Imagine this scenario if you’re a softball player: your high school team goes undefeated for the year, wins a state championship, its fourth in six years, and, not only that, is recognized as the No. 1 team in the nation—the National Champs!

Your dad, the head coach, is named National Coach of the Year and your younger sister, the Gatorade State Player of the Year. And in the exciting state championship playoffs you come up so clutch, you’re named the Tournament MVP!

Sound like something too hokey for even a Hollywood script?

Actually, this was the real-life senior season for infielder Bailey Sherrill of Alexander Central High in Taylorsville, N.C. which was ranked No. 1 at the end of the year by USA Today/NFCA. Bailey’s father, Monte Sherrill, earned MaxPreps.com’s National Coach of the Year and sister, Vada, was the Gatorade State Player of the Year.

We’ve done extensive coverage of the Cougars and their 35-0 season, but only recently learned of the outstanding writing talents of Bailey, who her father calls an “old soul who’s been in the background for a lot of years.”

That was due in part because of a scary situation that hit Bailey when she was only 3 years old—she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a type of blood cancer.

Fortunately, she overcame the cancer but her father says it set her back in her physical development.