East's Aleah Brooks overcame hip injury to earn spot at Louisiana Tech

“At that point, I didn’t know where I wanted to go to college,” the Cheyenne East junior said. “I just knew I wanted to go somewhere warm because I’m tired of the wind and snow. I thought of Louisiana, so I started looking at Tech’s campus, and thought it was small and pretty.

“I didn’t know anything about the school at the time, but I thought it would be someplace nice to go. I thought it would be super cool, but probably out of reach.”

Brooks’ dream will become reality after she verbally committed to Louisiana Tech last month. A timely bit of happenstance helped it come within her grasp.

Brooks was hitting off a tee between games at the Colorado Sparkler, which is one of the biggest college recruiting showcases on the summer circuit. Some coaches had taken notice of the tall left-handed hitter and asked her to come hit in front of them.

One of those coaches was LaTech’s Josh Taylor, who was impressed enough by what he saw that he decided to keep tabs on Brooks during the Sparkler.

She launched two home runs and a double with Taylor in attendance, which earned her an invite to one of the Lady Techsters’ prospect camps.

Brooks continued to hit the cover off the ball while also playing strong defense at that event in Ruston, Louisiana, and earned an official recruiting visit once she was eligible to take them. Taylor offered Brooks a scholarship during her visit, and Brooks leapt at the opportunity to fulfill her dream.

This time last year, Brooks was still recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in her right hip. She was itching to do anything she could that was softball-related so badly that she sat a stool next to a tee in one of the three batting cages at The Factory and started doing top and bottom hand drills that help hone hand-eye coordination and swing path fundamentals that are the foundation of hitting.

Those drills were things she’d do every few weeks, but they became all she could do until she was cleared to stand and swing fully again.

“It wasn’t the most ideal situation, and I know there were days she didn’t want to be there, but sitting on that stool and working on her hands meant she was getting better at something instead of sitting at home feeling sorry for herself,” said Braxton Inniss, who has tutored Brooks privately alongside his father, Jerry, at the facility they own.

“Now, she doesn’t miss many pitches because her hands are so good. Without saying it, she said, ‘I’m going to get better, and nothing is going to stand in my way.’”

Top and bottom hand drills are now part of Brooks’ regular routine during batting practice sessions.

The 6-footer has always been a powerful hitter. She batted .562 with 10 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 35 RBI to earn all-state honors as a freshman at East.

Brooks used the swing she retooled after her hip surgery to post a .493 average, eight doubles, five triples, seven homers and 33 RBI to help the Lady Thunderbirds finish as state runners-up. She also was named to the all-state squad for the second time in her career.

“To be honest, I didn’t know how to come back to my original swing,” Brooks said. “I wouldn’t say we changed a lot, but we tried to almost start with a blank slate. It wasn’t that I didn’t remember my swing, it’s that my old swing was uncomfortable.”

Brooks and the Innisses set about crafting a swing that produced more line drives.

“We knew those would translate to the home runs she was used to hitting,” Braxton Inniss said. “She’s always been a good hitter, but she made huge jumps this past year that we couldn’t have anticipated.”

The Factory uses a HitTrax simulator software that logs the speed of a pitch and the velocity with which it exits the bat to estimate the distance the ball would have traveled outdoors. Brooks’ personal bests for exit velocity and distance already ranked highly for someone in her age group. She improved those numbers once she locked in her new swing.

Best of all, the swing translated to live pitching and produced better power numbers.

“I’m still hitting the same amount of homers, but I’m also hitting more doubles and triples,” Brooks said. “I didn’t believe Braxton when he first told me line drives would lead to more home runs, because I always thought I needed to elevate the ball to hit the ball out.

“But I ended up popping out a lot doing that. If I’m focusing on hitting line drives, hitting the ball hard and keeping good direction with my hands, the home runs will be there. A lot of my home runs were actually just line drives straight over the fence instead of really high flyballs.”

Brooks credits the Innisses with helping her navigate the moments when self-doubt overcame her after her surgery. Braxton Inniss deflects credit.

“Something people don’t understand about Aleah and those big-time players is that they’re not just good,” he said. “They spent a lot of time and energy developing a bulletproof mindset. She might get frustrated every three months, but she stays the course.

“I knew she was going to be better after getting that hip injury fixed, but I never imagined she’d make the jumps she has. That’s a tribute to her mindset and work ethic.”