Take time to savor the moments

Every athletic competition is filled with moments. Maybe it is a walk-off home run, a buzzer-beating shot or touchdown in the waning seconds. Most of these moments are then discussed for the next few days until the next game.

And then there are moments that stay with you forever.

I first heard this story in April 2008, before I became sports editor. I had filed it in my memory banks until coming across a June 29 Sports Illustrated article revisiting the moment a year after it happened.

On April 26, 2008, Sara Tucholsky, a senior softball player for Division II Western Oregon, hit a home run against Central Washington. The home run would not have been the subject of national media attention if the story stopped there.

But it didn’t, it had just begun.

The home run was Tucholsky’s first of her career, and after stopping to touch first base after first missing it in her exuberance, her euphoria turned to anguish. Tucholsky twisted her right knee and hit the infield dirt with a torn ACL.

After crawling back to first base, an umpire cautioned Western Oregon coaches not to touch her, as doing so would result in her being called out. When the coach inquired about what would happen if they put a pinch-runner in for Tucholsky, she was told the hit would be credited as a two-run single.

Opposing pitcher Mallory Holtman then came up with an idea that embodied the meaning of sportsmanship and the credo “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game."

The very pitcher who had just surrendered a three-run home run asked the home plate umpire if they could carry Tucholsky around the bases. When the umpires conferred and could find nothing in the rule book prohibiting it, Holtman enlisted the help of teammate Liz Wallace and the pair carried Tucholsky around the bases, stopping long enough at each bag so she could touch it with her left foot.

Western Oregon went on to win 4-2, but for Tucholsky, the round-tripper would be the last one of her collegiate career.

The story lives on and can be enjoyed on YouTube, but the spirit of this moment that went far beyond the outfield fences, baselines and the game itself, will always stay with me.

Craig Purcell is sports editor of Tri-County Newspapers. Contact him at 824-1036 or sports@tcnpress.com.