Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Shannon Keefe was freshman of the year in the Big South in 2008.

Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Radford University's Shannon Keefe jokes with Highlanders teammate Kristen Shifflett (right) during a recent practice.

Courtesy DigItUp Sports

Shannon Keefe is congratulated by Radford University coach Mickey Dean in a Highlanders' game.

RADFORD -- When Shannon Keefe picks up dirt to rub on the handle of her bat, she is reminded of her father's ashes.

Her father died of cancer in May 2008, when she was a freshman standout on the Radford University softball team.

The following year was not an easy one.

"Last year was the first year without him. That was the most hardest year -- nothing being fun, feeling horrible, not wanting to be alive," she said.

Last Friday, the junior center fielder hit an RBI single to help the Highlanders beat host Appalachian State on the second anniversary of Jim Keefe's death. Shannon's mother drove from Illinois to be there for her daughter. She got into bed beside Shannon last Thursday night and cheered for her the next day.

Shannon made the All-Big South first team Wednesday. She will bat cleanup today when the top-seeded Highlanders begin defense of their crown in the league tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

She feels "mentally more together" than she did last year.

But it still hurts.

"I don't feel bad for laughing and stuff like that, for having a good time, like [I did last year]," she said. "That gets easier. But missing him doesn't get easier. If anything, it gets harder."

A lot like Dad

All three of Jim and Cindy Keefe's children loved softball. Shannon's older sister, Jessica, played for the University of Tampa. Younger sister Erin is a high school player in suburban Chicago.

Jim coached all three in youth leagues. He tutored them in the back yard and at the batting cages.

"Anything we did, he was always there helping out," Shannon said.

Shannon and Jim were a lot alike.

"They both were boisterous, opinionated -- didn't always think through their actions," Cindy said. "Even after we were married, he was still a little bit on the wild side. As soon as Jessica was born, he just did a total turnaround. His life just became completely focused on making sure he provided for them."

Jim had to be strict with Shannon.

"She always liked the wilder crowd," Cindy said. "She spent a lot of summers attached to his hip, grounded."

Shannon got in trouble a number of times while in high school, including two arrests for underage drinking. She was kicked off her high school team during her senior season.

"I wasn't as smart as I could've been," she said.

The coach of her summer team was Bill Conroy, then-owner of National Pro Fastpitch's Chicago Bandits. Conroy said that despite Shannon's "wild side," he recommended her to Mickey Dean, the coach of both Radford and the Bandits.

Shannon's parents and Conroy figured the strict Dean would be good for Shannon. She signed with Radford in the fall of her senior year, reaping a full scholarship. Dean did not sever ties after she was kicked off her high school team.

"I had already made up my mind on taking a chance on her, and I wasn't going to back out at that point," Dean said. "She was just hanging around the wrong people."

Tough times

Jim was diagnosed with lung cancer in June 2007, shortly after Shannon graduated from high school.

Shannon did not want to go to Radford for her freshman year, but her parents insisted.

"I argued with them about it," she said. "When a family member's sick, you just want to be with them."

Jim had an operation that December to remove one of his lungs. He was told he was cancer-free.

But in early April 2008, a test showed the cancer spread to his liver and kidneys. He was given two to seven months to live.

Cindy told their daughters the cancer had returned, although she kept the dire prognosis from them.

"All of a sudden [Shannon] was borrowing somebody's car to come back home, and we were like, 'No, absolutely not,' " Cindy said.

"We called Coach Mickey and he got the girls [on the team] to stay with her."

Stressing over her father instead of softball actually benefited her performance. She batted .366 with 10 homers, and was named Big South freshman of the year.

"I was just really worried about my father," she said. "I wasn't worrying about softball, so I performed better. I just wanted to go home. But at the same time, the only thing that was going to make him proud was seeing me do well in school. I just wanted to make him happy."

Jim followed her exploits on the laptop Cindy got for him.

"I told her, 'Daddy's going to be watching your games on the computer,' " Cindy said. "She wasn't hitting that well before that. Then she just hit the crap out of the ball, when she knew he was watching."

Jim took a turn for the worse, and Shannon and Jessica flew home from college. Shannon spent eight days with her father before he died on May 7, 2008, at the age of 45.

"By the time we went back, he ... wasn't remembering things," Shannon said. "So I went home too late."

Supportive teammates

Shannon wanted to remain home with her family, but she returned to Radford for her sophomore year.

"I would have felt horrible to let him look down and see that [I] dropped out," Shannon said.

Her mother, coaches and teammates helped Shannon endure her sophomore year, but it was difficult.

"I was depressed," she said. "I didn't feel like doing anything. Nothing was fun. I questioned living. It was hell for me."

Her average fell to .298 last year, but she made the All-Big South second team.

"The hardest thing was for them to play ball," Cindy said of Shannon and Jessica. "Both of them mentioned that you look behind fences and other people's fathers are there, but yours is no longer there, so it's a constant reminder."

After missing the 2008 Big South tournament because of her father's death, Shannon helped Radford win the 2009 tournament.

The first day of that tournament was the anniversary of her father's death. A day later, overcome with thoughts of her father, she burst into tears after scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

On the final day of the tournament, she hit an RBI single to help Radford claim the program's first NCAA playoff berth.

This year, she is batting .350 with four homers and 32 RBIs for the Highlanders (33-15, 16-2), who won their second straight Big South regular-season crown.

She isn't the only Highlander who has had a tough time off the field. Outfielder Hope Creasy's mother has been battling brain cancer the past few years. Catcher Sarah Himan's brother Josh was wounded in Afghanistan last fall and is now a quadriplegic.

The players have leaned on each other.

"It would've been a really big mistake not staying at Radford because the coaches and the team truly care," Shannon said.

"Not everyone knows what it feels like to have someone ill that you really love. It helps being around people like that."

Next year, Shannon can have the Senior Night she didn't get to have after she was kicked off her high school team. And then she wants to go to graduate school so she can become a physical therapist.

"Can you imagine how proud [Jim] would be?" Cindy said. "She's pushing herself to her abilities, and that's what he always wanted."