{"id":12,"date":"2008-05-05T13:20:18","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T13:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scrappinsportstuff.com\/blog\/?p=12"},"modified":"2017-11-19T05:56:19","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T11:56:19","slug":"jocks-behaving-exceptionally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/05\/jocks-behaving-exceptionally\/","title":{"rendered":"Jocks Behaving Exceptionally"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I read this article it brought tears to my eyes. In this day and age, so many are concerned about WINNING that they tend to forget that in the end it’s “just a game”. As a coach, and a parent, I would hope that my children and players who react in the same way. My thoughts are that it not all about the winning, it’s about sportsmanship<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"\"They Touched \u2019Em All
\n<\/strong>Blake Wolfe<\/p>\n

If Hollywood ever runs out of ideas for tearjerker sports movies, all they have to do is read the sports wire for stories like this to come along.<\/p>\n

Last month, Central Washington University\u2019s women\u2019s softball team hosted Western Oregon. At stake was a bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs. In the second inning, Western had two runners on base when 5-foot-2-inch senior right fielder Sara Tucholsky came to the plate. A career .153 hitter (.088 this season), Sara did something she\u2019d never done in four years: smacked a pitch over the wall.<\/p>\n

As the team whooped it up and high-fived the runners ahead of her, Western\u2019s coach Pam Knox looked around. “Where\u2019s Sara?” She was lying in a heap near first base.<\/p>\n

In her excitement, Sara had missed the bag. As she darted back to touch it, her knee popped. In agony, she could barely move, let alone run. For a home run to count, a player must touch all the bases with no assistance from the team. “Our first-base coach was telling me \u2019I can\u2019t touch you or you\u2019ll be out,\u2019” Sara told The Oregonian. “\u2019I can\u2019t help you.\u2019”<\/p>\n

The umpires told Knox if she put in a pinch runner, Sara would be awarded a single and two RBIs. “It was her only home run in four years. She\u2019s going to kill me if we sub and take it away,” Knox said. “I didn\u2019t know what to do.”<\/p>\n

Then a voice behind her said, “Excuse me, would it be okay if we carried her around?” It was senior Mallory Holtman from Central. The umps said nothing in the rule book prohibited the opposition from helping her. Holtman and a teammate picked Sara up in a fireman\u2019s carry and walked her around the bases, pausing at each one so she could touch the bag.<\/p>\n

The stadium was in tears. The entire Western Oregon team was sobbing. Coaches were crying. At home plate, the two Central girls passed Sara into the arms of her teammates, and the crowd gave them a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re never bigger than the game,” Knox said afterward. “We forget that because as coaches, we\u2019re always trying to get to the top. But I will never, ever forget this moment. It\u2019s changed me. And I\u2019m sure it\u2019s changed my players.”<\/p>\n

Sara will accompany the team in its bid for an NCAA berth. Holtman intends to get a graduate degree in sports administration. Her dream is to become a coach.<\/p>\n

[sports.espn.go.com, 4\/28\/08; statesmanjournal.com, 4\/28\/08; oregonlive.com, 4\/30\/08]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I read this article it brought tears to my eyes. In this day and age, so many are concerned about WINNING that they tend to forget that in the end it’s “just a game”. As a coach, and a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33113,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/33113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scrappinstuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}