True Sportsmanship

[State Champ 97]

I saw this on MSN-fox sports this morning.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - 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.

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 started laughing when we touched second base," Holtman said. "I said, 'I wonder what this must look like to other people."'
"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." For Western Oregon coach Pam Knox, the gesture resolved the dilemma Tucholsky's injury presented. "She was going to kill me if we sub and take (the home run) away. But at the same time I was concerned for her. I didn't know what to do," Knox said.

Tucholsky's injury is a possible torn ligament that will sideline her for the rest of the season, and she plans to graduate in the spring with a degree in business. 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."

[Irishmans Shanty]

Good story.

Glad to see that the losing team recognized what the other team deserved. Sports are about winning and losing, otherwise we wouldn't have them, but what can never be compromised in the heat of battle is sportsmanship, integrity, and getting it right.

Not only was it a win for Western Oregon, it was a win for humanity.

In other news, Roger Clemens issued......................

[Govs93]

I'm telling you guys right now... Any of you SOB's collapse on the course with me, and you're going to be writhing in pain there until I finish the round.

[State Champ 97]

I'm telling you guys right now... Any of you SOB's collapse on the course with me, and you're going to be writhing in pain there until I finish the round.

[Neutron 14]

In other news, Roger Clemens issued......................

Roidger's life is now an official "mess".

Couldn't of happened to a nicer ass....

[packerboy]

This is the kind of crap that is ruining sports.

If it were my team , Id have the players grind their spikes into her while she was down.

Sportsmanship nothin. Its just a bunch of feel good garbage that has nothing to do with athletics.

I'd pick her up all right....and drop her in foul ground.

Go green.

[State Champ 97]

Did you put your underwear on backwards today or something PB?
#1 its women's softball
#2 its women's softball in Oregon
#3 Its a great story
#4 You may have a lot to add to this "bored" but in this case you are wrong!

[UpNorthStars]

This may be off on a tangent, but now that i look back at the three baseball players i idolized as a youngster, i can't help but get a bit depressed:

Barry Bonds: what else can i say that hasn't been said about that guy
Roger Clemens: wow, what an ass he turned out to be
Kirby Puckett: women beater, pot smoker, i know, i know, he's still supposed to be our hero in MN, but he wasn't looking too good for a while either

[packerboy]

Did you put your underwear on backwards today or something PB?
#1 its women's softball
#2 its women's softball in Oregon
#3 Its a great story
#4 You may have a lot to add to this "bored" but in this case you are wrong!

No, this time of year its light when I get dressed, so I usually get them on right. In the middle of winter, its 50/50.

Women play as hard as men these days Champ.

And yah, its a great story,.......... if it was a Girl Scout function.

[tomASS]

whatever happened to crawling??

ok packerboy will like this one. Don't worry Govs the kid also plays hockey.

Was training a soccer team a few years back and ruptured my patella tendon. As I was laying on the turf one of my favorite players comes up to me and says, it's still early in the session, the turf is paid for, do you mind if we put cones up around you and keep playing.

As much pain I was in, I could help but laugh...........and he did set cones up around me and the EMTs

[packerboy]

Now, that's a great story.

I like that kid. even if he is a soccer player

No wonder he is one of your favorite players.

[State Champ 97]

Did you put your underwear on backwards today or something PB?
#1 its women's softball
#2 its women's softball in Oregon
#3 Its a great story
#4 You may have a lot to add to this "bored" but in this case you are wrong!

No, this time of year its light when I get dressed, so I usually get them on right. In the middle of winter, its 50/50.

Women play as hard as men these days Champ.

And yah, its a great story,.......... if it was a Girl Scout function.

I never said anything about women not play hard. Trust me, I know how hard women play.

[Knowlzee]

I am with Packerboy on this one.

A great story would have been if she had hopped on one foot around the bases on her own.

Unfortunate things happen to all in life. She hit it out of the park, and knows it, and should be proud, and get satisfaction for the accomplishment. But just because she hit it out of the park (but is unable to round the bases), she is not entitled to a game-winning homerun knocking out the other team. Part of the homerun (according to the rules) is to run the bases. She evidently couldn't do that part.

The opposition helped her complete the homerun to beat them. Is this sportsmanship,......or ignorance,......or girl scouts? If this is how they are going to use Title IX,.....how about an amendment to the law.

[packerboy]

It is interesting to get people's opinion on this kind of stuff. and then make fun of them for it

I was only half kidding when I posted that I would have my players step on her to keep her down. I really wouldnt do that but I sure as hell wouldn't carry her around the bases.

But people and kids are different.

I guess its OK if thats what you want to do but I cringe when it is hailed as a great jesture of sportsmanship implying that if the team didn't do it, they were bad sports or that this is the kind of thing that we should expect.

[Can't Never Tried]

Wouldn't good sportsmanship be accepting the fact it happened, take the single, use a pinch runner, and play the game by the rules?


So she hit it over the fence...great ! bout time I say being a Sr. and all.

[packerboy]

Wouldn't good sportsmanship be accepting the fact it happened, take the single, use a pinch runner, and play the game by the rules?

Precisely.

Ah, but the rest of your post is pretty cold. I love it

[GR3343]

It is interesting to get people's opinion on this kind of stuff. and then make fun of them for it

I was only half kidding when I posted that I would have my players step on her to keep her down. I really wouldnt do that but I sure as hell wouldn't carry her around the bases.

But people and kids are different.

I guess its OK if thats what you want to do but I cringe when it is hailed as a great jesture of sportsmanship implying that if the team didn't do it, they were bad sports or that this is the kind of thing that we should expect.