KELSEYVILLE >> Billy Shaul remembers the collision even if the next few days remain pretty much a blur for the Kelseyville High School assistant varsity baseball coach and 2002 KHS graduate and former standout athlete.
Shaul, 33, was playing shortstop in a B-1 men’s softball game on June 5 in Nice. It was the second inning when a high popup into shallow left field had Shaul retreating to catch the ball while his teammate in left field was charging hard to do the same.
“I called for it and I heard someone else calling for it,” Shaul said.
And then, to quote the old Batman show starring Adam West, “Smack!!!!Kapow!!!!!!”
“It was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt and I’ve had some sports injuries, been in accidents,” Shaul said of the collision with his teammate. “I knew something was wrong right away. I couldn’t get up and I couldn’t breathe very well.”
Shaul, ever the competitor, did ask if the ball had been caught. It had been, by the outfielder.
“It was the first time we had played together,” Shaul said. “It’s not anyone’s fault. It just happened.”
Shaul’s instinct that something wasn’t right with his condition couldn’t have been more on the mark. By the time he was able to stand and a friend had transported him to Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s emergency room in Lakeport, his condition hadn’t improved. It had deteriorated.
As an athlete, Shaul said you are taught to “walk it off” if possible. “I tried to walk it off, I walked it off as long as I could but I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt like I got dropped kicked in the bottom of my stomach. I just wanted to lay down,” he said.
Things got a little fuzzy after that for Shaul, who wasn’t released from Sutter Lakeside until more than a week later – Tuesday to be exact.
“The only thing I remember is getting a CT scan and I don’t remember anything else for the next couple of days,” Shaul said.
His injuries were extensive — an intra-abdominal hemorrhage, several fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen, which was surgically removed. More than half of his blood volume was eventually replaced.
“They gave me a lot of blood,” Shaul said.
Reminded that softball is a non-contact sport, Shaul laughed. “I can always find contact in whatever sport I play,” he said. “That’s the type of athlete I am.”
Many friends visited him during his hospital stay although he doesn’t recall seeing all of them.
“I was told they were there but I don’t remember,” he said.
An employee with the Kelseyville Unified School District’s maintenance department, Shaul won’t be able to return to work until he’s medically cleared. His lower torso sports a sizable vertical scar that remains bandaged, and he’s hooked up to a small portable monitor.
“I have a doctor’s appointment next week, so I’ll know more then,” Shaul said.
He remains in some pain but says it’s tolerable.
“I’ve always been pretty good with pain tolerance,” he said.
Shaul has served as an assistant varsity baseball coach at Kelseyville for four seasons and the last two have been among the best in the school’s history as the Knights have gone a combined 44-5-1. His release from the hospital on Tuesday allowed him to take part in the All-Lake County baseball photo shoot on Thursday at Lloyd Larson Field in Kelseyville where Poloni was honored as Coach of the Year and Kelseyville seniors Logan Barrick and Kyle Ellis were named co-most valuable players.
