By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
SEYMOUR – We’ve all seen pictures or videos of athletes doing extraordinary things under difficult situations.
As a baseball fan, my favorite memory of such an occurrence took place in the 1988 World Series when Kirk Gibson of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to win game one against Oakland.
The pinch-hitting Gibson could barely walk to home plate – let alone run around the bases – after suffering injuries to both legs in the NLCS.
But yet somehow, he sent a 3-2 pitch over the right-field wall off Dennis Eckersley, one of the greatest relievers of all time.
Gibson wouldn’t bat again in the series, but his heroics in game one were enough to catapult the Dodgers to the title.
If you’ve never seen footage of the at-bat, I highly recommend it.
It still gives me goosebumps hearing the call and seeing Gibson running around the bases, pumping his fists like a 12-year old kid.
Although not nearly as dramatic as Gibson’s 1988 blast, a similar event took place April 5 in Seymour where Bay Port and the Thunder were playing softball.
In game two of the doubleheader, Seymour’s Sophie Wery hit a fifth-inning home run over the fence.
Rounding second, Wery twisted her ankle after stepping in a hole in the basepath.
Limping and unable to walk, that’s when two Pirates – Maddy Ehlke and Kyleigh Schuette – came to her rescue.
“I saw (Wery) stumble and twist her ankle,” said Schuette, who was playing shortstop at the time. “She couldn’t walk and stood there with her hands on her knees for quite a while. Maddy came running over from first base and went on the opposite side of her to take an arm and a leg. Then I took an arm and a leg and we carried her to third and then home.”
Schuette said the crowd was clapping and the Seymour team and coaches were thankful for what the girls did.
“Sophie thanked us a lot as we were carrying her, and she made a joke, which made us all laugh,” Schuette said.
The incident showed true sportsmanship and is a good lesson for all of us to abide by – do the right thing, and help those in need.
“It meant a lot to me to help Sophie out,” said Ehlke, whose team lost both games by scores of 10-0 and 15-11, respectively. “I know how it feels to hurt myself, so it made me feel really good to help so she could get credit for her accomplishment. In the end, we did lose that game, but we know we did the right thing and showed good sportsmanship, which is more important than winning.”
Those are the same thoughts I echo to my 9-year-old daughter.
I tell her being a good sport, trying your best and being the best teammate you can be is way more important than winning.