PROSPECT — Mark White had a clear plan for his future.

His ravaged right shoulder had other plans, however.

With designs on playing baseball at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., after graduating from Slippery Rock High School, White noticed discomfort and pain whenever he threw a baseball.

As a shortstop and pitcher, a healthy shoulder was his ticket to the college baseball field.

That ticket was suspended when doctors discovered the extent of the damage to his wing.

"A torn labrum, torn rotator cuff, torn biceps tendon," White said. "My shoulder was basically dislocated."

Suddenly, White's baseball career was on hold.

He attended SlipperyRock University last year and underwent surgery to repair the damage to his joint in February.

It was a surgery that usually sidelines a baseball player for eight months to a year.

White was back on the field playing for the Prospect American Legion baseball team in early June.

"I wasn't even supposed to pick up a baseball until July," White said. "I'm still worried about re-injury, but I'm real motivated because this is my last year of Legion. This is my last time with all the friends I have been playing with since I was 7- or 8-years-old."

White laments the fact that the injury could have been prevented.

He always took his health for granted. After pitching seven innings, White said he didn't properly ice his shoulder.

He abused it.

"I way over-used it," White said.

On the road to his recovery, he's done things a lot differently.

White played second base for most of the Legion season to limit the throws he would have to make. During rehab, he treated his wing like gold.

Five games ago, he finally moved back to his natural position at shortstop and hasn't missed a beat.

His arm still tires quickly and his accuracy from short is sometimes erratic, but on Thursday against Center Township in the opening round of the Butler County American Legion tournament, he made several long and difficult throws.

"It looks like the pop is back in his arm," said Prospect manager Brandon Ray.

The pop never left his bat.

White is hitting well over .400 this season. He went 4-for-4 with three doubles, three RBIand two stolen bases against Center Township.

As White goes, so does Prospect, the defending BCAL tournament champion.

"I've played with Mark for 12 years," Ray said. "He's been my best friend for 15 years. Mark is the leader on this team. Mark White is an unbelievable baseball player. He hits the ball well. He fields the ball well. Mark is the best all-around player in this league, hands down."

White is hoping to prove that to the rest of the league in the tournament.

He would love to help his team as a pitcher, but those days are long over, he said.

"I will never pitch again," White said. "That kind of stinks. But I wouldn't have been a pitcher in college anyway."

White would love to cap his Legion career with another championship.

No matter what happens, he intends to get his plan back on track by transferring to Lynn University in Florida to play baseball.

"I was born there," said White, who's family moved to Slippery Rock when he was young. "My dad still has a house down there. It's what I've always wanted to do."