If there already weren’t enough reasons to get your child involved in sports, the story of Sara Tucholsky will give you another one.
Ms. Tucholsky plays softball for Western Oregon University, but in her high school and college careers, the 5-foot-2 player had never hit a home run. On the last Saturday in April, in a game against Central Washington University, she hit her first home run over the fence. But as she began to run the bases, a misstep resulted in a torn knee ligament and she couldn’t continue.
The umpire mistakenly ruled that a team member couldn’t run in her place or assist her around the bases. A member of the opposing team, 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 Ms. Tucholsky run the bases. He said they could, and Ms. Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace carried her around the field as she gently tapped her uninjured leg on each base.
At least 150,000 people have now watched videos of the moment on YouTube. To see ESPN’s take on it, grab a tissue and watch below.
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Real “softball” post here. You’re guaranteed (and should be!) 100% positive responses.
— jackHere’s a negative response: What were the umps smoking? That’s a fundamental misinterpretation of the rules. It did set up an amazingly inspiring story, but nonetheless, the umps messed up, and possibly created a hazardous situation that could have been more safely resolved.
— TishTashBravo Tara! This is a truly fabulous post today! Integrity and Sportsmanship at it’s best, no doubt!
Diana Bertoldo
— DianaSportsmanship, who’da thunk it?
When I played girls’ softball in grade and junior high school, our coach told us to play hard and do our best and if that wasn’t enough to win then there was no shame in losing. If we had to resort to unsportsmanlike conduct to win, then we lost anyway. I contrast this with the shouts I’ve heard from local Little League practices telling kids that there’s no excuse for losing. I hear them telling the kids that ‘the other guys’ are the enemy and you have to get every advantage you can to take them down, and see the parents screaming at one another over technicalities. Ugh. When I have kids in Little League, I will *not* be one of those parents.
I think that these women are to be commended for rising to the challenge of sportsmanlike behaviour with grace and helping a fellow athlete hit a personal milestone.
The ump, however, deserves a hearty pile of dust kicked onto his shoes. Where’s Billy Martin when you need him?
— RowanGreat story. These girls turned a lemon of a decision into lemonade. They used their heads and their hearts instead of acting like thugs and did the right thing. Bravo!
— Lynne JolitzAltruistic but that is not how the game is played. It’s hard to lose and get injured but you have to learn to deal with those things in an adult manner. Imagine if the Yankees pulled this!
FROM TPP — Yes, imagine….
— RunningIts just awesome to read about your girls, who did the nicest thing possible for a fellow softball player. We are so glad to hear that there are still
— Bob & Cathy Ackermanyoung people who believe in helping others. I first heard this on the radio, and we stay in touch with
Central because our son graduated from there, and we
are proud of him and all the good friends that he has
from central This is for Jack Bishop, he should know
Brad Ackerman, we are from Cole Camp, Mo. and have been to Ellensburg several times. Give the young
women our best - just saw them on T.V. Hooray for them.
Wonderful story! I’ve been both little league coach and umpire. Yes, the umpire maybe shoulda, coulda handled it better, but don’t fault him/her. S/he’s out there making a decision that could have an impact on a coach’s record and maybe salary, and s/he’s not allowed reference to a rule book. How many umpires at that level know “that rule.” I’m glad it ended happily for all. There were no “losers” here.
— donald zeigerThere are so many reasons to get girls (and boys!) involved in sports. I played competitive tennis in high school, and
— Mary AnneLet’s all not go to Diana Bertoldo’s irrelevant website.
FROM TPP — I deleted the reference.
— KatieFor this particular brand of sportsmanship to be alive and kicking makes me think there’s hope for the world. The three of them should be on the cover of Sports Illustrated because this is what it’s all about.
It’s about loving the sport and playing it because of that, not because you’re the best or for fame, but because you love it. Sara had a goal, and she made it happen. Mallory and Liz… I know what they felt. Sara deserved it. They had to give it to her. She was doing it for the love of the sport. I got the feeling she would have dragged herself around the bases to get the run if they hadn’t carried her.
About the ref’s call… I understand that too. In this day and age of hypercompetitive sports, I could see some nasty person pushing for the win to be taken away or for that ref to be fired because he didn’t abide by the rules. He was covering everyone’s behind; his as well as everyone on the winning team’s.
But, I mean, just wow. Major props to everyone involved. I hope Sara can return to sports in some context, be it by coaching or changing to another sport that won’t stress her knee as much because she should pass on that drive to other people. The same goes for Mallory and Liz. Theirs was a completely pure act done not for publicity, fame, or an image. They did what was right. We never hear about anything like this. It’s always scandal, scandal, scandal, or dirt, dirt, dirt. What a breath of fresh air!
Seriously, it made me want to start chanting, “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!” :)
— M.I’ve seen many instances of good sportsmanship among the athletes at our small school in Kadoka, S.D. Sportsmanship & good character are alive and well among our youth…it just isn’t spectacular enough to get reported in the press, most of the time. So glad to have THIS story told…one among many.
— jackieas a former division I field hockey player, i can do nothing but praise sara and these girls for helping her. yes, they are “adults”. who cares what would happen if the yankees did this? and perhaps the umpire did make a poor call.
— K.regardless of all of that, these girls treated each other as human beings. in recognizing sara’s situation, they acted admirably. it’s too bad people can’t get the arbitrary idea of a victory out of their heads.
at the end of the day, these girls are on the same team: a part of the same generation which will hopefully be able to pass on their sports(wo)manlike conduct. i can speak from first-hand experience that situations like this one are all too rare in college athletics. good work, ladies.
