Girl Tears ACL Running to 1st After Hitting Home Run, So Rival Team Carries Her Across Home Plate
There is something to be said for good sportsmanship. Unfortunately, all too often, it’s the lack of good character we hear about when it comes to professional athletes.
Cheating football stars and bad calls made by referees are plastered across the news. Hearing of incidents in which our heroes fail to “step up to the plate,” so to speak, can be disheartening.
And then a story about an act of kindness on the field pops up, and you can’t help but share it with the world. But this particular story has nothing to do with the major league big shots.
In 2008, a player for the Western Oregon college softball team would play her final game as a senior. Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run during her entire softball career.
But one hit on April 26, 2008 changed everything. Both for Tucholsky’s team, and for her future as a softball player.
“Hitting was my downfall. I put too much pressure on myself,” Tucholsky shared.
When she hit the ball over the fence, she could hardly believe what happened. She took off running, and in the thrill of it all, Tucholsky missed first base.
When she turned back to round the base again, “Her pivot leg just didn’t pivot with her,” teammate Shannon Prochaska explained. “…she just dropped to the ground.”
A torn ACL was the culprit. And the rules of the game were clear — Tucholsky’s teammates could not assist her without facing serious penalties.
“I saw my knee move in a way it shouldn’t move,” she recalled. Her dream of running home on her own hit was quickly vanishing.
But then two girls from the opposing team from Central Washington spoke up. “I went to the homeplate umpire and asked if we could pick her up and carry her,” star player Mallory Holtmon said.
As there weren’t any rules regarding the opposing team offering help, the umpire allowed it. Several parents happened to be in attendance for Senior Day, and the entire act of love and compassion was captured on film.
And so, Holtman and her teammate, Liz Wallace, carried Tucholsky around the bases with her permission, carefully tapping her left foot to each base on their journey toward home plate.
“It’s a great moment when someone has character to step up and do the right thing at the right time,” Pam Knox, the head coach for Western Oregon at the time, said. Powerful words about a powerful moment in college softball history.
“I made my goal. I hit a home run,” Tucholsky shared with tears in her eyes. Though she’d never play the sport professionally or play another game for Western due to her injury, she felt proud to know she’d reached her goal.
Tucholsky’s story has been retold multiple times throughout the years. But the fact that Western won 4 to 2 is not what everyone remembers.
No. What people remember is how those girls from Central Washington chose character over winning that day.
They’re role models to every little leaguer who hears of their selfless act. If every athlete acted as these girls did that day, the world of sports would be a better place indeed.
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