Mustang juniors finish season on diamond after ‘scary’ accident

MONROE — The PCM softball team practiced at 5:30 p.m. during the preseason. Most of the players start to arrive at 5:10.

On May 17, the Wednesday before games started, the team’s four juniors were not yet at the field at 5:15 p.m.

“We didn’t think too much about it at the time,” PCM head softball coach Shaun Hudnut said.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later, Hudnut and the team got a message they hope to never get again.

The four juniors — Eliana Buswell, Lark Drake, Reese Palm and Ella Schendel — were in a car accident while leaving Palm’s house to go to practice.

The foursome hung out at Palm’s house basically every night after school until softball practice started.

“The girls have a snap chat group and one of them put in there that they were in a wreck. We weren’t sure if they were serious at first because they are kind of goofballs,” Hudnut said. “Addison Steenhoek was coming over here from track practice and she had called one of the girls and connected with them and told us it was true.”

Practice was canceled that day. And the team sat in the outfield until they found out what was going on.

Senior Joslin Briles turned on her police scanner so the team could follow it and that’s when things got really difficult for everyone.

“We could hear within a few minutes, they started talking about life flight and ambulances,” Hudnut said. “We didn’t want their minds going places it didn’t need to go at that point, but it was scary.”

The accident happened at a place that has seen multiple accidents. It’s not the safest situation.

“My parents are still trying to get a stop sign out there, but there is a hidden entrance sign to let people know to slow down a little,” Palm said.

Palm was driving at the time of the accident. Buswell saw the truck coming from the passenger seat and the group remembers hearing her shout Reese’s name.

“I remember hearing Eliana yell Reese so I turned to see what she was referring to and it was a white truck coming right at us,” Schendel said. “I’m not sure who else saw it coming.

“They think Eliana and Reese bonked heads and Lark and I ran into each other.”

Schendel was cleared right away and went home with her parents. Buswell went to Newton and Palm and Drake were taken to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. Buswell and Palm were released that night.

“We found out they were being transported by ambulance and one by life flight,” Hudnut said. “We ordered pizza and stayed for drinks. I did end up visiting Buswell in Newton and then went to Des Moines to see the other two at Blank.”

Schendel had a bad neck spasm for a little bit, but she had to deal with more of the mental side of things.

“At the site, I was the one who had to give names and birthdays and that stuff,” Schendel said. “We ran into a pole, but I don’t remember that. I just remember the first thing I saw was Lark and her head was full of blood. That was scary. The hardest thing for me was making sure I was OK. I got out of the vehicle and then got back in to help Lark. I found a pair of sweatpants and wrapped them around Lark’s head. She doesn’t remember much about that.

“I think we still don’t really know exactly what happened.”

Drake certainly suffered the most injuries. She was in the driver’s side passenger seat and was taken to the hospital by life flight as a precaution.

Drake broke her jaw in two different places, had a big gash on her forehead that required 16 stitches and she broke her right collarbone, two ribs in her back and her T-1, which is part of her vertebrate.

“I had two jaw surgeries and my jaw was wired shut for a few weeks,” Drake said.

While the other three got to go home soon after the accident, Drake stayed overnight at Blank and then went by ambulance to Iowa City the next day.

“There was no one at Blank who could do my surgery,” Drake said. “We went to Iowa City on Thursday and they did my surgery on Saturday morning. I was there for about three days.”

Palm suffered a concussion and injuries to her head. Buswell tore a part of her ear and had a hematoma in her eardrum, which took a really long time to heal.

“I just remember Reese repeating the same question over and over again. It was scary,” Schendel said. “I didn’t want to go in-depth with her because I knew she wouldn’t remember it. I just tried to keep calm, but it was hard to deal with.”

All things considered, the foursome knows they got a bit lucky.

And it’s because the driver of the truck pulled the E-brake and swerved a little bit before hitting Palm’s car. That helped lessen the impact.

“He made some decisions that probably saved lives,” Hudnut said. “We are thankful for those decisions. I think it was about as positive as we could have hoped for.”

Palm considers herself lucky after the driver’s side door was pushed into the center console.

“I’m not sure how I wasn’t injured more,” Palm said. “I don’t remember anything.”

Drake, a three-year starter coming into the season, missed all but one game this summer. She played in the team’s regular-season finale against Newton on July 3 and warmed up for the first time before the Mustangs’ home game against South Hamilton on June 28.

Schendel missed the first six games and started all 21 she played in. She debuted against Perry on May 31 and finished the season with 13 hits, seven runs, three doubles, nine RBIs and four walks.

Palm made eight starts and played in 15 games. She debuted against West Marshall on June 2 and tallied three hits, five runs and three walks this season.

Buswell made her season debut on June 22 against Pella Christian. She ended the year with one hit, one walk and two runs.

With so many seniors graduating from this year’s team, the junior foursome could be counted on for so much more next summer.

And Hudnut will be glad to have them back on the field for the entire season.

“We went from thinking we had so much depth this year to not knowing what to expect,” Hudnut said. “We are just glad they are all OK.”