I will be hated as a cynic, but crying over this? really? This makes the NYTimes? I mean, good for her and all but please, lets stop with the sports obsession in this country and herald true bravery. Where are the current months purple hearts listed for our soldier? Those tales of bravery should be in the Times, every day.
— gimme a little breakIts about character, and having the courage to selflessly honor others.
And its not an either/or issue, as posted by gimme a little break. Surely nothing on the playing fields can compare to the ultimate acts of selflessness and sacrifice our soldiers demonstrate all too often on the fields of battle. I’ve been there.
Small acts of courage prepare us for great acts. And so I salute these young women for reminding others what courage and character look like.
— DaxIt is always good to see a story like this, to be remined of true sportsmanship and good character. Mallory is an example of a true athlete, one with talent but also grace. Sara, I hope your ACL heals well and that you are able to return to the sport you love.
People who want to find fault in the story or are cynical of the topic probably don’t understand what it is like to have friends or be on a cooperative team, and I feel bad for them.
— mbI have to give a bit of credit to #14. This sportsmanship is admirable, I won’t deny that. Sure that’s how we should teach our kids to play sport. But it wasn’t the sport that taught them that - this is not a reason to play sport. Because it is even more common that sport fosters that obsessive competitive killer instinct that is the absolute opposite. IF that weren’t true you wouldn’t have found this newsworthy!
This is admirable behaviour but it shows us something about sport you didn’t acknowledge - that it is NOT THAT IMPORTANT. It is just a game. It isn’t worth the competitive mean-spiritedness that it usually brings out in people. And this is a nice demonstration of this.
Some sexists might well argue that girls can afford to be nicer on the sportsfield because their sport is even less serious. Now Ii’m NOT saying that, far from it. But I think you’ve got to straighten out a few things.
1. Its just a game. So this nice behaviour ought to be expected not applauded for being exceptional.
2. It’s easy to be nice in a kids sporting event. Once you inject millions of dollars into the business in professional sport you kill that.
3. It is the values that matter and sport is not inherently right-on in teaching the values. It CAN be a tool to teach them, it can also be a tool to kill them off. Nothing inherently good about sport in teaching “sportstmanship”
I did competitive gymnastics at school (both individually and for the school team). Competitive sport brings out the best and the worst in people and it doesn’t seem predictable which it will be.
“selflessly honor others”??? I doubt it. No sport teaches that as a value. You could just as easily say that the girl who helped out realized the truth - that the sport doesn’t matter that much but being nice does. And then you could go on to say well she wasn’t very serious about her sport.
I am disappointed the column never misses an opportunity to applaud sport more or less for its own sake… sport can be a tool to healthy living, or teaching good values. It can also lead to unhealthy behavior (obsession, over-training, injury, cheating and drug use) and bad values (competition above all else). Evidence suggests the negatives usually outweigh which is what makes this story stand out. Perhaps a little less focus on the competitive sports and a bit more on non-competitive sports would get the best of both worlds?
— JillyFlowerInstead, couldn’t we have seen an article about why girls are still playing softball rather than baseball? Stealing bases and pitching overhand are so much more fun, I always thought.
— XxDeathStarxXThis is a great reason to not let your children play sports. This girl tore a ligament after a home run, which seems eerily related to the NYT magazine article about girls injuring themselves during sporting events.
— tddWHile I think it’s totally sweet and wonderful, I have to wonder if it woudl have happened if the game or a championship were in the balance ;) I’m with #17, myself.
— siouxgeonzThis actually would make me want to get my kids out of athletics (if the intense, unrelenting bullying condoned and even encouraged by every coach I’ve ever known wasn’t enough). She tore her ligament?? In school sports?? She’s going to have serious mobility problems for the rest of her life and people are cheering because both teams helped her?
If she had been doing her science homework she’d be able to walk!
— CharleneAm I the only one concerned about how long she lay there on the field writhing in pain while all those discussions about what to do were going on? Which is more important, what to do about a home run or treating an injured player?
— SandyTo the naysayers, why second-guess a great gesture? No, these girls aren’t on the frontlines in Iraq (yet) and there are countless “bigger” stories of selfless behavior that do/don’t get reported daily, but let’s not forget that these are teenage girls who oftentimes endure particularly scathing judgment from our culture. It is refreshing to see the other side of the coin for a change. The moral character these young women build on the field will not vanish once they enter adulthood.
As for the ump’s mistake, it was a blessing in disguise. Kudos to the opposing team who rose to the occasion to make something good of a bad call. Think of how many other ways the moment might have played itself out. Give these young women their moment in the sun. They deserve it and the rest of us can learn something from it. Nice going, girls.
— JeanneWhen I have kids, I hope they play on teams like this!
Unfortunately about 99.4% of the adults I know don’t play life in the same way. Pop culture runs exactly opposite to the these girl’s view of life. I suspect most parents secretly teach “win at life at the expense of others”.
But thanks for finding and publishing this one. It _is_ heartwarming.
— Robert“that it is NOT THAT IMPORTANT. It is just a game.”
#17 JillyFlower
Jillie, I think it shows how important the game is. The score is not the main point; what’s important is that they played on a competitive team. If I could do high school over, I’d try to (somehow) get into a team sport. I did track which is really a solo sport. It’s much better than nothing but doesn’t involve teamwork and building the real skills one will use later in life.
— Robert