Bus crash survivor throws out first pitch of season

His injuries were the worst of all the survivors.

BLUFFTON, Ohio (AP) — Narrowing his eyes on home plate for the ceremonial first pitch Friday, Tim Berta shook off the imaginary sign from his catcher, and everyone laughed.

Then he took off his purple cap and looked toward the five banners on the outfield wall with the names of the Bluffton University players killed in a bus crash just over a year ago.

The laughter gave way to tears.

Berta, who has spent countless hours learning to walk and talk after he was injured in the crash, didn’t want anyone to forget why they were all gathered to dedicate the school’s refurbished ball field.

“I’ve got to do that out of respect,” he had told his mom, Karen.

Berta suffered head injuries that critically damaged areas of his brain that control his muscles and speech. He still doesn’t have control over all the movements of his left hand, and his steps are measured and slow. Yet, doctors have been amazed by his progress, which continues at a time when most people with brain injuries see their improvements slow down.

Berta, of Ida, Mich., was a catcher his first two years at Bluffton before he decided to concentrate on school and football. But he stayed involved with the baseball team as a student-coach.

That’s why he was on the Florida-bound bus with the team when it plunged off a freeway overpass in Atlanta a year ago in March.

Of those who survived, Berta’s injuries were the worst.

Few things have brought him more joy than throwing a baseball again.

Just before Christmas, coach James Grandey asked Berta to throw out the first pitch. At the time, he couldn’t walk on his own.

Toss it underhand if you have to, the coach told him.

Berta vowed to walk out on the field — by himself.

And he did just that Friday afternoon with Grandey by his side.

Donations that poured into the school after the accident paid for the team’s new field and a memorial named Circle of Remembrance that sits just beyond right field.

Before the game, Berta led the team in prayer. He thanked God for the beautiful day and the game of baseball. And then he told the players not to take anything for granted.

“It can be gone in a matter of seconds,” he said.

Everyone cheered, even the umpires, as he slowly made his way to between home plate and the mound. He flashed a wide grin. His mom calls it his “playground smile.”

It wasn’t a perfect first pitch. The ball bounced just wide of the plate. But that hardly mattered to anyone — except Berta.

“It was bittersweet,” he said. “We wouldn’t have this kind of field if it wasn’t for those five.”

For nearly all of his life, tossing a ball never took much thought.

He was catching balls when he was 10 months old, and tossing them in the air and knocking them around the backyard with a bat when he was 3.

It was simply a gift.

“He was just born with it just like some people have brown or blue eyes,” said Karen Berta.

Berta played all sports in high school. Football was his favorite. His long arms and fingers made him a natural wide receiver.

In baseball, he loved playing catcher because it allowed him to touch the ball on every play.

Even after the accident while he was in a coma, he would reflexively and repeatedly make a throwing motion with his right arm, his parents said.

His brain remembered the motion.

Once he woke up, he started tossing a soft squishy ball that was the size and color of a baseball. He’d play catch with friends visiting him in the hospital.

Fortunately, most of Berta’s injuries were to his left side, allowing him to write, eat and throw with his dominant right hand.

His first attempt throwing a baseball after the accident came just over a month ago on a basketball court.

It bounced short of the target.

On the next throw, he stepped forward with his right leg. And the ball hit the mitt with a “pop.”

Berta said he wasn’t nervous before the first pitch Friday.

For him, it was one more chance to wear a Bluffton jersey, feel the laces of the ball and make everyone smile again.