GROVE CITY - Stephanie Briggs can smile again.

The Grove City High School graduate can step out into right field and shag fly balls with the only worries being the sun and the direction of the wind.

She can step into the batter's box with the only burden on her mind being whether the pitch will be a fastball or a drop ball.

It hasn't been that way for Briggs, a senior on the Grove City College softball team, for two long years that were filled with illness from both external and internal forces.

"It was a great feeling to get back playing again," said Briggs after a recent eight-game trip to Florida with the Wolverines.

Simply stepping back out onto the field has been a treat for Briggs, who has climbed back from a prodigious fall into illness and despair.

It started at the beginning of her sophomore season with a strange looking mole on her chest.

"I went to my primary doctor and she sent me to a dermatologist in New Castle," Briggs said. "The doctor there said, 'Oh, it's probably OK.'"

It wasn't. It was skin cancer.

Briggs had the melanoma removed and also had several lymph nodes removed from under her right arm.

"I was out for the rest of the season," Briggs said. "I was unable to use my right arm."

She returned for her junior season, but it became clear early in the spring that Briggs wasn't the same player who led Grove City in doubles during her freshman season.

Briggs was physically weak. She started the season 1-for-12 at the plate before pulling herself out of a game against Waynesburg.

"It was awful," Briggs said. "A lot of times I was up to bat and I was too weak to swing."

After that game, she went to a hospital, where she was admitted immediately for exhaustion, depression and anemia brought on by an eating disorder.

"It wasn't a full-out eating disorder," Briggs said. "I pretty much stopped eating certain things that I needed. I was drained."

Through her problems, Briggs found support from her teammates and coaches.

"She's not only the leader on the team, but a huge part of the social circle," said Grove City softball coach Michelle Santom said. "Everyone definitely supported her last year. I remember the girls going to the hospital to see her, sending her cards."

Briggs was administered vitamins intravenously and went through the long process of returning to health. She stopped taking diet pills and began eating again, not worrying about calories and fat content.

Now, all she worries about is batting averages and RBI.

"I don't think (my teammates and coaches) realized the severity of what I was doing," Briggs said. "No one could pinpoint it."

Briggs said it wasn't until two months ago that she finally felt she was back to normal.

She showed that she was her old self in Florida.

On the final day of the trip, Briggs collected five hits, two doubles and four RBI. The five hits matched her total from her sophomore and junior seasons combined.

In the seven games she played, she hit .474 with five RBI - both tops on the team. She was also named Presidents' Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

"The first game, I played terrible," Briggs said. "I had an error and didn't bat well. But after that, I felt like my old self again. That was a great feeling. I feel like I can only get better. My confidence is so high right now."

Santom and the rest of the Wolverines were happy to see Briggs' triumphant return, too.

"I am super happy for her," Santom said. "She worked hard after having a couple of rough years. I think she is poised to have a great year."

Briggs didn't have any expectations or set any goals for herself coming into the season, but she was named team captain by Santom and the team and was eager to fulfill those duties, if nothing else.

"There's nothing I can do about those two years. They're gone," Briggs said. "I knew I could be a good leader for the team and show them you can come back from misfortune.

"What happened to me the last two years just makes me love and appreciate the game more than I ever have."