Chelsea Oglevie, You Rock!

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from Ellen's Good News, via Yahoo Shine

It was the last inning Chelsea Oglevie would ever pitch for her softball team at Florida Southern College. The 21-year-old senior was pitted against Kara Oberer, 19, a sophomore at Eckerd College, who Oglevie knew was a good hitter.

With two strikes and two outs, and runners on two bases, Oglevie threw a high pitch and Oberer hit a home run, but it was what happened afterwards that was most remarkable. En route to first base, Oberer's knee locked up, and she was forced to hop to the plate. When she couldn't make it any further, Oglevie and a second baseman ran over, picked up their opponent, and carried her around to each plate, so that she could finish her run.

It didn't matter that Oglevie had lost the game, or that she would never pitch again for her team; it only mattered that that she was a good sport. Oberer had injured her PCL early in the match-up, and Oglevie said it was her first instinct to reach out and help a player in need.

"I knew she was hurt and that it was her heart that was pushing her," Oglevie told the Good News Blog. "I saw her try to take a few steps and just the pain and emotion I saw made it clear she wasn't going to make it by herself. I respected her as an athlete for doing such an amazing thing."

Oberer initially didn't realize what was happening, but afterward, she made sure to respond to the amazing gesture.

"I couldn't even express the gratitude I had for them," Oberer remarks. "As soon as the game ended, I thanked them. It was such a selfless act. It really takes a lot. That was the last pitch of her career, but she didn't think twice about it."

After Oglevie and her teammate brought Oberer across home plate, Oglevie immediately broke down in tears. Though she may not have ended with a strikeout, the finish was bigger than she could have ever imagined.

It didn't end there. The story of Oglevie's act of kindness has been picked up by both local and national news outlets, including three different ESPN channels.

"I'm just completely blown away with the impact that it's had on pretty much the country," Oglevie says. "It would have been great to go out with another win under my belt, but it's even more amazing that people grasped onto this event because of the happiness and sportsmanship it shows… I'd rather get another million hits off me if it meant so much happiness and kindness would spread."

Oglevie graduates this weekend, and will be getting her MBA and Master's in Sports and Entertainment Management at the University of South Florida this fall. She's the first in her family to go to college, and intends to give back to them for supporting her all these years.

"I feel like I've been blessed with a scholarship to play softball in college," Oglevie says. "I want to be able to get the best job so I can help support my family in the future."

Props, also, to the unidentified second baseperson.



Too infrequently, we see a kid who actually gives you hope for the future...

[xoxoxoBruce]

They had a big bet on the other team.

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Hah! Didn't think about that...

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Strictly speaking, I'm pretty sure it's like baseball, where if you hit an out-of-the-park home run, you actually only have to run to first base, then you're allowed to stop. Babe Ruth did this a lot towards the end of his career. So she would have lost the game even if she hadn't carried the other girl around the other bases. But it's still a nice gesture.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I never heard that.

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I can't believe that I am (was?) unaware of that.

I've seen the opposing manager come out of the dugout and argue that the runner didn't touch second base, or whatever base he didn't touch.

Haven't I?

[Clodfobble]

In regular runs, sure. And maybe if you're already on base when someone else hits a home run, then you have to touch all the bases. All I know is that when Babe Ruth was getting old/fat/drunk, he would just hit his home run, jog to first base, and then shuffle back to the dugout.

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Maybe when Ruth was fat old and drunk...

...but not in 2014.

From the 2014 MLB Official Rules, 6.09d



Wasn't really what I was looking for, but, I think it covers what we were talking about.

Not so much a "so there" moment, as I wanted to know for m'self if'n I had missed something growing up.

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Also, the Babe Ruth thing may (or may not) have involved a pinch-runner.

[Clodfobble]

Oh, I'd never heard of one of those, that might have been it.