Sakina Smith still hears the whispered wisdom her mother gave her years ago when she first learned to live and play with only one arm.
"You are special, remember that," Zestean Smith would murmur into Sakina's ear. At other times, her mother would say, "You are a teacher. Maybe not in the usual sense, but you teach people you can do everything they can do."
More than a decade later, Sakina Smith, 21, embodies the message her mother delivered at a young age. She is a congenital amputee and a Division I athlete at Morgan State. Her left arm stops just past the elbow, but with her petite 5-foot-1 frame, it is not easily discernible from a distance.
Special? You bet. A teacher? Unquestionably. But more than that, as the starting leftfielder on the Lady Bears' softball team, she is an inspiration throughout the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Morgan coach Jeff Bozier has gotten used to the unusual post-game requests by now.
"I can't tell you how many times we went to different venues," he said, "and the opposing coaches would come up to me and ask if they could speak to her because she's such an inspiration to them."
Her inspiration has helped lead the Lady Bears (16-25) into the MEAC tournament for the first time in three years. They face Norfolk State in Ormond Beach, Fla., Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the double elimination tournament. Morgan has to win one of two games Thursday to keep its season alive.
Smith's congenital disorder — she refuses to accept the word "handicap" — hasn't kept her from playing basketball and golf, nor has it precluded her from playing the piano, trumpet and tuba.
On the softball field, she is smooth and natural in the outfield, where she has thrown out two runners this season and committed only two errors (for a .964 fielding average). Hitting is a tougher assignment. She wears a prosthetic with a flexible wrist on her left arm, but shuns the device at all other times.
She takes a .189 batting average into the MEAC tourney, but even that is deceptive. Batting mostly seventh in the lineup, she has collected 14 hits, scored 11, driven in five, stolen four bases and — Bozier says — "helped us win some games."
In a doubleheader against Delaware State on Saturday, Smith, a junior, made a play in left field that underscored her instinct for the game. On a sharply-hit ball to deep left, she sprinted to within feet of the outfield fence, turned back and let the line drive fall to her glove. Then she tucked the glove under the nub of her left arm, pulled out the ball and got it back to the infield in a flash. 'Big trouble' became 'no damage.'
"She makes hard plays look easy," said Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, the team's centerfielder.
"To think about all the extra hours and all the extra hard work she has to put in aside from anybody else, it shows so much heart and dedication. It makes me want to work harder to play beside her. I don't want to let her down because I know she's investing a lot of time and heart to do everything she does."
Asked what it says that Smith has been able to play with one arm, rightfielder Devina Brown doesn't hesitate.
"That she's 10 times as awesome as the rest of us because she has to do what we do in a whole 'nother way," Brown said.
Smith has been going the extra mile her entire life. She was brought up in Webster, N.Y. — 30 minutes from Rochester — with the same opportunities anyone else her age had. When she wanted to follow older brothers Tariq and Idris into baseball at age 4, her father, Tim, helped her develop the physical tools and her mother cultivated the mental.
"When she was born, we decided she was going to be raised equally as other children," Zestean said. "We weren't going to treat her any differently."
With work, Tim said Sakina learned the tricky transfer of ball from glove to hand. With success, she gradually broadened her horizons.
Not to say it was all easy.
Her mother guided her through the rough spots, the awkward times of uncertainty. There were those whispered truths that settled Sakina and enabled her to go on.
"Whenever I had any problems — which was rare — I went to her and she was like, 'Sakina, it's all right, you're special. That's the main thing; just remember that,' " Smith said.
"She always instilled in me that you've always got to have motivation and determination if you want to be someone or get somewhere in life. And I've kept that all along."
Smith was so determined that as soon as she made the team in 2009 as a walk-on — she was a designated runner the first year and a spot player the second — she quickly let teammates know they needn't carry anything for her or help her in any way. To this day, she is asked and expected to do what every other player on the team does.
"I'm glad I had an opportunity to meet this young lady and work with her because she also inspires me," Bozier said. "Her passion to win, her passion to be independent is what I believe is her super power.
"She's extremely fast, she's quick. She reads the ball well. Putting her out there in the outfield, we have not lost a step. She's athletically talented."
Smith attends Morgan on an academic scholarship with a major in medical technology. She plans to go to graduate school for prosthetics and orthotics to help others who walk in her shoes.
"I want to give back and show other children that like me, hey, you can do whatever you want. There's no holding you back," Smith said.
She is proof of that.