After she stepped away from practice, Analise Campos yelled instructions and words of encouragement to her Morton teammates.
When she returned, she hit the ball for fielding drills.
It was typical for the senior outfielder.
“She’s always helping out,” Morton senior pitcher Julissa Abeyta said. “She’s just a good girl.”
Campos is a good player for the Great Lakes Athletic Conference champion Governors (9-8, 5-0) too. She was hitting .531 with 11 RBIs and 12 stolen bases entering their conference finale against West Side on Thursday.
“She’s a really strong, dedicated player to the sport,” said Abeyta, a South Suburban recruit. “I admire that about her. She has hustle. She has dedication.”
But Campos lamented what could have been after she hit .578 with six homers, 29 RBIs and 30 stolen bases last season. She was sidelined for three months over the winter with an injured right hand and returned shortly before the start of this season.
“I almost broke my hand from hitting so much,” Campos said. “It was pretty rough, so painful. It’s been hard this season. It was slow at first. Then I started getting more comfortable.
“I really didn’t pay attention to it. I didn’t notice it until it was puffed up and it was bruised all around. It was out of nowhere. I went to the doctor, and he said it was a torn muscle and I would’ve broken my hand if I kept hitting. He just said to lay off of it and don’t overdo it.”
That was difficult for Campos, who has played volleyball and basketball at various points in her high school career but has been a starter in softball all four years.
Campos lined up primarily at second base as a freshman, a position she said she had “never” played before. She requested a move to the outfield as a sophomore and landed in right. But she hit .267 with two homers, 17 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
“I had a slump sophomore year, really bad,” she said. “It was more of a mental thing. Once I got out of that spot mentally, things got better.”
Campos wound up breaking out last season while playing in center field, where she returned this season.
“Junior year, I feel like I dominated in center and batting,” she said.
Campos’ production hasn’t surprised sophomore shortstop Ei’lani Herrera, Morton’s future No. 1 pitcher.
“She has a lot of talent — a lot,” Herrera said. “She’s very positive with us. She’s a really good leader of the team. She has a lot of energy. She just gives us a good mindset.”
Campos helps cultivate that mindset with a business based on an activity she initially saw on TikTok. Morton coach Randy Chavez — who is a customer, including for Mother’s Day — described Campos’ handiwork as “amazing.”
“I make flowers, eternal flowers, out of ribbons,” Campos said. “It’s consuming, but I like it. I like it because it’s calming. It’s not like sports where I’m in a rush, always thinking about what to do next. I can just sit and relax and do that. It’s just time for myself.”
That hectic pace of sports will be ending for Campos, although there doesn’t figure to be dull moments in her next chapter. She plans to attend IUPUI and study criminal justice. She has a pretty clear idea about her career path.
“I have to start as a police officer, but I want to make my way to CSI or SWAT, one of those two,” Campos said.
Chavez believes Campos has the ability to achieve her goals. He’s a veteran police officer and teaches criminal justice at the Hammond Area Career Center. Campos is one of his students.
“She’s in my class for three hours a day, and she wants to be a police officer,” Chavez said. “She’d be good at it. She’s definitely a leader for the girls. She’s just so strong. The girls look up to her.”
