KK Crocker and Carmyn Greenwood didn't know Jonathan Tillis a year ago - to this day they don't know his name - but the night of Oct. 12, 2016, ended with his blood on the hands of the two Auburn freshmen after they tried to save his life.

The night was to include baking cookies and carving pumpkins among a quartet of Auburn softball players.

Music played from Kendall Veach's phone when Crocker and Greenwood left their apartment for an errand around 7:40 p.m. The drive to Walmart wasn't far and involved a series of back roads on the way to South College Street, where Crocker turned Northbound towards Auburn's campus.

They were still getting learning to navigate around town, but knew how to get to the Walmart less than a mile from their apartment.

Near the intersection of South College and Harmon Drive, a black 2003 Ford Escape was in the left lane with its hazards flashing as they passed by in the right lane.

"We kept going, didn't even think about it at first," Crocker said. "I kind of looked at Carmyn and I was like, 'Is there somebody on the ground?'"

Their night changed with a U-Turn.

***

Crocker and Greenwood quickly turned back towards the scene where Tillis, 51, was sprawled out in the road in front of the SUV that hit him.

As they pulled up, the gravity of the situation set in.

Crocker didn't even close the door to her car, which she pulled into the center lane, when she shouted for others to stop trying to move Tillis to prevent further injury.

The driver of the SUV appeared to be in shock, according to Crocker and Greenwood, and another man who pulled over was knelt down and trying to feel if Tillis had a pulse.

"'He doesn't have a heartbeat,'" the other motorist said. "'He doesn't have a heartbeat.'"

Tillis' shoe had been knocked off and the groceries he was carrying scattered along the street after he was struck by a Ford Escape.

The two freshmen asked if anyone had called 911, which they said nobody had done yet.

"Once we turned back around and noticed that nobody was helping him we were like, 'OK, we're not the type of people just to let him lay there and not get help,'" Greenwood said. "We ended up calling the ambulance. ... We were just scared. We didn't want him to die. We didn't know if he was alive or dead so to us it was like, we might as well try."

In the dark, they were on their hands and knees in the middle of South College St. with the headlights of cars illuminating the scene.

Crocker began chest compressions and Greenwood held Tillis' head back to allow for an open airway if he began breathing.

They believed Tillis' jaw was "definitely broken" from how they felt it move while keeping his chin back. Providing mouth-to-mouth was not an option due to the gruesome nature of his injuries.

"He had blood all over the back of his head," Greenwood said. "This is more serious than we originally thought."

An Auburn police officer was the first to arrive on the scene and asked what happened to the man before telling Crocker to "just keep going" with CPR until the ambulance arrived.

Once EMS arrived 5-10 minutes later and took over, their actions began to register with the two 18-year-olds.

"When we looked down at our hands," Greenwood said, "I was just like, 'I want this (blood) off me.'"

Frantic, she eventually reached Veach and Kaylee Carlson, who was also back at the apartment. Greenwood could "barely talk" as she tried to relay what happened and tell her teammates where to find them, but neither freshman knew where they were and they had just tried to save a stranger's life.

"They were asking, 'Where are you?'" Crocker said. "I at one point, all I could get out of my mouth was 'There's blood; there's just blood everywhere.'"

With Greenwood's phone about to lose power, she hung up in case anyone else needed to call.

Veach and Carlson called Auburn's coaching staff to tell them what happened before using the Find My Phone app to locate their teammates and head to the scene.

"At first, we thought they were in the accident," Carlson said, "because what they were saying was a little unclear on the phone because they were so distraught."

What transpired didn't register with Crocker until Tillis was in the ambulance and EMS indicated he was not going to survive.

"I was still in let's-help-this-dude-out mode," she said. "But once they loaded him up and they were like, 'yeah, he's not going to make it,' that's when it really hit me. I remember (thinking), 'That really happened and we couldn't save him.'"

***

Auburn outfielder Carmyn Greenwood (10) throws the ball in from left field Friday, April 28, 2017, during an NCAA softball game against Mississippi State in Auburn, Ala.

It was approximately 8 p.m. when Ryan Greenwood and Chad Crocker each received calls from Auburn's coaching staff about their daughters.

