On April 26th, Central Washington faced Western Oregon for an important softball match-up. When Sara Tuchholsky, a player for Western Oregon, settled in for her at bat she would have no idea it would be her last.
With the swing of the bat Sara did something she’d never done before in her softball career. She hit a 3 run home run to put her team in the lead. “Surprised by her accomplishment, Tucholsky missed first base as she ran past it. She turned around to tag the base, but her knee gave out, sending her to the ground with a painful injury. It was later determined to likely be a torn ACL.”
But the story didn’t end there. What happened next has made this a national news story. When Sara simply couldn’t run the bases and her home run at risk of not counting, two players from Central Washington asked the umpires if they could carry Sara around the bases so her home run would count.
“Umpires conversed and decided that yes, it would be allowable. So Holtman and Wallace, locking their hands under Tucholsky, gently lifted and carried her from base to base, allowing her to tap each base with her left foot. The three players exchanged giggles as they made it around the field.”
“We didn’t even know that while we were carrying her around the bases, people in the stands were crying,” Holtman said. “We just thought it was the right thing to do.”
It was the right thing to do. What an awesome example of sportsmanship! I hope this story gets printed out and pinned up by every athletic director in the country.
HT to Robin
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