By Kyle Roberts
There are almost zero reasons a play-by-play announcer would pack up his or her bags in the middle of a game. Even fewer reasons if it’s a postseason game on an ESPN platform. That would take something extreme.
On Friday, May 12, it happened to freelance broadcaster Chris Mycoskie, right in the heart of the Middle Tennessee State vs. Florida Atlantic elimination match-up at the 2023 Conference USA Softball Championship tournament on ESPN+. This was on day three of an eight-team event at Louisiana Tech’s Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
For nearly two years, his family has been pursuing adoption. Since he was on-air and couldn’t take a call, the news of being matched with a three-week-old girl came via text. The caveat? He and his wife Cassie needed to be in Houston by 10 o’clock the next morning.
So, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Chris happily announced that he had to go. His broadcast partner Malcolm Butler would take over solo at first, then Lyn Rollins would fill in for Chris for the rest of the game. Viewers learned about the Mycoskie clan growing by one sooner than his extended family did.
“Chris told me before the broadcast that he may have to bolt back home if he got the word from the adoption agency,” said Butler. “Early in our game he gave a fist pump and had a big smile on his face. He had received the word he wanted. He was ecstatic. It was neat to see.”
Tearing out of Ruston, Chris went to grab Cassie (a proud two-time Louisiana Tech grad) along with their son Austin at their suburban Dallas home and then headed to Houston. After meeting with an adoption agency representative to sign papers, they would meet their new daughter, who they named Hannah. A true Mother’s Day weekend miracle.
“Three years ago on Mother’s Day, we left the hospital without our daughter Grace,” Chris said. “She was stillborn two days prior and my wife’s life was also in danger. When Cassie came out of surgery, the first thing she said to me was ‘our story’s not over!’ Adoption was never a ‘Plan B.’ We always believed it would be part of our family’s journey. It was a very long process, but the last steps were incredibly fast.”
Initial health reports they received about Hannah were limited and didn’t raise any red flags. As the family has begun to bond with their newest member, though, news of Hannah’s fuller medical history is starting to unfold. Prior to placement, she was diagnosed with hydranencephaly, a rare brain condition. Notes in her charts about a lethal situation and hospice care have sent a shock through their home.
“We’ve had so much heartbreak in our lives, had we known about her condition, we honestly may not have pursued this case,” Chris said. “But God placed Hannah with us for a reason. She’s our daughter and we love her with every fiber of our being. We’re going to find the best doctors and use every resource we have to help her live a long, happy, full life.”
Friday, the family meets with a neurosurgeon at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, and they are praying for a continuation of last weekend’s miracle.
“God is powerful and we are trusting him,” Chris said. “We are asking all prayer warriors to lift Hannah up. She’s going to have an amazing testimony, and that broadcast in Ruston is going to be a great part of her story!”
