Softball Sportsmanship

For the past few weeks, I have played softball on Monday nights with the Lebanon Road church of Christ team. We’re, well, not good, and I’m terrible, but we do have a lot of fun and we enjoy being out there together.

We’ve only won a couple of games, which makes what happened last night even more amazing and uplifting. In our first game, we lost despite a furious comeback at the end.

Then came the second game.

Early on, our youth minister ran home on a close play. He touched the plate and the umpire called him “safe.” The catcher for the other team began to argue, saying, “I got him on the knee,” and other similar things.

Now, remember, that we were very much “in” this game; in fact, we had a small lead at this time. But JD, our youth minister, walked back over by the umpire and said, “He tagged me.”

The umpire changed his call. JD was out.

After a truly amazing game, we lost 12-11 in extra time.

When JD told the umpire that he had been tagged, I was so proud. It was something you just don’t see in any sport, and it’s truly sad you don’t see more of it in “church-league” softball.

I was also proud of our team and fans (the faithful few). They congratulated JD and told them they were proud of him. Even following the close loss, our guys were kidding about it.

Honesty may cost an out, or even a game, but it is still a quality that is needed. There are some things far, far, far more important than a play at the plate. And I’m thankful to know folks who still live that quality out.