Saturday, May 03, 2008

Opponents carry injured softball home run hitter around the bases

This story really touched me this week. In the second inning of a college softball game that would decide a playoff spot, a senior hit her first ever home run (a three-run homer) but injured her knee after missing first base and turning around quickly to tag it. She crawled back to first base, but couldn't do anything else because of her injury. If anyone on her team had tried to help her, she would have been ruled out.

While the officials were discussing what could/should be done, two members of the opposing team took it upon themselves to carry the injured player around the bases, securing the three runs for their opponent, ultimately resulting in a 4-2 loss for them and a chance to advance to the playoffs. What a selfless act!

Here's the story.

Posted by Joel Brueseke at 1:29 PM
Labels: , , , , ,

5 comments:

  1. Hi Joel;

    That was a selfless act…

    My wife Chocolate Girl and I read this article and had a conversation about it. She says that since it appears to be two women’s teams and that women are a little less competitive in sports that the women would be inclined to show more compassion and do this kind of thing.

    I am not sure about that (and I am certainly not going to get mixed up in a conversation about who is more competitive even if I like to provide you with the odd bit of controversy here LOL), however I can say that although I am not very competitive in general I am very competitive in sports, even ones I am not good at!

    Plus I do blog about Survivor (the top blog on the web for Survivor) and I love the competitive edge as long as it is within the bounds of the game.

    If I was walking down the street wearing an expensive Armani suit (not likely) and saw a person get injured (say hit by a car) and helping the person meant wrecking my suit I would do so without a thought…

    …but do what they did…no…I don’t think I would do it…which of course is why I don’t play softball….

    …and I feel no guilt about it whatsoever….

    :)

    By the way Youtube was having trouble with the video, never got to see it.
    ReplyDelete
  2. Joel,

    I thought that was a pretty awesome thing to do. I don't want to start an argument either, but I agree with Chocolate Girl; I kind of doubt that your typical boys team would have done something like that. The boys teammates would probably be mad at him because he didn't hobble home and score :)

    However, it seems to me that the rules ought to allow for a pinch runner in a situation like that.

    In Christ,
    Gary
    ReplyDelete
  3. My wife would say the same thing as Chocolate Girl... and since I don't want to get into trouble with Mrs. B, I'll just remain quiet on this. :D

    Me personally... it probably wouldn't have come to my mind to see if I could help the injured player make it to home. I don't mean to say I see myself as cold and heartless, ;), but I just think the idea probably just wouldn't have come to my mind. In a sports setting like that, my thoughts probably would have been more along the lines of how quickly is the medical team going to be able to take care of this.

    As for 'real life' situations, non-sports-setting, I think I'd be right there, seeing what I could do to help. At least I hope I would be. I'm pretty sure I would. Haven't really been in that position, as far as I can remember.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Seems like it was either in one of the online stories I read, or it was in an interview I heard of the injured girl on the radio, there is some sort of rule that allows for a pinch runner in this situation.

    I'm sort of confused by what I've heard. One of the stories says that the officials told them right there and then that they could substitute a pinch runner, but it would only count as a single. Another story says it wasn't until after the game that they found out about substituting a pinch runner, and it sounded like the home run still would have counted. Dunno. :)
    ReplyDelete
  5. My guess about the pinch hitter. Having a pinch hitter run the bases for you is not the same emotionally as you running them yourself. The girls probably wanted her to experience the thrill of completing the home run for herself since it was her first.

    Aida
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)