Sportsmanlike Conduct

A couple of years ago, I read a sports article that touched me.  I wouldn't say that I am much of a sports guy, these days, but this particular story brought me a lot of joy.  If you have already read this maybe a repeat of it will be beneficial.

PORTLAND, Ore. - With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.    But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.  She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.  Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.  Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.  The umpire said there was no rule against it.  So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky’s legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.  “The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,” Tucholsky said. “I told her it was my right leg and she said, ‘OK, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said ‘OK, thank you very much.”’  “She said, ‘You deserve it, you hit it over the fence,’ and we all kind of just laughed.”  “We didn’t know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run,” Wallace said Wednesday. “That makes the story more touching than it was. We just wanted to help her.”  Holtman said she and Wallace weren’t thinking about the playoff spot, and didn’t consider the gesture something others wouldn’t do.  As for Tucholsky, the 5-foot-2 right fielder was focused on her pain.  “I really didn’t say too much. I was trying to breathe,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday.  “I didn’t realize what was going on until I had time to sit down and let the pain relax a little bit,” she said. “Then I realized the extent of what I actually did.”  “I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation,” Tucholsky added.  As the trio reached home plate, Tucholsky said, the entire Western Oregon team was in tears.  Central Washington coach Gary Frederick, a 14-year coaching veteran, called the act of sportsmanship “unbelievable.”   Her home run sent Western Oregon to a 4-2 victory, ending Central Washington’s chances of winning the conference and advancing to the playoffs.  “In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much,” Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”

It thrills my heart to see such acts.  There are many more just like it.  Let's look a little harder to find these stories that truly are some of the gems in our lives.  It is reassuring to me that there are a lot of people trying to do good, every single day!