West Haven — Jackie Lewis realized something was terribly wrong that Friday morning, May 29, the day her Fitch High School softball team was scheduled to play in the Eastern Connecticut Conference softball tournament championship at Griswold High School.

Fitch's senior all-state shortstop, captain and conscience, Lewis described her discomfort as “excruciating pain the whole day.”

Still, looking for some normalcy with Fitch headed into the finals against Stonington, Lewis took some ibuprofen and tried to do her pregame running. She was too dizzy.

Finally, the starting lineups were announced without her, yet she jogged to the third-base line with the other non-starters as the team took its place for the Star-Spangled Banner.

“I thought I could at least do that,” Lewis said. “The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. When I woke up, I saw Coop's face (assistant coach Arielle Cooper) in my face.”

Lewis underwent emergency surgery later that night for a sizable cyst which burst, creating her symptoms.

She didn't want her career to end there, however. She wanted to play in her final game in a Fitch uniform, the way she played in her first one, freshman year, and every one since.

She “needed to play,” she said, and did just that Friday night, manning shortstop and batting cleanup in the top-seeded Falcons' 4-2 Class L state championship loss to No. 10 East Haven.

In the end, Lewis went out with her uniform caked with dirt, the result of a diving effort to try to reach second base with her glove ahead of a runner in the second inning. Tears streaked her eye black. Her final line: 0-for-3 with an RBI groundout in the first inning which gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead at the time.

How to sum it all up?

“I don't even know what to say,” Lewis said. “This is the best team I've ever played with. It's bittersweet; it's like an era ending. It's tough.”

Lewis said she hadn't felt well prior to May 29, but nothing close to the pain she experienced that day.

Lewis tumbled to the ground in mid-national anthem prior to the ECC final, saying she lost consciousness. Stonington coach Ann-Marie Houle, whose team was lined up on the first-base line for the anthem and was facing Lewis at the time, arrived at a full sprint to be one of the first people at Lewis's side.

It was what Lewis called “probably the scariest three days of my life.”

And her collapse at the field, from which she left in an ambulance, was just the start of it.

She was taken to Plainfield Backus Emergency Care Center, where they recommended she have more tests at Backus Hospital in Norwich. Lewis made it as far as her dad's car before once again losing consciousness, resulting in another ambulance ride.

She underwent surgery that night. Lewis had an artery which was bleeding, a blood clot, and had a liter and a half of blood removed. She underwent two blood transfusions, she said.

Even as of Monday, at Fitch's semifinal victory over North Haven, Lewis wasn't feeling her best, although she attended the game. Tuesday was a little better and she decided to take a trip with her teammates to the batting cage.

By Thursday, at Fitch's practice at Washington Park, Lewis's smile returned to full wattage, despite the toll her body had taken, losing 10 pounds or more.

“All I wanted was to be able to go on the field one more time in a sport at Fitch,” Lewis said.

Lewis, whose batting average hovered around .600 all season and who has earned a spot on the Eastern Connecticut State University roster next season, brought more than her ability to the Fitch lineup Friday, too.

With all the different personalities and the wealth of talented players in the Fitch dugout, including Gatorade Connecticut Player of the Year pitcher Caroline Taber, they all gravitate toward the steadfast Lewis.

“It's her charisma and her grit,” Taber said. “When she's down, she's not out. Look, she's back. It's unbelievable. She has just such an amazing presence.”

“She played every game of her high school career; there's some acknowledgment of that,” Fitch coach Kate Prpich said of why Lewis became the team's Pied Piper. “The big games she's played under pressure. She's charismatic. She respects the game. She respects the coach. All the girls feel happy to have her out there.”

One last time.

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday