Sportsmanship flexed its muscle at a recent softball game
between Western Oregon and Central Washington
Every once in a while true sportsmanship emerges on the playing field of amateur sports. It’s refreshing to see something heartwarming rather than the negativity that some media outlets exploit.
We’re simply tired of hearing about another parent tirade, coaches losing their wits and police having to break up a brawl at a t-ball game.
We need feel-good stories that have a happy ending. We need an example to show our kids what youth sports is all about. We need the true meaning of why all of us put on a uniform at one time or another.
That true meaning was exhibited recently at a girls softball game in Southern Oregon. It literally was something I’d never heard of before, and my lifetime may be over before I hear or see it again.
It symbolized everything we should try to instill in young players about respecting the game you play and the opponents you face. It’s the way we should look at winning and losing.
After you finish this column, ask yourself what you would have done if you were a coach. If you’re a parent, quiz yourself on how you would have felt if you were on one side or the other. It will most certainly make you think.
Let’s set the stage and the scenario. Western Oregon University and Central Washington University were squaring off with the winner securing a spot in the playoffs. That’s when Sara Tucholsky stepped to the plate for Western Oregon.
With one strike on her, Tucholsky slammed the next pitch high over the centerfield fence for her first home run ever in either high school or college. That three-run blast put her team ahead 4-2. However, Tucholsky missed first base as she rounded the bag. As she stopped past the bag and tried to go back and tag first, she collapsed with a knee injury.
That’s where the drama began. She tried to crawl back toward first but couldn’t make it. The first base coach yelled at everyone on her team to not touch her or help her because she would be called out. Realizing the game needed to continue, the umpire instructed Western Oregon to insert a pinch runner and the home run would have to be negated and ruled only a single.
Watching everything unfold, Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, who just happened to be the league’s leading career home run hitter, asked if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire replied that there was no rule against the defense helping her.
Without hesitation, Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace hoisted Tucholsky up, put their arms under her legs as she draped her arms over their shoulders, and they began to carry her toward second base.
“The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one I hurt,” said Tucholsky. ” I told her it was my right leg and she said, ‘Okay, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said thanks.”
After touching second base the trio proceeded toward third base and Tucholsky again dropped her left leg to touch the base. “We didn’t know she was a senior or that this was her first home run,” recalled Wallace the day after. “We just wanted to help her.”
As they headed for home the crescendo heightened and the applause and cheering became louder and louder. Fans rose in unison. A standing ovation ensued. The entire Western Oregon team was in tears. Central Washington coach Gary Frederick later said he was witnessing something “unbelievable.”
Finally, Tucholsky reached home, and as the umpire now declared it a home run, the entire Western Oregon team celebrated the triumph and hugged Holtman, Wallace, and, of course, Tucholsky. Her home run virtually eliminated Central Washington from the playoffs.
The scene at home plate was fitting enough for a storybook-moving ending. Holtman looked at it as if no big deal and said she and Wallace weren’t thinking about a playoff spot and considered the gesture something they would do again.
“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.”
Now, that my friends, is true sportsmanship at its best!
