Salpointe junior shortstop Torey Craddock has emerged as one of the top players in Southern Arizona. Surgery to correct congenital knee problems cost Craddock her sophomore season.

a.e. araiza / arizona daily star

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There were days when Torey Craddock put on her softball uniform and became scared of what would happen next.

Craddock, a junior at Salpointe Catholic, is not the kind of player who does anything halfway. So despite a congenital defect in her knees, she would play and run and exert herself the only way she knew how.

The consequences were excruciating.

"I would try to be careful, but I'd be running the bases and sometimes my kneecaps would pop out of place," she said. "It hurt. It hurt a lot."

The diagnosis sounded even more painful: kneecap reattachment surgery, times two.

Craddock's kneecaps — "crooked" and too far off-center to allow her to safely continue normal activity — were surgically moved and screwed back into place to make them straight. The surgeries kept her out of action for 10 months.

To hear her coach tell the story, that was when Craddock became one of the best players in town.

"Some kids will sprain a finger and not show up to practice, but Torey was there for every single practice last year, on crutches, learning things most kids never concern themselves with," said Salpointe coach Ted Farhat. "She'd make me explain things to her. Why did we do this? What's the theory behind that strategy?

"And then she'd say, 'I'm ready for that.'"

She wasn't kidding. Craddock's return to the field this season has revitalized a youthful team and led the Lancers to the top of the illustrious 5A Southern Region for much of the season. Salpointe (18-11-1, 7-3) finished third behind co-champions Sierra Vista Buena and Sunnyside.

On the eve of the Class 5A-I state playoffs, Salpointe is in position to host a first-round game — a luxury it surely would not have without Craddock's determination to return in top form.

The rehabilitation process lasted nearly a year and made the simplest of bodily functions — bending the knees — a heartrending chore. While she struggled to recover, the budding careers of her teammates and peers pressed on without her.

"You could tell it was hard on her to sit there and watch us do things that she used to do every day," friend and junior infielder Vanessa Chavez said. "But it really made her a better player."

Craddock said she has had no issues with her knees since the surgeries and is playing at 100 percent.

The 5-foot-8-inch Craddock finished the regular season with a .372 batting average with 13 extra-base hits and 23 RBIs. More impressive, though, are her 11 stolen bases on knees that do not allow her the same speed she had before the surgery.

But Craddock cannot talk about her swiftness without laughing.

"I was never that fast to begin with," she said.

That did not prevent Farhat from moving Craddock from her natural second base position to shortstop, the infield position that requires the most agility and range.

True to form, Craddock, who holds a 3.9 GPA, never complained.

"She is a legitimate college Division I second baseman," said Farhat, who coached for the Arizona Heat with Pima College coach Stacy Iveson. "Instead of staying at second and being the best in town at that position, she was forced to short because we have so many second basemen, and she's the best athlete. She embraced it."

It is an unusual story of player development. Craddock missed a crucial year when those around her got a head start in vying for college scholarships.

Somehow, she is the one everyone else is chasing.

"It took a lot of work for me to get here, and I am making sure I don't take any steps backward," Craddock said. "If you don't try your hardest every practice, it shows in the games. I sat there and watched it for a year, so I know. I won't let it happen to me."