Concussion Renders Liberty High Softball Player Unable to Speak

A Liberty High School softball player is struggling to regain her speech and motor skills after being struck in the head with a softball at close range.

Over the last few days, Annie Elrod has been able to gradually move her body, but the concussion she suffered has so far robbed her of the ability to verbally communicate her thoughts, FOX Carolina reported.

The accident happened in warmups between a recent doubleheader her father, Tim Elrod, told the station. His daughter had bent over to pick up equipment and when she stood up a teammate simultaneously fired a ball that struck the girl on the left side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

Elrod is currently recuperating at Children's Hospital, the station reported. 

While she cannot speak, Elrod used her mother's phone to type a message excusing the teammate that hit her. "It was an accident. … She didn't mean to," Elrod wrote.

"She's one of those that's always finding something to giggle about, to laugh about, to talk to Mom and Dad about. It's different not hearing that," her father told the station.

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