Vanessa Alvarado was in her first year as the Desert Oasis High School softball coach when freshman Alissa Perkins came to the team’s tryouts. One thing immediately stood out.
“Obviously, the first thing you see is her prosthetic (leg),” Alvarado recalled.
Fibular hemimelia is a rare condition that led to Alissa being born without a fibula in her left leg. That resulted in amputation surgery when she was 9 months old, and she has worn a prosthesis ever since.
At the tryout, Alvarado wanted to be mindful of any potential limitations. But she wasn’t aware of the talent and mentality Alissa had.
“I remember walking up to her, and I said, ‘If there’s anything you can’t do, just go ahead and let me know, and we’ll figure it out.’ She looked at me and was like, ‘No, I could do everything. I’ll figure it out.’”
Alissa showcased her power at the plate, ripping each toss from Alvarado to the outfield. Then she displayed her ability as a pitcher and skill set as an infielder.
Now a junior, Alissa has continued on her tear. She is Desert Oasis’ top hitter, batting .571 with three home runs, 24 hits and 28 RBIs. On the mound, Alissa has a 1.03 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched.
“They’re just in awe with it, because she’s honestly defying all odds,” Alvarado said. “She’s a player, in the sense of a person with a disability, in everyone’s mind is not supposed to be this good, and she is proving everyone wrong.
“On top of that, she’s even better than some other kids that don’t have disabilities and have been playing this game forever.”
Desert Oasis (14-2) is the Desert League’s No. 2 seed entering the Class 4A state tournament. The Diamondbacks have a bye into the second round and begin play May 7.
Alissa, 16, hasn’t let her disability define her or stop her from thriving in softball, and she is also on Desert Oasis’ varsity girls volleyball team. She previously played basketball at Desert Oasis and participated in Paralympic events, where she threw shot put, discus, and javelin, among other notable events.
“At a glance, people would doubt me and not think I’m capable of being good,” Alissa said. “But, once they see me play, they realize that my prosthetic doesn’t hold me back in any way, and that I am just as good as anyone else without a prosthetic.
“Having this and dealing with any type of adversity that I’ve dealt with, it’s made me stronger, and it makes me work harder than any other person out here because I have to prove myself to a lot of people.”
Putting ‘fears to rest’
Mark and Tara Perkins, her parents, said they knew when Alissa was in vitro that she would be born with fibular hemimelia.
After Alissa was born, and with just a little bit of time before she would start walking, Tara’s grandmother suggested that they seek options with Shriners Hospitals for Children, since Tara’s great-grandfather was a Shriner.
Immediately, Mark Perkins said, the doctors put their “fears to rest” by detailing a plan for how they would treat their daughter and put her in a position to have a normal life.
“(The doctors) laid a plan out for her not to just fix the problem, but more of let’s look to see what this is going to look like in five years and 10 years, so that she can flourish and do what she wants to do,” Tara Perkins said.
Having this and dealing with any type of adversity that I’ve dealt with, it’s made me stronger and it makes me work harder than any other person out here because I have to prove myself to a lot of people.
There were two options: One was lengthening her missing fibula, which doctors told the parents could likely put Alissa “in constant surgery and recovery” until she stopped growing, and they couldn’t guarantee what an active life would look like. The other was amputation and having a prosthesis.
“Amputation and prosthetics have come so far with the technology,” Tara Perkins said. “They were kind of like, ‘You can have the surgery, but if you don’t have the support and the mindset of being able to champion what you’ve been dealt with, you’re still going to be probably a person that’s sitting in your house not doing anything.
“They just kind of instilled in us that it takes both. You can have the medical part of it, but you have to have the spirit and the attitude.”
That was needed as Alissa has had five surgeries to help with her condition, where her tibia and femur were shortened and bent. Her most recent surgery came at the end of her eighth-grade year before entering high school to help with her knee that was sliding out of place. Alissa said now, she shouldn’t have any more surgeries.
“(The Shriners doctors) installed hope in us and hope for her future,” Tara Perkins said. “That just kind of fueled us, and ever since then, she’s just really wanted to prove to people that she could do what everybody else can do.”
