Follow “Something Good” on Facebook and YouTube!
It’s not often in softball that opponents help the other teams score the go-ahead run, but this was a unique opportunity for softball players at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida to showcase incredible sportsmanship.
During a home game on Feb. 25 against Grand View University (Iowa), Southeastern led 4-1 in the fifth inning before Grand View’s Kaitlyn Moses hit a grand-slam home run to give Grand View a 5-4 lead.
Well, it wouldn’t have been a 5-4 lead without the generosity of Southeastern players Leah Gonzalez and Chapel Cunningham.
Moses injured herself after rounding first base, and went to the ground writing in pain in between first and second base.
Per rule, Moses’ teammates couldn’t touch her or else the runs wouldn’t count.
Knowing that, Gonzalez and Cunningham picked Moses up, made sure she touched second and third base, and finally home plate before dropping her off so teammates could carry her into the dugout.
A video of what happened, courtesy of Southeastern University, can be seen above.
“I just knew it was the right thing to do,” Cunningham told WFLA-Channel 8 in Tampa. “Here at Southeastern they teach us, or especially on our team, they try to tell us to do the thing that ought to be done and I knew that that was what we should do so we didn’t really think twice.”
Gonzalez told WFLA it was a matter of softball players looking out for each other, no matter what team they are on.
“What would happen if those were one of my girls? I would love for someone on the other team to pick them up and take them around,” she said.
Grand View head coach Lou Yacinich couldn’t have been more thankful.
“The display of sportsmanship by the Southeastern University Softball team speaks volumes to their character, humanity, and greater purpose,” Yacinich said in a statement. “The result of their actions caused their team in the game to trail by one run, yet that was of minimal concern to those players in that moment.”
Indeed, it was a grand slam moment all around.