Faith, family, softball support Western Alamance's Jillian Brunton during father's brain surgery

“I love competition so much,” she said. “It's just so much fun and I love the game. But, I also really love my teammates and I really want them to succeed.

“When I see a softball, I just light up. I want a ball so bad at shortstop — I’ve only gotten like three this season, but I’m so ready. I’m ready to go. I love chasing it. I love the grind. It's so much fun. It's a new challenge every day, for sure.”

Even in the dugout, she stands out. In a game against Oak Grove last week, Brunton didn't sit down, but instead headed for higher ground, standing on a bench and using a softball to pound on the underside of the dugout roof to cheer on her Western Alamance teammates as they looked to put bat to ball at the plate.

“It picks everybody up. It keeps everybody in the ball game when the chips are down,” Warriors softball coach Scott Bell said of Brunton’s constant encouragement. “Somebody's got to be that leader to step up and pick the team up and keep them going and try to build that momentum up. She does that. She's always positive. I've never seen her be negative on anything. Whether it's striking out or making a great play, she's always positive in her responses.”

Brunton has plenty of reason to be a beacon of positivity.

Faith, family, health and sports all met at an intersection of concern and uncertainty last year for Brunton.

Her father Scott Brunton had been experiencing memory loss and constant headaches that left the family searching for answers.

The Brunton family eventually received news that would flip their world upside down: Scott Brunton was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

Around that time, the Brunton’s were living in Warrenton, Virginia, a town in the northern part of the state, about 50 miles, or roughly an hour drive, west of Washington, D.C.

Scott Brunton’s doctor, who would eventually perform brain surgery, was located in Charleston, South Carolina, more than 500 miles away from the family’s home then. So, the Brunton’s decided to move a little closer to his doctor and eventually made their home in Alamance County.

“His doctor is in Charleston, so, that was kind of part of the move — a medical reason and it worked with my dad's job, as well,” Jillian Brunton said. “We came down here for that, sold our house up there and then got me in school, got me started and then they took care of my dad.”

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Jillian Brunton was entering her junior year of high school and enrolled at Western Alamance when the family moved in August.

“I was definitely nervous on the first day of school, but I talk a lot, so it kind of went OK,” Jillian Brunton said with a laugh. “One of my really good friends from Virginia, she plays softball down here, so she knew some girls on this team. Like (junior pitcher) Taylor Apple, she already knew. So some of them found out that I was coming down here, so they reached out before. Then we had practice, so then I made a lot more friends. And, I tried to join a lot of clubs.”

Just weeks after Jillian Brunton first entered the doors of a new school and began making new friends, Scott Brunton would undergo successful brain surgery in Charleston on Sept. 27 at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“She’s a godsend,” Bell said. “They were looking to move to somewhere between Raleigh and that area for his work. He travels a lot of the southeast and they were looking for a good place to go. Honestly, we got a lucky. She's a great kid, far beyond what she does (on the field). She's just an exceptional kid. Well-rounded. Her parents are great. 

“It's kind of hard for an outsider to come in and step right into that leadership role, but she's steadily being more and more vocal and kids are gathering around her more, knowing what type of kid she is. (The Brunton family's) faith in God has brought them where they are now. They're a great family. Good to have people like that around you.”

Along the way, through all the uneasiness and worry, Jillian Brunton said she was comforted and supported by many sources, including her faith and the Western Alamance softball team.

“It was obviously worrisome because you never know what's going to happen in surgery,” Jillian Brunton said. “But everybody here really came around me and my family came around me. I have really strong faith as a Christian and God had me through it the whole way. I was just trusting Him, even when it was really hard. Even my coaches reached out to me. When I wasn't staying here, they invited me to go to dinner or something so I wouldn’t be alone. It was really nice. I love the culture here.”

On top of keeping a positive mindset, the Brunton family even turned to humor to get through, she said.

“Luckily, my family, we took it really well and we kind made light of it in different situations,” she said. “One time, he kind of forgot to come pick me up from one of my batting lessons. I called him like, ‘Dad, are you on the way? Because I just got done.’ He was like, ‘From where?’ I was like, ‘My batting lesson.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I’m leaving now,’ and I was just laughing, like, oh, my goodness.”

The Warriors starting shortstop is currently batting .364 with 10 RBI, one homer and two doubles, helping the team to its current 8-4 overall, 5-2 Central Carolina Conference record. Outside of the game, she’s entrenched herself in additional circles in the Western Alamance community, joining Fellowship of Christian Athletes, student council, National Honor Society, Kids Helping Wish Kids Club and D.R.E.A.M. Team at the school.

“It’s definitely been a lot of fun. It's been new,” she said. “The culture here is very, very cool. They were all very welcoming. I really like that we put God in the middle; we pray as a team. I just thought that was really cool. And, it's in the school, too, with Western FCA, we have that every Friday morning. It's really cool, the culture that I've came into and the competition that I've came into. I'd say this is definitely a higher level of softball than what I was playing before.”

Throughout the trying times for the Brunton family, softball remained a constant and at the center of their lives.

“I’d definitely say my dad is very into softball and he helps me a lot,” Jillian Brunton said. “Even when he was going through the time leading up to surgery, he would still go out with me and pitch to me and do anything he could. Sometimes (when something isn’t going well) I sit back and take a reality check like, ’It’s OK. It's not the end of the world.’ I was definitely thinking that at Thanksgiving. I was like, ‘This could be a lot different right now.’ Sports gives you a family that could help me and the school gave me a family that really helped me through the process.”

A family, one outside of her biological one, is exactly what Jillian Brunton said she found in the Western Alamance softball team.

“I love when our team comes together as one and we cheer together,” she said. “We’ve had team dinners. We go out after practice sometimes as a team. We all just hang out. I think leadership is a really, really big key for our team. The more me and my teammates are cheering on each other, it’s just all one big family.”

The best part of it all? Scott Brunton is back in good health, his daughter said.

“He’s doing really good,” she said. “He’s been to every single one of my games. He’s gotten back into his job. It’s been an interesting transition, going back. It’s definitely been a ride. It’s brought us all closer together.”

More: 'Become that team, too': Western Alamance hopes to emulate opponent's successes after softball loss to Oak Grove

More: 20 Alamance County high school softball players to watch in 2022

David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.

This article originally appeared on Times-News: Faith, family, softball support Western Alamance's Jillian Brunton during father's brain surgery