“It Was the Right Thing to Do”
May 6th, 2008
By Jason Cocomise
The term sportsmanship is practically out-of-date these days. In just the first two weeks of the 2008 NBA playoffs, there have already been multiple incidents involving on-court taunting and fighting, and off-court trash-talking.
Herbert W. Armstrong once wrote, “In interschool or intercollegiate competition, or the pro game, the attitude too often is bad” (Plain Truth, July/August 1984). This same attitude can often rub off on us, especially in a world with too few good examples.
But there are some rare examples of sportsmanship in this world worth emulating. One occurred just days ago, on Senior Day at Central Washington University, that can’t help but inspire you.
April 26 marked a key women’s softball matchup between conference rivals Central Washington University (CWU) and Western Oregon University (WOU). Senior Sara Tucholsky of WOU stepped up to the plate. In her entire softball career, including high school, she had never hit a home run. That was about to change.
With two runners on base and one strike against her, tiny Sarah unleashed her best swing and cleared the center-field fence with a three-run home run! On her excited home-run jog around the bases, Sarah accidentally missed first base. As she went back to tag the base, though, her knee gave out. All she could do was crawl back to first base. If her teammates tried to help her, she would be called out, and her run would not have counted. Or, if a pinch runner was substituted for her, her hit would be changed to a single.
Neither one happened.
Shockingly, players for CWU—the other team—selflessly picked Sarah up and walked her around the bases, making sure she touched each base with her good leg. The umpire admitted that there was no rule against it. Thus, due to a remarkable act of good sportsmanship, Sarah’s run would stand. As they reached home plate, both of the teams were in tears.
Sarah’s home run sent WOU to a 4-2 victory, putting an end to CWU’s playoff hopes. She later found out that she tore a ligament, which will keep her out for the rest of the season. When asked why they reached out to her, the CWU girls were quick to heap the praise back on their coach for his positive influence over the years. CWU’s star player, Mallory Holtman, one of the girls who helped carry Sarah around the bases, said, “In the end, it was not about winning and losing so much. It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run. We just thought it was the right thing to do.”
May 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Thanks for the great article! Good sportsmanship in high school,college,and pro sports is almost obsolete. In all sports nowadays it’s not rare to see players get in fights,trash talk to each other, and yell at the officials/referees. It was nice to see these collegiate players show good sportsmanship even if it would cost them the game or event their playoff chances. Thanks again for the wonderful article!
May 7th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
real sportsmanship is something you can’t see now these days…thankfully the church which has been sponsoring this webzine has summer camps for its teenagers in which you can see real sportsmanship being practiced on every sport activities it has.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Yay for responsible leadership and teachers!
May 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Wow…that is inspiring. You have to think, if these people in the world are capable of this kind of selflessness, how much should we be doing in this kind of situation? What kind of sportsmanship should we have? How many people would do something like this just because it was “the right thing to do”? Thanks for this inspiring and thought-provoking article.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Wow! I don’t think I have ever heard of something like that happening in days like these where everyone just seems out to “get the glory”. What an inspiring story, thank you so much for the article!
May 18th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
This story is so inspiring. It is good to hear about people who do have good sportsmanship and realize that the most important thing is not winning. It is a good lesson for us all to remember.
May 19th, 2008 at 5:14 am
this one made me think: In life, in games wherever, when the opportunity arises for me to do something “because it was the right thing to do” what will my reaction be? Even if it’s a really inconvenient moment?
Really Great article, thanks!
May 31st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Thanks for the awesome article. I played softball for seven years and know that sportsmanship is almost extinct. I now watch my younger siblings play ball and was surprised when parents started yelling for eight year old kids on the oppposite team to drop fly balls. Thanks again for the inspiring article.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
This was quite an inspiring article. With unsportsmanlike behaviour a common occurrance in today’s soceity, it is refreshing to read about acts of true sportsmanship as demonstrated by those two women softball teams.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Wow that was an amazing article. I can’t wait for the day when we will see incidents happening like that all the time. Camp has really taught me about sportsmanship, I now realize its about your attitude that counts not how you play. Winning isn’t everything. Thanks.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Wow that was an amazing article sometimes experences like this really teaches us something
September 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
that was a godly thing to do.
October 11th, 2008 at 11:03 am
good sportsmanship is what sports is all about. all the arguing with refs and officals drives me crazy. nice article it really does help.
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
when i played baseball last year for my school team, guys were always talking about starting a fight or hurting someone while sliding into a base. it never happened, but there still was a lot of trash talk.