Watching Kage Ralstin work on the mound in a game early this season, Elkhart coach David Aranda found himself wondering about the degree of difficulty his ace must face every time he takes the field. 

Ralstin has starred on the mound and at the plate for the Wildcats throughout his career despite a significant disability – only having vision in one eye. 

As Ralstin was throwing a perfect game in tough weather conditions, Aranda wanted to get some kind of an idea what his pitcher was dealing with. 

“It was windy and dirt was blowing everywhere, and I closed one eye,” Aranda said. “I just wanted to see what it was like. I don’t know how you can keep from panicking in a situation like that, with just one eye and dirt blowing in it. 

“It’s been pretty amazing what he’s been able to accomplish.”

Ralstin lost vision in his left eye after suffering a harrowing accident when he was 10. A shotgun was accidentally discharged and Ralstin was hit in the left side of the face. 

“Me being so young like that, I didn’t think the most of it, but I know talking to my parents (Gary and Shelby Ralstin) now, it was a really hard time for them,” Ralstin said. “They were worried out of their minds about the whole thing.

“I couldn’t even tell you all the surgeries, but I was actually only in the hospital for five days.”

After the accident, Ralstin wondered if he would be forced to give up football and basketball, but quitting baseball was never an option. 

“After the whole thing, the one thing I really focused on was baseball,” said Ralstin, the Capitol Federal® True Blue® Student of the Week. “That’s when baseball became my thing. That’s all we worked on.”

Ralstin has never let his disability hold him back, but admits he’s always going to have to work through disadvantages.  

“It’s really hard because your two eyes work together to show you the distance on stuff,” Ralstin said. “I have no depth perception, so it’s kind of a guessing game you’ve got to learn. Even once you figure that out, you still have your problems, but it gets a little easier.”

Keeping track of baserunners is one of the biggest hurdles, Ralstin said. 

“When you get a kid on base, you can’t look over there and see him the best,” Ralstin said. “I have to learn new ways to kind of work around that to be able to see the runners on the base. Hitting wise, it’s really hard because my lead eye, the one closest to the pitcher is the one I don’t have, so I’m relying off that back eye. I have to open up my stance a bit more, turn my head more just to see it.

“I started to get more of a feel for it about two years after (the accident) happened. That was when I really started to get better at it.”

There’s nothing about Ralstin’s performances on the field that would suggest he’s been held back by the accident. 

Ralstin earned All-2A-1A first-team honors as a junior last year, helping Elkhart go 19-5 and reach the state tournament. 

He’s been dominant on the mound this season while also being a key cog in the Wildcats’ lineup. Ralstin became the program's all-time strikeout leader this season. He pitched a five-inning perfect game against Syracuse on April 18. 

“It’s hard enough for a guy with two eyes to continually throw strikes, hitting the zone where he wants them,” Aranda said. “He’s also batting over .400 and he’s a career .400 hitter with one eye. It makes it difficult for him when velo starts approaching 80 plus. Then he starts having difficulty picking them up. The reaction time to hit a pitch, it’s already one of the hardest things to do in sports, and to do it with one eye, I couldn’t imagine having to go through it.”

But Ralstin never makes excuses. 

“My dad has always told me, ‘You just have to push through it and figure out what works for you. Just figure it out and go with it. You’ve got what you’ve got, make it work,'" said Ralstin, who also played football and basketball for the Wildcats. 

Ralstin has signed with Butler Community College for baseball. He said he never wavered on his intention to play at the next level. 

“Once I started getting up to the high school level, I started realizing I could actually probably (play in college) if I put my mind to it,” Ralstin said. “Since I was little I’ve wanted to move on in baseball, when I got (that opportunity), it came a little sooner than I expected, and it felt really good.”

While Ralstin has had plenty of time to come to terms with his childhood accident, a recent tragedy is still fresh in his mind. 

The Ralstins lost their home and the family’s three dogs in a fire last February. 

“It was actually my mom’s childhood home also,” Ralstin said. “We’re honestly still not over that one yet. We’re still pushing through that one.

“We’re staying in a shop (in Elkhart). One side is a shop and the other side’s got a tiny little apartment that we’re staying in. It’s a day-by-day thing. We’re trying to come up with a plan and seeing what all it brings.”

Ralstin said the Elkhart community has stepped up to support the family, raising money through fundraisers. A GoFundMe page for the family can be found here.

Ralstin said baseball has served as a positive distraction. 

“It helps big time," Ralstin said. "It helps me not to think about all that stuff and just do what I like doing.”

Aranda said he's been impressed with how Ralstin has responded to the adversity. 

“It takes toughness to overcome what he’s overcome,” Aranda said. “But overcoming stuff like that is a different kind of toughness. We just tried to let him know we’re here if you need anything. There’s bigger things out there than baseball.

“We were kind of worried about what mentality he’d have when the season started, but he’s been that same kid we’ve always relied on.”

Elkhart is a contender for a Class 2-1A state title. The Wildcats are 15-1 on the season with the only loss coming against Class 6A Liberal. 

Ralstin said he's learned to try and appreciate every little moment of the game. 

“I just used to be one of those guys that would get upset (during games), hang my head,” Ralstin said. “But now I realize that you’re going to make mistakes, and I’ve definitely learned to enjoy the game a little more. Enjoy the little parts of it.”