Randy Cassingham's Blog

Are you kidding me? The real lesson is that these psychos cannot tell which is more important between treating an injured child and a GAME!

Sheesh!

I was just concerned about how long she lay on the field writhing in pain while all these discussions were going on....
But the ending was truly Good Sportsmanship at its very best. I totally agree with Don on this one.

That one act on the part of one selfless individual (on the opposing team no less) will be remembered by those watching forever, and that is what I call having an IMPACT!

It's a good counter to the trend of predation to win at all costs. Sports have many good points to be explored, but few are exploring the sensibility of morale that plays an important part of our psychological make-up. Too often, the Will to win crushes someone who needs just a moment to take a breath to get to the next point in their life.

It sounds as if there should be a different, more obvious lesson than what the narrator stated, but I have no idea what it would be. If this story is true as described (was there NO ONE in the stands with a video camera to catch this?), then they are truly remarkable young ladies. I'd be willing to bet a hefty sum that they did not learn this from their professors or coaches. Their parents should be very proud. Thanks for giving me hope that not all athletes subscribe to the "If you're not winning, you're a loser" ideology.

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I'm sure there is video, but it's not likely to be public domain so someone could use it in a video like this. So how do you tell the story? Without it. Frankly, it's likely more powerful this way. -rc

On one hand, it was a great display of sportsmanship but, on the other hand, you have to wonder about a game that penalizes coming to the aid of someone who is injured.

I'm not a baseball expert, but as I understand it, they could have brought in a substitute runner, so the team would have gotten the point but Sara would not get the credit. So the only effect the help had was to give the run credit to Sara and not the substitute runner.

If this reasoning is correct (baseball fans?) Mallory's act was clearly a generous kindness, but also primarily an act of fairness, not sacrifice. I would nevertheless applaud her decision. Playing fair is always a good thing, at least in theory.

I agree with Don's message: if you feel good at the end of the day, then you've won.

Also, if I understand correctly, helping Sara across the bases gave Sara's team one point, which wouldn't have made a difference in the final score anyway (4-2). So, after all is said and done, the team that would have won anyway won, except thanks to Mallory, everyone has an uplifting example to follow!

"If your enemy falls, do not celebrate. If he trips, let not your heart rejoice." (Proverbs 24:17, thanks Google!) Thank you, Mallories of the world, for doing just that (surprisingly literal example). I know it couldn't have been easy, voluntarily helping your opponent, but the counter-intuitive thing to do from a sports perspective was the right thing to do from a human perspective.

Many more people around the world will remember these girls, than who will even know which university eventually went through to the next round.

Winning a match, is a fleeting and not a duplicatable inspiration, but this example of winning over adversity, is of an enduring and duplicatable nature.

I hope it inspires many people around the world to go the extra mile.

It's a great story.

I don't feel that it's quite so singular an act so much as an incredible set of circumstances. Even Holtman believes that anyone would have done the same in her place; she thinks that her knowledge of what was allowed is the only thing that set her apart from anyone else on the field that day.

Graham Hayes wrote an outstanding article that I recommend to anyone interested in all of the details, including a sidebar with the actual rules regarding such events, which turn out to be not quite what anyone on the field that day thought they were.

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Graham Hays is a writer for ESPN. His article on the game is here. -rc

Living in the Pacific Northwest (Portland,Oregon), this is human interest story that I have seen many times. I must agree that a prominent role of adolescent sports deals with character building. This would encompass sportsmanship, team play and achieving individual goals. I applaud the actions taken by Miss Mallory and her teammates on the field. The politics of real world, off-field activities frequently don't have a official handbook of 'rules and regulations'.

That said, in deference to this particular You-tube commentator, I would add these facts. The game being played was a NCAA Div.III softball game. Rules that may apply would be covered under Base Runners (12.0.+) and could be interpreted by plate umpire.

Women's softball is currently not a professional sport in the USA, but as of 2004 has been officially recognized as Olympic competition. The Summer Games in China, hopefully, will reflect the values of competition and sportsmanship.