By now, if you haven’t heard of the amazing feat of sportswomanship produced by two Central Washington University fastpitch players (in my home state of Washington, I might add with a big smile) you have likely either been in a hole somewhere (although I’m not sure even that would be enough insulation), don’t own a television, or you don’t follow fastpitch at all...in which case, why are you reading my column right now? No – don’t go – just kidding!

In case you are one of the few who haven’t heard about this amazing story, let me fill you in briefly so I can introduce the rest of this column – and don’t worry, if you want all the details be absolutely sure to read the full article in this issue. Here’s the meat of the story: Western Oregon University and Central Washington University were in a hot race for the conference championship (D II) when they met a few weeks ago. WOU senior Sara Tucholsky has never hit a single college career homerun, when up she steps with two on and “bam” – over it goes! Amazing enough in itself, but Sara, overjoyed, misses first base, comes back to touch it and goes down hard with a debilitating knee injury, crawling back to first. The ruling is if she doesn’t touch all the bases, it’s not a homer. She can’t walk...can’t crawl around all four, and no one from her team can help her or she’s out. Looks like a two-run single, right? Well in most places and at most levels, that would be absolutely true – but as it turns out, not in Oregon, where sportswomanship may have won out over competitive nature.

To fully understand the gravity and importance of what these two CWU players did, it may be best to compare a more “typical” response. Let me give you a personal, real example of competitive nature vs. sportsmanship: Last year when I was playing in the Netherlands (aka Holland), we were playing in a competitive double-header with a mid-pack team, but in a tight race trying to catch the team in first place. We knew we couldn’t lose and still keep pace if we hoped to catch them by the end of the season. We had just won the first game of the doubleheader, but knew we needed to win the second as well. Because of unprecedented injuries, we were down to just nine players able to take the field. In the first inning of the second game, I came to bat and hit a single, moving our lone runner to second, then advanced on a passed ball. I was hitting #4 and we had two outs. Our #5 came up and hit a single to the outfield easily scoring the runner on third. As I ran for third, my coach waved me around. I hit the bag a little differently than usual and my next step... I was down in a heap of dust, blood and pain. If you’ve never fully torn a hamstring, then you have no idea what I’m talking about. If you have, then you likely just cringed and winced. The blood? I tore my knee open in a huge gash that should have had about 30 or more stitches. While lying there holding my left thigh with both hands, I felt the 3rd baseman tag me. How many times have we seen this? If not at 3rd base, then at 1st or 2nd, or at home after a missed slide. I, myself, have sheepishly gone up and tagged a downed runner – after all, it’s competition, right? An out’s an out? Considering that this is the norm in competitive softball, it makes what these girls from CWU did even more special. Okay, back to Holland… So, as I said, we only had nine players, so I went into the dugout, got out tape and lots of gauze for my knee, took my squeeze bottle out and rinsed the knee, took four ibuprofen and slid the compression sleeve I use for sore quads up my left leg. I hobbled out to third base and cheated up. The first batter, taking advantage of my injury bunted. I limped up got the ball and made the throw but missed the runner by a half-step. I cheated up further, until I was about 25 feet from the plate. They bunted again and I nailed the runner. The next batter hit a screamer that I caught and threw the runner out for a double play. First inning over; six to go. I got to the plate again in the third inning, but couldn’t put any pressure on my left leg when I went to step, so I switched sides and hit left-handed. My coach told me to just take the out, but I couldn’t. I hit a blooper to rightfield. The rightfielder charged and as I was hobbling to first, she tried to throw me out! In my mind, it felt a bit like shooting fish in a barrel or hunting a deer staked to the front lawn. The rest of the game (which we won 2-0 by the way) went pretty much the same, with them trying to exploit my injury, bunting when I played back, driving the ball at me when I cheated up. So – was this bad sportsmanship or just good strategy by their coach? Was it competitive nature? What would I have done as my team’s opposing coach? What would YOU do in that place? No doubt about it—I like to play full-out gonzo, no holds barred, and I may have even coached that way in the past, but now? Since the amazing events at the CWU-WOU game, I have had to re-think a little. Oh, what did the CWU girls (Liz Wallace and Mallory Holtman) actually do? Only pick up Sara Tucholsky and carry her – their opponent, whose homerun helped to ELIMINATE them – around the bases, pausing at each base to allow her to touch it with her good leg, finally putting her down at home plate! As I said, amazing, enlightening, uplifting, and for me – and I hope – other coaches and players thought provoking.

As always, I welcome your comments and column ideas at gutallstop@hotmail.com . Until next issue, play hard, ‘cuz there “ain’t nothin soft” about it.