South Brunswick's Ashley Shor overcomes car accident, signs softball letter of intent

• Ashley Shor fractured her back in ribs in a car accident six months ago
• Shor had two rods and six screws place in her back
• She got back on the softball field practicing 10-and-a-half weeks later
• Last week she signed a letter of intent to the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown

Six months ago Ashley Shor's life changed drastically in the matter of split seconds on the morning of May 18 as she went from a happy, well-spirited teenage girl that loved softball on her way home from a post-prom party to having two complete strangers hold her hands as she laid on the side of the road in complete disarray, repeatedly telling those strangers, "I have to play softball."

Shor, a softball outfielder/pitcher for South Brunswick High School currently in her senior year, was sitting sleeping in the back seat of a car with her seatbelt on when all of a sudden the car was hit from behind twice, spun around, and hit a pole.

She suffered a fractured back and fractured her ribs as she had two rods and six screws put in her back two days later and couldn't walk for four days as she spent six nights in the hospital feeling helpless.

"It was a struggle to do everything," Shor said. "I had to be showered, I had to be taken to the bathroom. I missed the last month of school, which my teachers had to work out with finals and things like that. I felt so helpless and useless, and I felt bad for my parents. They missed work that week and to be with me. It was just the worst feeling in the world. I thought I was never going to get out of the hospital."

Last week she signed a letter of intent to play softball next season at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, a Division II school that recently started its softball program over the last couple years and will be playing its first full season next year when Shor's a freshman.

"It was the best feeling in the world signing that," Shor said. "Once I got in the accident, my (travel) coach came to visit me in the hospital and all I did was cry to him because I thought I was letting him down, letting the team down. Playing softball, that's what I love to do and it was taken away from me for a couple of months and it was the worst feeling in the world."

With the help of her doctor she was back on the field again in August 10-and-a-half weeks after her surgery as she was trying to get back to the form she was at and she recently finished her fall softball season with her travel team, the New Jersey Breakers.

"I got her out on that field and I was hitting ground balls to her," said her father Steve Shor, who took her to the field near their house nearly every day to practice. "She had to hold her knee to bend down, (with her right hand), just to catch ground balls and just every day she got better."

"Every day she got faster and faster. Her speed and her defensive depth playing center field, she was diving for everything like she was never hurt. She was coming around with her pitching – she wasn't as strong hitting, but it was coming back. They say 9-12 months that she'll be able to play again to the level she played at before. But I thought she came pretty close. She came pretty close by October."

While many doubted if she'd be herself again or be that player she was on the field, Shor believed in herself and fed off the outpouring support she received from her friends, family, and a number of people throughout the softball community to get back to where she was before.

"I definitely had doubts in the beginning, but once my surgeon gave me so much confidence, my parents gave me confidence," Shor said. "And I knew everyone was talking and saying (I wouldn't play again), but I believed in me and I believed I would get back. That's why every day when I practiced, I was just like I have to be the player I was. That's what I look forward to this spring season, to show everyone like the accident has only made me stronger."

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@mycentraljersey.com