‘I did belong’
Alissa was active early on with sports, beginning with T-ball and playing baseball before transitioning to softball when she was 7. She also was involved with the Clark County School District’s adaptive physical education program, which is where she got started with the CCSD Paralympic team.
“I’ve just learned and grown up with a prosthetic leg, and I’ve never known anything different,” Alissa said. “So I’ve learned to play sports with it and just how I’ve lived for my whole life.”
On Desert Oasis her freshman year, Alissa was the only freshman on the varsity team, where she played second base and hit .367 as the Diamondbacks won the 4A Mountain League title and were a state semifinalist.
Amputation and prosthetics have come so far with the technology. They were kind of like, ‘You can have the surgery, but if you don’t have the support and the mindset of being able to champion what you’ve been dealt with, you’re still going to be probably a person that’s sitting in your house not doing anything. They just kind of instilled in us that it takes both. You can have the medical part of it, but you have to have the spirit and the attitude.
“I definitely felt, at first, a little bit nervous and just maybe that I didn’t belong yet,” Alissa said. “But, honestly, once I proved myself to my coaches and my teammates, I definitely realized I did belong there. My coaches and my teammates are very supportive of me.”
Alissa played volleyball and basketball her freshman year. She moved to pitcher while being a utility infielder for the Diamondbacks her sophomore year. This year, she pitches and has primarily played shortstop.
“They rely on her,” Alvarado said. “She keeps them calm, she checks them, she keeps them mentality in the game. When she’s at shortstop, she’s definitely the control panel. She’s talking about where we’re going to go, what we’re going to do, all that stuff.
“In my offensive lineup, she’s my big hitter. When she’s up, I can say 90 percent of the time I’m positive that she is going to make contact and get a base hit and be on base.”
This past fall was her first season on the Desert Oasis varsity volleyball team, where she had 36 kills and 23 digs in 39 sets played. Alissa said the volleyball season is a nice break from softball, where the club season begins after the state tournament finishes.
‘Nothing’s impossible’
When Alvarado meets with the umpires before the game, they’ll remark how “amazing” Alissa is. Other people and parents tell the coach that her star player is “super motivating and inspirational,” and that “she can rip (the ball).”
Tara Perkins said Alissa’s “outwork and outplay” attitude toward the game has helped Alissa quiet any skeptics that she can play the sport at a high level.
“I heard one of the dads (during one of Alissa’s club ball games), whose daughter is pretty phenomenal, and I heard him talking to one of his relatives, and the relative said, ‘That girl, I just noticed that she has a prosthesis,” Tara Perkins recalled. “And the dad said, ‘She’s way more than that prosthesis. She’s good. She’s one of our best pitchers, and she can hit the ball.’
“They didn’t know I was listening. That makes you feel good when you know that other people are recognizing and when somebody else asks about it, and their response is to say something really positive.”
Much of her focus has been on her high school activities, which also include participating in Desert Oasis’ highest choir class, but Alissa and her parents could see a future in participating in the Paralympics for discus and shot put, and other events.
I heard one of the dads (during one of Alissa’s club ball games), whose daughter is pretty phenomenal, and I heard him talking one of his relatives and the relative said, ‘That girl, I just noticed that she has a prosthesis. And the dad said, ‘She’s way more than that prosthesis. She’s good. She’s one of our best pitchers and she can hit the ball.’
Her parents said they recently found a thrower’s coach who could help Alissa with throwing discus and shot put for the Paralympics. Tara Perkins said there are roughly “80 to 100 gold medals” in the family’s garage from Alissa’s Paralympic events and archery competitions.
Alissa is looking to continue her softball journey in college. She currently holds a college offer from Bethel College (Kansas) and has had communications with other junior colleges. After the high school season, she is planning to attend camps in California, Colorado and Montana.
The athletic success Alissa has achieved thus far, or could achieve collegiately and in other avenues, is secondary compared to the impact she’s making for other athletes in her situation, she said.
“I hope that I can be an inspiration or a model for people to realize that they can do anything they put their minds to, and that nothing’s impossible,” Alissa said. “If you really work hard, you can achieve your goals, even if you face challenges.
“Something I live by is like no excuses, because a lot of people make up excuses, and they don’t really have it as hard as some people.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