Ryan Greenwood was on his way home from his younger daughter's softball practice in Birmingham, and Chad Crocker was at home in Tuscaloosa.

"Hey, have you talked to anybody?" Greenwood recalled being asked. "'Well everything is OK; there's been an accident and everybody is OK.'"

Within 15 minutes, each father was en route to Auburn, a roughly two-hour drive for Greenwood and two-and-a-half hours for Crocker.

"Your mind just wanders the whole time," Ryan Greenwood said. "(You) gather as much information as you can because when we first learned, there was still some gaps in the information of how did it happen? Where was it? Which way were they going? Were they involved directly? As we got that way that night pieces started to come together from the first responders and the officers that were on the scene."

Between calls to the coaching staff and each other, Ryan Greenwood and Chad Crocker were able to learn more as they drove. Each man was alone in their vehicles and tried not to break the land speed record along the way.

"A lot of what was going through my mind was wondering what's going on in (KK's) mind and Carmyn's mind," Chad Crocker said. "The more details I got as we were on our way, the more graphic it seemed to have been and the more traumatic it seemed to have been.

"To reflect on what it took to stop the car and jump out and do (CPR) on a guy laying in the street. It takes a lot of courage to do something like that. Are they OK? What are they thinking?"

In the meantime, their daughters were at Auburn's police station for what they estimated was two hours, going over what they knew about the accident and what they did.

By the time their fathers reached Montgomery, KK Crocker and Carmyn Greenwood were on their way home, with Tillis' blood still on their clothes.

A release by Auburn police from Oct. 13, 2016, stated Tillis, whose identity was not released at the time, "was transported to EAMC Emergency Room by ambulance and later died as a result of his injuries."

Auburn police initially said, "no criminal charges are anticipated," but they were unable to provide documents pertaining to the accident to AL.com, which requested them last month, because a spokesman said it was "an active investigation, and the case has not concluded or been presented to a grand jury for final disposition."

***

Athletic trainer Lana Meeks stayed with KK Crocker and Carmyn Greenwood on the night of Oct. 12 and the next few days. Neither freshman went to class on Oct. 13 and few words were spoken.

Chad Crocker and Ryan Greenwood first got to see their daughters, who were unaware their fathers drove to Auburn, the day after the accident.

"You really don't have to say anything," Chad Crocker said. "Just you being there is really all they wanted to see. Just wanted to put my hands on her and let her know everything is going to be alright, just like any daddy would want to do."

First responders made it clear to KK Crocker and Carmyn Greenwood that they had done all they could and there was no way Tillis could have survived the accident.

The comfort of family, friends, coaches and counselors was helpful, but neither of the young women was able to get their mind off what they witnessed.

"We just couldn't sleep. It went through our heads every second of every day," Carmyn Greenwood said. "I was in shock. I didn't know what to do because I guess what was going through my head was we weren't 100 percent sure if he was alive or dead (when we arrived)."

They each returned to practice on Oct. 14 before playing in a pair of doubleheaders that weekend.

"The second or third day we were like 'OK, we got to get out, we got to do something,'" KK Crocker said. "(Practice) definitely took my mind away from it."

The traumatic experience from earlier in the week didn't have much impact on either on the field. Carmyn Greenwood had an RBI double on Oct. 15 and two RBI the next day and KK Crocker had a home run and three runs scored on Oct. 16.

Both players and their fathers felt it took several weeks for them to fully come to grips with what had happened.

"You start wondering what impact will it have on them, not just today but the rest of their lives," Ryan Greenwood said. "It's not something that just goes away. You're hoping and praying for the best; not only for them but for the gentlemen and their family."

An online obituary for Tillis by the Holloway Memorial funeral home in Auburn has an entry from Oct. 28 from a Cathy Gortney, his sister.

"This was my younger brother," Gortney wrote. "He was kind (and) good person. Always a loner. But he had a good heart. (You) will be missed love you."

Attempts to reach Gortney were unsuccessful.

As the anniversary of the accident approached, both KK Crocker and Carmyn Greenwood maintain they'd react the same way.

"I know and I know (Carmyn) knows it was the right thing to do," KK Crocker said. "If something like that were to happen to me or one of my family members, then I would want somebody to do the same thing."