I just read an article earlier on MSNBC (even though I should have been studying for an exam tomorrow :/ ) about an incredible story of sportsmanship that left me completely surprised and will undoubtedly bring a smile to anyone with a heart.
While playing in a College Softball game (the loser would be eliminated from the playoffs), Sara Tucholsky scored her first home run (ever) but collapsed near the first base because of a knee injury. According to the first-base coach, her team could not help her because she would be called out, and even if a pinch runner was put in the home run would just count as a single. Unbelievably, two girls from the opposing team — vying for the playoff spots — picked Sara up and helped her touch the remaining bases and brought her back to home base.
In this day and age, where most people don’t even bother helping others in every day situations that would have no effect on them, these amazing girls helped the opposing team in a competitive setting, just so the results would be fair and Sara and her team would get what they deserved, while knowing they would be eliminated from the playoffs.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
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.”’
Click here to read the full article.
