlete has battled—and will continue to battle—not just for herself, but others who have had to overcome the challenges of diabetes.

“My goal is to play softball in college and get a degree in Social Science,” Alyssa explains. “I want to help children that do not have a home, to find loving parents to adopt them and I would also like to help the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by talking to kids that are just diagnosed to help them understand that being a diabetic is not the end of everything.”

The Alabama eighth grader remembers to the day when her life was changed forever.

“On June 20, 2008—when I was four-years-old—I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I had a stomach virus that I thought would go away in a couple of days. My mom took me to an after-hours clinic and from there I was taken to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. Once we got there they checked my blood sugar and it was over 800 (editor’s note: normal for a child that age is 100-200).”

In the beginning, it was–the athlete admits—very hard to get used to.

“I had to take five or more shots every day,” she remembers, “But I grew up in an athletic family and I had started playing tee ball at age four—I played on a team full of boys—and my parents never allowed me to use diabetes as an excuse. I was taught to work hard for what I want.”

When she was eight-years-old, Alyssa was put on an Omnipod, an insulin pump that she wears 24 hours a day normally on her hip, the opposite hip she slides on. When playing ball she swaps it around from hip to hip.

“I change it every three days,” explains the athlete. “I still have to watch what I eat, but it gives me a little bit more freedom.”

Having played softball for over a decade, the teenager says having worked with coaches who didn’t treat her any differently has made a huge difference in her development and as has the great support she’s received from family and friends.

“None of my coaches ever allowed diabetes to be an excuse,” adds Alyssa. “There is a standard to play to and I am expected to play to it. My close friends and teammates do not let me being diabetic be an excuse, either. They do not let me stop because I am tired. They push me to do my best and I will do the same for them. I am very thankful to have such great friends and teammates to be able to be on the field with.”

Audri Johnson is a teacher at Hayden Middle School who also coaches varsity volleyball and junior high softball. She has taught and coached Alyssa from the 5th grade to now and says, “As her teacher, I teach PE and knew she was diabetic from the start. She has always been so mature with her condition and never seemed to be much of an issue. She rarely, if ever, complains about being hurt, weak or different than other students. This is just Alyssa and this is what you get.”

“She is honest, God-fearing and believing and is a leader in the gym. I could always count on her to be where she needs to be and do what I need her to do.”

Adds Jason Sloan, who has been a hitting and pitcher coach for Alyssa: “I have coached Alyssa for six years and I have seen her grow both physically and mentally. She has very good fundamentals is always willing to work hard. Alyssa is truly a blessing to coach.”

It’s apparent that diabetes hasn’t slowed the athlete down; quite the opposite, it’s motivated her to elevate her play knowing that she’ll have to work extra hard to be at the same level—or better—than her opponents.

It’s worked so far, according to those she lines up against on the field.

“In a close game Alyssa is not the one as an opposing coach you want to see come out of the dugout to hit,” says Johnny Gilds, founder of Jaguars Fastpitch and coach at Chilton County High in Clanton, Alabama.

“She is a tough out and I refer to her as the ‘Hammer.’”

Her own varsity high school softball and basketball coach, John Simmons, is also a fan and has had a front-row seat to Alyssa’s journey.

“I have known Alyssa most of her life,” the Wildcats coach begins. “Her family and I have been neighbors for years and, as Alyssa grew up, I had watched her play ball. Countless times at travel softball tournaments, I watched as she became a premier athlete.”

“The most amazing thing to notice is her high level of play and her determined work ethic and you would never know she is a type 1 diabetic. I watch as her parents cheer her on, never making reference about her condition. If a situation comes along where she has an issue, adjustments are made to adjust her sugar levels and she continues on, unknowing to most that are watching.”

“As she has entered school ball I have gotten closer to Alyssa and her development. She is an outstanding young lady that has a very mature approach to her condition. She self-monitors her sugar levels and maintains an extremely high level of performance.”

“Alyssa is a three-sport athlete at our school and does so with no complaints and no excuses about her diabetes. Diabetes is just a part of life for her.”

“I always have heard you cannot control the hand you are dealt but you can control how you play them. Well, Alyssa is playing her cards right.”

The athlete herself concludes: “You can do anything you want to do as long as you push yourself and do not let down. I thank God for the people he has put in my life and have that have been here through the hard times! Being a diabetic is one of many parts that make me the person I am today!”