It’s been a year to remember for outstanding 2028 outfielder and slapper Adair Amsler, from Orlando, Fla. who attends Lake Mary High and plays for the title-winning travel team Unity 16U – Amsler/Johnson.

The last 12 months have featured some pretty significant highs and lows for the high school junior considered one of the top prospects in her class.

Ranked last year at No. 27 in the 2028 Line Drive Media HOT 100, Adair is a multi-sport athlete with a 4.2 GPA and is known for her great speed on the basepaths with an ODM-verified 2.6-second home-to-first clocking.

Her teams have had amazing success, included winning top tourneys such as Colorado Sparkler 16U Power Pool, Show Me The Money, Atlanta Legacy and several others. Her teams also took 2^nd place at Tier 1 Alliance Nationals this year and 3^rd and 5^th at PGF Nationals the last two years.

And Adair has accomplished all of this by usually being the youngest–or at least one of the youngest—on her teams.

She’s looking forward to playing one more year of 16U ball for her father, Dave, as her coach and being one of the more experienced players on the team and—as her dad puts it:” a true leader.”

Adair looked poised to have a great 2025-2026 school and softball year until last September when she first realized something was wrong after coming home from a softball camp feeling ill.

Suddenly, before anyone could realize what was happening, Adair was missing months of school, in emergency rooms, having surgery and losing not just the fall softball season, but the spring softball school season too.

It was a very scary time for sure, but the story does have a happy update as she begins a new 2026-2027 school year.

Adjusting to a new life of closely monitoring her health, Adair has come back stronger than ever and, well, we’ll let her tell her fascinating and inspiring story in her own words!

*****

September 2025 Post-Softball Camp—the First Sign Something Was Wrong

My name is Adair Amsler, and this past year has taught me more about myself than I ever thought it would.

Around September of last year, I went to a softball camp and came home sick. At first, I thought I just had the flu and that I would feel better in a few days.

But I didn’t get better.

Days turned into weeks, and for almost two months, I woke up every single day feeling sick. My family and I went from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with me, but no one seemed to have an answer.

Before I got sick, I felt like I was at the peak of my playing career. I was in the best shape I had ever been in, I was feeling and playing well and I was so excited about where softball was taking me.

Then, suddenly, one day I could barely get out of bed.

*****

School Absences, A Lost Fall Softball Season & a Medical Discovery

I missed two months of school, spent so much time going to doctors and being in and out of the emergency room, and missed my entire fall softball season.

Going from feeling like I was at my best to not even being able to do normal everyday things was extremely hard for me, especially because no one could tell me why it was happening.

Then, in October, things became even harder when my appendix ruptured and I needed an emergency appendectomy.

After surgery, I was out even longer while my body recovered. It felt like every time I thought I might finally be able to move forward, something else knocked me back down.

Eventually, I found a doctor who was able to help treat some of my symptoms and helped us understand that I have an auto-immune disease. We still don’t know exactly what autoimmune disease it is, and I am continuing to learn more about my body and what is happening with it.

Getting some answers didn’t magically make everything easy, but it finally gave me a way to start moving forward.

*****

Adjusting to a New Lifestyle

I have had to change the way I live and take care of myself. I use a continuous glucose monitor so I can keep track of my blood sugar, especially when I am exercising.

I also must pay much closer attention to eating regularly, hydration, salt intake, medication, rest, and recovery.

My body doesn’t always respond or recover the way other people’s bodies do. I can get tired more easily, injuries can affect me differently, and sometimes I simply can’t do everything that everyone around me can do.

There have definitely been times when that hasn’t felt fair, but I have learned that I can’t spend my life focusing on what is fair—I can only control how I respond to the hand I have been dealt.

*****

When It Rains It Pours: Season-Ending Injury on the 1^st Day of School Softball Practice

Just when I was finally working toward playing again, I went to my first school softball practice of the season and, wouldn’t you know, during practice I tweaked my hamstring pretty badly.

Because I rely so much on my elite speed as a huge part of my game, it was a very scary situation for me. After everything I had already been through and all the time I had spent trying to get healthy enough to play again, dealing with another setback was extremely difficult.

That ultimately led me to miss my entire school softball season and, altogether, I went about 10 months without playing a real softball game or having a live at-bat.

Then, I had to enter one of the most important summers of my softball career—my recruiting summer—after barely playing for almost a year.

I knew I wasn’t entering that summer under the same circumstances as everyone else. I had lost months of playing, training, and development because I had been sick, recovering from surgery, and injured.

I felt like I had to work so much harder just to get myself back to the point where I could compete again. But I did it. Every day… I kept working.

*****

Back on the Fields… How It All Came Together Again This Summer

By the time summer came, I was honestly just grateful to step onto a softball field again. Six months earlier, there were moments when I couldn’t even imagine myself being able to play.

That completely changed my perspective.

Things that I once might have taken for granted—putting on my uniform, standing in the outfield, taking an at-bat, being with my teammates—became things I was incredibly thankful for.

There were also some really big positives that came out of this summer. My team won the 16U Power Pool at the Colorado Sparkler, which was an incredible accomplishment and something I was so grateful to be a part of.

Coming back wasn’t easy, especially when I was immediately facing some of the best competition in the country every single game after being away from the game for so long.

It took time for me to get back to feeling like myself again, but I continued to work and trust the process.

During the second half of the summer, I really started to come back into my own and was able to help my team as I batted over .400 with almost a .500 on-base percentage.

After everything it took just to get back onto the field, being able to compete at that level again and contribute to my team’s success meant so much more to me than any statistic ever could.

*****

Lessons Learned From The Faith-Affirming Journey

This experience has taught me that everyone is dealt a different hand in life.

Mine has been harder than I expected, but I refuse to let that define what I am capable of. I still deal with my body and my health every single day. I still must take care of myself differently.

There are still hard days, but I continue to fight.

My faith has been one of the biggest things that has carried me through all of this. Instead of constantly asking God, “Why did this have to happen to me?” I have tried to trust that the Lord has a plan for my life.

I believe He will help me through whatever I am faced with, even when I don’t understand why it is happening at the time.

That mindset is something I am carrying into my recruiting process. I don’t know exactly where softball will take me yet, but I believe I will end up where I am meant to be.

I am going to continue working, fighting, learning about my body, and doing everything I can to become the best player and person I can be.

*****

The Importance of Being A Good Teammate

This experience also taught me what it means to be a teammate when you aren’t the one on the field.

Watching my teammates play while I couldn’t was extremely difficult mentally, but I never wanted my circumstances to take away from their success. I wanted to cheer them on, watch them succeed, and see them get the opportunities they had worked for.

Being a good teammate isn’t only about what you do when you’re playing. Sometimes it means showing up for other people even when you are hurting yourself.

If someone else is going through something that has taken away a part of their life that they love, I want them to know they aren’t alone.

There were times when I felt extremely down because softball meant so much to me and I couldn’t play. But where you are right now does not have to be where you stay.

*****

Gratitude For the Past, Excitement for the Future

I thank God every day that I am where I am now. I am thankful that I can play again. I am thankful that I am learning how to understand and take care of my body.

Most of all, I am thankful that everything I went through showed me how much fight I have in me.

I don’t know exactly what the next chapter of my story will look like, but I know how I am going to approach it.

I am going to keep fighting, keep trusting God, keep supporting the people around me, and keep getting back up every time life knocks me down.

— Adair Amsler/Line Drive Media Contributor