Tom Says: “My faith in humanity, restored…”
You don’t have to look very far to read see and hear all the nasty things going on in the world. Listen to the radio, watch the television news or pick up your local paper — it’s just story, after story, after story about man’s inhumanity to man.
Suddenly, there’s a small incident that tells you every once in awhile, everything is right with the world.
This story comes from a softball game, a women’s softball game in Portland, Oregon.
Sara Tucholsky plays for Western Oregon University. In all of her years playing softball, she’s never hit a home run.
Two runners on base, a one-strike count when her bat hits the ball like it never has and it clears the centre field fence. She obviously has not perfected “a home run trot” around the bases and she fails to touch first base. So, she stops attempts to quickly go back to first — and blows out her knee. She manages to crawl back to first base, but if she can’t negotiate the rest of the bases, she will be credited with having hit a single.
Her teammates, according to the rules can’t help her either. So, what to do?
Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the league — and a player from the other team — asked the umpire if she and her teammates can help Sara around the bases. The umpire says there’s no rule against it. So Holtman and her teammate Liz Wallace put their arms under the injured players legs and with her arms over their shoulders the three set out around the bases — stopping at each base to allow the injured player to touch the bag with her good leg.
By the way, Sara’s three-run homer was enough to lead her team from Western Oregon University to victory.
Said one of those who carried her around the bases, “In the end it’s not about winning and losing so much as it is about this girl. She hit it over the fence, she ended up in severe pain — and she deserved the home run.”
My faith is restored and suddenly everything is right with my world.
I’m Tom Young.