(Found this on another board)
This is from the Carthage, MS Newspaper. Their articles don't archive, so I've copied it here.
“Who would have ever thought it?”
Fortenberry gets start, win at ECCC
After losing his eye, enduring numerous surgeries, pitcher returns
If John Fortenberry possesses anything as strong as his right arm, it is without a doubt his determination. Last Saturday in Decatur, Fortenberry made his regular-season pitching debut for the East Central Community College Warriors, just over one year after being struck in the face with a batted ball and losing his right eye as a result.
When Fortenberry toed the pitching rubber on Saturday in the second game of a double-header with Jones Community College, decked out in a caged helmet welded by his father, Roddie, his performance most likely put to rest any doubts anyone had about his ability to pitch with just one eye. Over five innings, Fortenberry allowed only three hits (one of which was a two-run homerun), while striking out five. After Fortenberry exited the game with a 6-2 lead, his former CHS teammate Kevin Hatch took the mound and earned the save in Fortenberry’s first collegiate victory as a pitcher.
While Fortenberry acknowledged that many people questioned his ability to return to the mound, he said he has refused to allow himself to think any differently despite undergoing six surgeries that included placing a titanium plate and 12 screws in the cheekbone around his crushed eye socket.
“It was just another day,” Fortenberry said. “You can’t really take it any way other than that.”
Shortly, after he suffered the life and career-threatening injury last January in an intra-squad game Fortenberry vowed to return to baseball and has never admitted to having any doubts that he would. But, even though he never doubted he would pitch again, Fortenberry said he didn’t expect things to go as well as they did on Saturday. “Truthfully,” he said, “I am very surprised I did as well as I did, but after the first two or three pitches it all kind of fell into place.” Up until about two weeks before the season, ECCC coach Jake Yarborough had told Fortenberry he would be used as a relief pitcher this season, at least in the beginning. But, about two weeks ago, Fortenberry said Yarborough told him he was going to be in the starting rotation. “That made me feel good,” Fortenberry said. “It was about the third or fourth inning before I realized how lucky I was to be pitching again.”
Fortenberry’s mother, Dawn, hid her emotions well, hoping not to put any more pressure on her son than she figured he was already feeling. ”John has just been going with the flow,” she said. “We were really, really proud of him. “He’s a starting pitcher now. Who would have ever thought it? I think he did better than most people thought he would.” Major League Baseball scout and Walnut Grove resident Art Gardner, who was in attendance on Saturday, for one, thought Fortenberry’s return was unlikely.
Gardner said he called the MLB office and asked if anyone had ever returned to pitch after losing an eye and a subsequent search of the records produced no similar occurrences where sight was involved. Fortenberry said he will have another operation at the end of the season and then he will have a new prosthetic eye made. He currently does not have a prosthetic and he wears a patch at all times. Additional surgery became a necessity last summer after he was outfitted with his first prosthetic and the upcoming operation will ready him for another, hopefully, permanent one, Fortenberry said. Fortenberry is scheduled to pitch for his second win on the season today (Thursday) when the Warriors travel to Gulf Coast Community College.
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