HOPE — Lexi Tallent already had immersed herself in competitive basketball and softball for a few years when she learned the news last year that almost no one in those sports wants to hear.
She wasn’t likely to grow any more than her current height of 4 feet, 6 inches because of achondroplasia, the most common type of short-limbed dwarfism.
But Tallent hasn’t let that stop her. Now a freshman at Hauser, she played on the junior varsity basketball team and currently is a contributing member of the Jets softball team that is 7-2 and ranked No. 4 in the state in Class A.
“When we first adopted her, we didn’t know how tall she was going to be,” said her brother-in-law, Matt Tallent. “She’s been through two knee surgeries with her achondroplasia, and it wasn’t until last year when the doctor finally told us she’s at her max height. She was already into the sports when we found out she wasn’t going to get a whole lot taller. But she’s done great.”
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Matt and his wife Tabatha — Lexi’s sister — adopted Lexi after her and Tabatha’s mother died of a heart attack when Lexi was 7 years old. They took over guardianship from her father and moved her to Hope from Tennessee, when she was in second grade.
Soon after, Lexi began playing softball and basketball. Matt coached her junior high softball teams the past three years and is now an assistant with the high school team for which Lexi plays.
“I enjoy getting out and coaching her … when she listens,” Matt said. “She’s kind of hard-headed when it comes to me coaching her. She would rather listen to (head coach) Craig (Sims) or somebody else.”
Lexi, who played second base in middle school, has played a little bit of left field and right field for the Jets this spring. She’s mostly been used as a pinch-runner or courtesy runner.
“She has some speed,” Sims said. “She’s never going to be a big power hitter, so we figured we’d kind of utilize her speed a little bit by putting her on the left side. She’s obviously faced with some physical challenges, but she accepts the challenge, she comes to practice every day and never makes excuses about it and works hard in doing so.”
Lexi’s hard work paid off in Friday’s 15-0 Mid-Hoosier Conference win against Waldron. She entered the game as a courtesy runner in the second inning and promptly stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout.
An inning later, Lexi came on as a pinch hitter, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and went all the way to second when the throw to try to get her at first got away. She went to third on a groundout before being forced out at home on a bases-loaded grounder.
Lexi came close to getting her first hit in the fourth inning when she lined out to first.
“If you just put in the work, it will show,” she said.
That’s been especially true in the classroom. An honor roll student throughout the time she’s been in Indiana, Lexi has earned straight A’s this year. She wants to go to Indiana University and become a doctor.
If she does, it wouldn’t come as a shock to those who know her best.
“Getting out and shooting from the 3-point line like she does (in basketball), that just amazes me,” Matt Tallent said. “Everything she does is amazing. Having your mom taken away from you at such a young age and bouncing back the way she has and dealing with the achondroplasia and not letting it discourage her is amazing.”
The Tallents just returned from this weekend’s Little People of America Conference in Fort Wayne. That was Lexi’s first experience in a group of people her size.
But while she may have felt at ease there, Lexi feels just as comfortable around her Hauser teammates.
“It’s been amazing,” she said. “I wouldn’t change anything about (this season). Being around my friends makes me happy.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Lexi Tallent” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Name: Lexi Tallent
School: Hauser
Year: Freshman
Height: 4-foot-6
Sports: Softball, basketball
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