Here's how being adopted at birth helped mold County's Braxton Vail for college baseball

Adoption stories often evoke strong emotions in the people that experience them: sometimes those emotions are good, sometimes bad.

For Pueblo County’s Braxton Vail, the story of his adoption is one to be celebrated.

Braxton is a senior who's played all kinds of different sports for the school. He is especially talented in baseball, a sport for which he has signed a scholarship to go play at the next level at Trinidad State College.

Braxton is a bright young man who is dedicated to his faith and is known by those close to him as a great friend, all of which was made possible due to his upbringing with his adoptive family.

Chuck and Teresa Vail adopted Braxton at birth. They feel that “God just put him into our hands.”

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“We just knew that we wanted to adopt,” Teresa said. “When we had to fill out the paperwork, we indicated either gender or any race because we didn't want to put limitations on the blessing that God wanted to put in our lives. He gifted us with Braxton.”

Chuck and Teresa have two biological children but were always certain they wanted to adopt as well.

“When it comes to adoption, this is the greatest thing to ever happen,” Chuck said. “Not just to us and his brother and his sister, but the whole extended family. I mean, God has blessed us so much with this young man, it’s beyond measure.”

Braxton feels fortunate to have grown up with the Vails as parents.

“It wasn't hard because I went to the elementary school where my dad taught so everyone knew me since the day he brought me to school for the first time,” Braxton said. “It got tougher in middle school and all the kids just being stupid. But other than that, it’s been easy.”

Since reaching high school, Braxton said dealing with classmates' perceptions about his adopted background has become even easier because he has friends that know him and understand his situation. He often likes to joke around about his adoption, with his dad sometimes getting in on the fun, saying, “Don’t we look alike?”

Once he got to high school, Braxton’s love of sports grew even more. He dedicated himself to playing basketball and baseball, though he also golfed and played football for Pueblo County during his high school career.

At the end of his senior year, however, Braxton decided to give up all the other sports to solely focus on baseball. He said baseball used to be his second priority behind basketball, but basketball takes a toll on his body.

"Baseball is just like my safe place, and I can just relax on the field," he said. "So it's (the No. 1 sport) for me now.”

Braxton started playing baseball when he was around 3 years old. Since then, his talent has improved each and every year.

Growing up, his parents connected him with various coaches around town to help him improve his skills. Those efforts appear to have paid off as he now has a chance to go and play college baseball at Trinidad State.

Braxton said from his initial conversations with coaches and visit to the college, he feels Trinidad State is "just a great fit" for him.

And the college is lucky to have Braxton, who recently threw his first career no-hitter during a matchup against Pueblo South.

While Braxton has worked hard to reach his current skill level, he knows his success wouldn't be possible without some of the help he's received along the way.

“One of the things we're so thankful for is we've had such great people around him to help him grow: Darren Long, Pete Martinez, we've been honored and blessed to have Scott Ellerton, the retired professional pitcher, work with him, coach (Matt) Edes, coach (Dylan) Gavin, Scott Benz, the pitching coach at Rye, we've been blessed enough to have people who have just made him what he is," Chuck said.

"But don't kid yourself: I'll say this as a proud father, the kid has better work ethic than anybody else I've ever seen.”

Braxton has the Hornets off to a great start this season (13-1, 3-0) and he's locked in for a final run with the team. He hopes it will be a magical one.

“My main goal is just to make it to state,” Braxton said. “This is the final playoffs and if we don't do that ... I've been around this program for a while now and I can’t ask for a better school, so even if we don't make it that far, I'm still going to remember everyone here.”

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Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter: @chowebacca.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo County's Braxton Vail journeys from adoption to college baseball