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In Little League Championship, Batter Is Beaned Hard On Head. It's What He Does After He Recovers... [1]
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Date: 2023-01-07
This took place a few months back at the 2022 Southwest Regional Championship in Waco, Texas.
It was the final, between Texas East and Oklahoma, and the winner would advance and play in the Little League World Series.
Twelve-year-old pitcher Kaiden Shelton of Pearland, Texas was facing batter Isaiah Jarvis of Tulsa, when he lost control of his pitch and beaned Isaiah hard on the helmet, the pitch clocked at 76 miles per hour.
Isaiah fell to the ground as the nurse and the coaches hurried over to check on him.
After a few pensive minutes, Isaiah shook it off and was given the okay to continue and took first base.
Though not shaking it off so fast was Kaiden.
He was badly shaken up.
He hurt someone, and it could have been much more dire.
It was unintentional, to be sure, but there it was.
He was silently crying, trying to cover his face with his glove.
Isaiah knew that he could be tagged out whilst off base, but at that moment that meant little.
He had something much more important to do than stay on base.
“It’s okay, Kaiden. I’m okay. It happens. I’ll be okay. Don’t let it get you down. Thank you for caring about me so much. I’m fine, except seeing you upset.
Just throw strikes and take deep breathes.
You’re doing great,” Isaiah said in Kaiden’s ear.
This is the opposite of what usually transpires.
Usually the pitcher would check to make sure the batter was okay.
Remember, professional pitchers sometimes INTENTIONALLY hit batters.
Here, soothing the emotional wounds of Kaiden was paramount.
Kaiden left the game until he could compose himself, and when he did so, he led Texas East to a win and they advanced to the Little League World Series.
Said Kaiden, “It felt like he cared. I also cared about him, and that just showed that baseball is sportsmanship… there’s a lot of sportsmanship in baseball.
Isaiah he has... his heart is different for people. He’s just a good kid.
I think the lesson is that you should care for other people. Like if they’re down, you should just care for them, try to build them up.”
Sean Kouplen, Isaiah’s coach, said when he saw Isaiah leave the base and approach the mound, “I knew that he was going to do something kind.”
Said Isaiah, “If you’re throwing hard and you just hit somebody in the head, it’s got to be a scary thing. So, I just wanted to go over there and make sure he was all right. Make sure he knows that I’m all right. And really just encourage him.
It’s really crazy. Like, who would have thought, like, one hug would go this crazy, you know? That just proves, do nice things and you’ll get rewarded, I guess.
Yeah, they’re the same region as us, and we’ve been really good friends, our teams.
So we’re going to be rooting for them all the way.”
Sometimes the scoreboard alone doesn’t fully reflect all who finishes the game a winner.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/7/2145014/-In-Little-League-Championship-Batter-Is-Beaned-Hard-On-Head-It-s-What-He-Does-After-He-Recovers
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