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May 2, 2008

Act of softball sportsmanship was much more than a trip around the bases

AP photo / Blake Wolf

By JIM LIITKE
AP Sports Columnist

It's hard to praise sportsmanship without sounding like a chump.

We celebrate cunning, guile and trash-talking in our games every day, but sportsmanship exactly once a year, which in case you missed it, officially came and went March 4. Yet every so often, those same games produce a gesture so grand it reminds you that sportsmanship will always be more about strength than weakness. Maybe that's why it remains the exception instead of the rule.

Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman wasn't doing anything more lofty than keeping track of the baserunners and pitch count in a game last Saturday when Western Oregon's Sara Tucholsky hit the first home run of her career. Never having had occasion to practice, Tucholsky's trot around the bases quickly turned into a disaster - she missed first, turned back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

As Tucholsky crawled back to the bag, Western's first base coach shouted, "Nobody touch her," knowing that any assistance from teammates or her trainers, or replacing Tucholsky with a pinch-runner, meant the home run would only count as a single. While the coaches and umpires tried to figure what to do next, Holtman waded into the huddle and asked, "Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?"

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Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:00 PM | Permalink

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