Oklahoma High School Softball Coach Leaves Hospital Months After Season-Ending Bus Crash

It has been nearly 70 days since the Minco High School softball team was involved in a bus accident.

On Saturday, assistant coach Jordan Benge was finally released from the hospital.

Benge was the last member of the Oklahoma high school program to come home after the team's bus was involved in a rollover crash that cancelled its season in September.

"It kind of felt like the final piece of the puzzle, the last miracle we needed to get him out," head coach Cody Schmidt told local ABC News affiliate KOCO 5. "He was in very good spirits today. I know he's been walking, talking, and being himself."

The team gathered to celebrate Benge's release. For some of the student-athletes, it was the first time they had seen their coach since the accident.

Benge suffered multiple broken ribs, damage to several organs, and a fractured back. He couldn't breathe on his own for the first month of his hospital stay.

The reunion between the team and its coach felt like a long time coming but also sparked emotions.

"The girls were very adamant about this. Nobody wanted to do anything without the whole team, and that says something about our girls," Schmidt said.

Schmidt was driving the team bus when he swerved to avoid hitting a deer back in September. The bus rolled, ejected four and left seven other member of the team injured.

The Bulldogs were forced to cancel the rest of their season with an 8-11 record.

The crash happened just outside of Minco, and according to a previous interview with the local NBC News affiliate KFOR, Schmidt was lucky to be alive.

“The 13 of us on the bus should not be alive,” said Schmidt. “God. A miracle. I, somebody, has a reason for all 13 of us to still be here.”

During the interview, Schmidt said one of the girls had to carry him out of the bus while others who were following the bus raced to help others.

“We had people running into the field,” said Schmidt. “We had high school students there helping us that were checking on all of us. We had girls that were on the bus running around, checking everybody, and I have no words for it. It’s just heroic, incredible, godly.”

Some players have made a full recovery and have returned to athletics, playing basketball this winter. Benge still has a lengthy recovery ahead of him at home, but the Minco community continues to show up with support.

"There's a lot of good people out there, and without them, this would've been a lot harder," Schmidt added.

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