With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. She hit her first home run, which cleared the center field fence.
But it looked like the shortest of dreams-come-true when she missed first base, started back to tag it, and collapsed with a knee injury.
The first base coach told her that if her teammates attempted to help her, she would be called out. However, the umpire suggested that a pinch–runner be called in instead, which would mean the home run she hit would only count as a single.
The Central Washington University softball team shocked their Ellensburg fans on Saturday when they carried Tucholsky around the bases after her three–run homer, even though the act meant their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the all–time home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, inquired to the umpire if she and her teammates could lend assistance to Tucholsky.
The umpire declared that there was no regulation prohibiting it.
Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace locked arms with Tucholsky, supporting her as they made their way around the bases. Tucholsky marked each base with her good leg, and the three of them cheered in celebration once they finished the circuit.
“It was the right thing to do,” Holtman told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Thursday. “She’d hit it over the fence. She deserved the home run.”
“It’s kind of a big blur at the moment,” Tucholsky said to Chen. “I didn’t really realize what was going on — I’ve had people tell me — until I actually had time to reflect on it.”
“The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,” Tucholsky said. “I told her it was my right leg and she said, `OK, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said `OK, thank you very much.’ ”
“We started laughing when we touched second base,” Holtman said. “I said, ‘I wonder what this must look like to other people.’ ”
“We didn’t know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run,” Wallace said Wednesday. “That makes the story more touching than it was. We just wanted to help her.”
Holtman, a business major from White Salmon, Wash., aspires to pursue a degree in sports management in graduate school. She remarked that she and Wallace were oblivious to the playoff spot, and did not feel that their gesture was something extraordinary.
As for Tucholsky, the 5-foot-2 right fielder was focused on her pain. “I really didn’t say too much. I was trying to breathe,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“I didn’t realize what was going on until I had time to sit down and let the pain relax a little bit,” she said. “Then I realized the extent of what I actually did.”
“I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation,” Tucholsky said.
As they arrived at home plate, Tucholsky noticed that the entire Western Oregon team was in tears.
Gary Frederick, 70, a 14–year veteran coach at Central Washington, was amazed by the act of sportsmanship he witnessed, calling it “unbelievable.”
For Western Oregon‘s coach Pam Knox, the gesture of understanding Tucholsky‘s injury resolved the dilemma that it had presented.
“She was going to kill me if we sub and take (the home run) away. But at same time I was concerned for her. I didn’t know what to do,” Knox recalled.
“It’s a great story,” Knox observed to Chen, “something I’ll never forget — the game’s about character and integrity and sportsmanship, and it’s not always about winning and losing.”
Tucholsky has sustained a suspected tear of her anterior cruciate ligament, sidelining her for the remainder of the season. Despite this setback, she is still on track to graduate in the spring with a degree in business.
Her home run sealed Western Oregon‘s 4–2 victory, crushing Central Washington‘s hopes of taking home the conference title and advancing to the playoffs.
“In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much,” Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”
