Gilbert High’s T.J. Marsh says she’s no hero. “I was doing my job.

“That’s what we do, what athletic trainers do.”

Gilbert High’s supplemental athletics trainer will always hold the admiration and appreciation of Grayson Selepes’ family.

On Sunday, March 8, at Gilbert High, the life of the J.F. Byrnes outfielder was quite literally in Marsh’s hands.

Watching 75 yards away behind the 1st base bench, Marsh heard a violent collision between Selepes and the shortstop as they chased a fly ball in the 6th inning against Bishop England in the Sandlapper Shootout.

She said. “That is a sound you should not hear on a baseball field.

“It was literally like somebody hit a balloon that won’t pop and smashed it flat and all the air rushed out.”

Marsh rushed into the outfield and found Selepes headed into cardiac arrest.

She put her years of athletic training experience including 10 years at Gilbert as a Prisma Health employee into action.

She called for emergency services and with 2 nurses gave CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and use the AED (automated external defibrillator) to revive Selepes.

Lexington County Emergency Medical Services arrived approximately 7 minutes later to take Selepes to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital.

She called it the longest 7 minutes of her life.

“I’ve seen broken legs, broken arms, horrible stuff,” Marsh said. “In this case, you’re literally holding somebody’s life in your hands. I hope to never have to do it again, but I would if a life depended on it. It’s part of the job.”

At the hospital, his mother Ashley took a picture of the 3 of them together.

“The good Lord put me there that day and I knew what to do. There was a lot of praying on that field.”

Days later, Marsh faced another medical crisis – the virus pandemic.

She spends her hours now screening patients entering the emergency department and entrances, but Selepes’ injury was a wake-up call.

“What you see patients and family members going through coming in, they’re scared. Patients are going in by themselves because they’re not letting visitors in now, and you have to explain to them the whys. It was a preparation phase. Dealing with trauma prepares you for the next event you face.”