The bottom line of
the batting box score does not give away much.
Under the Western
Oregon side of the box score in the second game of a fast pitch
double header from last weekend, the end of the batting
statistics read, simply, “HR-Tucholsky (1).”
But as the nation
has come to find out over the last few days, there is much more
to that one line than a simple statistics.
Thanks to ESPN and
practically every major news outlet, nearly everyone knows the
story behind it.
Western Oregon
senior shortstop Sara Tucholsky hit her first career home run,
and then, in between first and second base, tore her ACL. Her
first career home run would come in her final career at bat.
Tucholsky had
become so excited about her home run that she had forgotten to
touch second base, and in wheeling around to go back, had ripped
the ligament. In order to get credit for her only home run, she
had to finish her lap around the bases without being substituted
for or being touched by her own teammates. So Central Washington
first baseman Mallory Holtman, who, with exactly 34 more career
home runs than Tucholsky, is CWU’s all-time home run leader,
grabbed teammate Liz Wallace and carried Tucholsky around the
bases, allowing her to touch each one as they went by.
Ultimately, that
act of sportsmanship cost the Wildcats the game, as WOU hung on
for a 4-2 win.
Holtman saw plenty
of losses during her time at Columbia High School in White
Salmon, where her team managed just one winning season during
her four years, but she played well enough to earn a
half-scholarship to CWU for softball. To say that investment has
paid off big time for CWU would be an understatement. Holtman is
the career leader in eight offensive categories for the
Wildcats, and now is certainly the leader in once-in-a-lifetime
memories as well.
Some are calling it
the greatest act of sportsmanship they have ever seen.
I don’t know if I
would go
that far,
It was not so much an act of sportsmanship as it
was an act of humanity.
Holtman simply followed the golden rule of treat
others how you would like to be treated.
She definitely gets credit as well for being
quick-thinking about the rule book. While the WOU coaches were
trying to decide whether or not to put in a pinch runner for
Tucholsky, Holtman realized that even though the injured
player’s own teammates could not help her, the rules said
nothing about the defensive players being able to help.
Seeing a fellow player down, she did the same
thing I would hope anyone would do: find a way to help.
In interviews with ESPN this week, all three
players involved said they never expected the event to become as
big as it did. How often do the Central Washington and Western
Oregon softball programs make the front of practically every
sports news Web site?
Their actions went beyond “showing us what sports
is about”; instead, it gave us all a reminder that there is
something we can do every day to better the lives of those
around us. Just treat others how we would like to be treated.
