SLIPPERY ROCK — One thought rattled around in Macy McCall's head on the frigid January night when she found out she had a broken bone in her foot.

“This can't be happening,” McCall said.

The Slippery Rock High senior three-sport star feared the worst.

Her basketball season was surely over. Would it also affect her on the softball field and on the track in the spring for the Rockets?

“I was really down about it,” McCall said. “Then my dad (John McCall) said, 'There's a reason why it happened.'”

It was the first time Macy McCall could remember ever being injured.

It took her a month — and a lot of restless days and nights standing on the sideline — to figure out what that reason was.

“It definitely gave me a different perspective on everything,” McCall said. “Sitting out and not doing what I had always been able to do made me appreciate it more and made me want to work even harder.”

McCall returned from that broken foot earlier than she or anyone thought and helped the Slippery Rock girls basketball team to a District 10 5A championship.

McCall hit the winning shot at the buzzer in that title game, a 47-45 win over Harbor Creek.

This spring, McCall has added two more district championships to her remarkable senior year, helping the Rockets' softball team to a 4A crown and winning the district title in the triple jump for the track and field team.

“I don't really think it's set in yet in my mind,” McCall said. “When we won the district in softball, my dad said, 'You know that's your third district title this year.' It's just a little crazy. I'm really happy.”

McCall's big senior season didn't necessarily come out of the blue.

For years, she's been a stellar player for the basketball team, starting since her freshman year.

Her role, though, expanded this season.

McCall averaged 11.2 points, and 4.9 rebounds per game as a guard for the Rockets.

“In basketball, I knew I had to play a bigger role,” McCall said. “Before this year, I had a specific role and I didn't do anything other than that. This year, I knew I had to be more of a scorer.”

McCall, who will play Division I softball next season at Wright State University, only ran track in the spring last season.

She did play travel softball for the Ohio Outlaws, however.

This season, McCall decided to tackle both softball and track and field again.

“It's pretty hard to measure what she's meant,” Hindman said.

McCall said there was never a doubt she would rejoin the team this season, although she played coy.

“All my friends were begging me to come back to softball,” McCall said. “I knew I was coming back, but I was like, 'Well, let me think about it.'”

McCall predominantly plays third base for the Rockets and is batting .526 with a team-leading five home runs. She also has 19 RBI and has struck out just three times in 65 plate appearances.

Slippery Rock started the season 1-4, but has won 16 straight games.

“We started off really rough,” McCall said. “We lost against our rival Grove City and we just fell apart against Johnstown. Then, we just came together as a team and the chemistry was great from there.”

Even on the track, McCall felt like a different person this spring.

“Something just clicked,” McCall said. “I felt so much faster. I asked my coach, 'Why do I feel so much faster?'”

McCall won the District 10 title in the triple jump and finished second in the 100-meter hurdles, but hit the qualifying time to advance to the PIAA Track and Field Championships.

Her triple jump championship came in only her second competition of the season in the event and her winning distance (36 feet, 4½ inches) came on her final attempt.

Before that last jump, she hadn't qualified for the state meet.

“There was no way I was going to let that happen,” McCall said. “It lit a fire under me. I felt angry running down the runway on my last jump. My friends were like, 'Yeah, you looked really angry.'”

All McCall is now is happy.

Her senior year plays on as the Slippery Rock softball team will open the state playoffs Monday.

“We're pretty excited,” McCall said. “Not many people expect us to do much. We literally have nothing to lose.”