I just witnessed one of the greatest little league sporting moments of my life

[EndlessCritic]

Background: My oldest kid plays U9 house league baseball. It's his first year playing, and there's a massive gap in skill between some of the players.

At this age/level, kids hit the ball from a pitching machine. It's objectively difficult to hit the ball. The kids get 5 chances to hit the ball and then it's considered a strike out. A lot of kids can't hit the ball at all.

One of the kids on my son's team has some type of developmental disability. He is profoundly physically and mentally delayed. He strikes out every time he goes up to bat, and has never come close to making contact with the ball. Until tonight.

At his second at-bat, with one out, he miraculously made contact with the ball on his 5th pitch. The ball trickled to the pitcher, who could have easily outrun the kid to first base. Instead, the pitcher threw to first base, and the first baseman fumbled the ball. The kid made it to first base safe.

Our entire section erupted in cheers. His mom was literally crying. I had tears in my eyes from what I just witnessed. He got a legitimate hit.

While the next batter was coming up to hit, the coaches were imploring him, "As soon as he hits that ball, you run to second."

The pitch comes, and the batter makes contact. "RUN RUN RUN". The kid freezes on first and doesn't move off the base. And then the second baseman catches the ball, and the hitter is out. The kid remains safe on first with two outs. He would have been out had he run to second.

Next kid hits, and the kid makes it safe to second.

Next kid hits, and the shortstop catches it. Shortstop throws it to third, and the third baseman fumbles the catch. The kid was safe on third by a second.

The next hitter comes out, and smacks it into the outfield, clearing the bases. The entire team erupts in cheers, shaking the bullpen fence. They all come out to congratulate the kid, with joy as if they had won the world series.

There is an unspoken but obvious rule with kids like this. You stay positive. You tell them, "Good swing", even when it's not. Today, it felt like all of that effort to stay positive finally manifested in the kid not only getting his first hit of the season, but his first run. And it was one of the greatest sporting moments I have ever witnessed.

Feel free to share your sporting moments of glory.

 

[Papasmurf45619]

Sounds like a surefire future Sherbro

 

[Yoel Bromero]

Its awesome seeing the retarded succeed, they exude pure joy. Beauties.

Theres a baseball league in our city for them and they play at a park I walk my dog through every day. They have a guy announcing each batter and doing play by play. Sweet uniforms, new equipment, they do it up properly.

Whenever they are playing I stop and watch for a bit, they are always having the time of their lives out there. Its cool to see such a big group of people laughing and having an absolute blast. Huge smiles everywhere, always a nice pick me up.

 

[MDoza]

He got a legitimate hit.

I’d score that as a “reached on error”, not a legitimate hit.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Its awesome seeing the retarded succeed, they exude pure joy. Beauties.

Theres a baseball league in our city for them and they play at a park I walk my dog through every day. They have a guy announcing each batter and doing play by play. Sweet uniforms, new equipment, they do it up properly.

Whenever they are playing I stop and watch for a bit, they are always having the time of their lives out there. Its cool to see such a big group of people laughing and having an absolute blast. Huge smiles everywhere, always a nice pick me up.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Its awesome seeing the retarded succeed, they exude pure joy. Beauties.

Theres a baseball league in our city for them and they play at a park I walk my dog through every day. They have a guy announcing each batter and doing play by play. Sweet uniforms, new equipment, they do it up properly.

Whenever they are playing I stop and watch for a bit, they are always having the time of their lives out there. Its cool to see such a big group of people laughing and having an absolute blast. Huge smiles everywhere, always a nice pick me up.

I won a final for my basketball team once in juniors by taking an epic charge from a massive kid, all the parents loved me ha ha

 

[Yoel Bromero]

I won a final for my basketball team once in juniors by taking an epic charge from a massive kid, all the parents loved me ha ha

The crowd would go nuts for a kid in a helmet taking a charge

 

[supermurph]

This comes from my days of little league, but isn't nearly as heart-warming. So my fat ass (picture John Kruk late years in child form) is playing 1st base. There's a disabled kid on the team we're playing. He only has use of 1 arm. The other one is just dangling there. Mentally, he's fine, but can only swing with this open stanced one arm whirl or whatever.

He makes contact, and the ball rolls up the base line towards me. I pick up the ball, and I'm just standing on the line. I hear people yelling "Just let him get on base!" I look at my coach, and he's just shrugging his shoulders with a confused look. So the kid's approaching with his goofy run, and I'm thinking about it. So I go to move out of the way, he smiles as he's about to pass me, then I quickly tag him, out #3, and run to the dugout. I can still clearly remember the amount of boos and you fat little shit comments I got that day. LOL I was kind of feeling bad, but then my coach sat down with me and said "Hey listen, don't feel bad about getting that out.....kid's gotta learn there's just some things in this world he's not cut out for." 1980's What a time to be alive.

 

[StonedLemur]

Sounds like a surefire future Sherbro

I can't stop laughin you bastad, and I read your reply ten minutes ago along with @Yoel Bromero and im fuckin dead...you guys win the fuckin internet today sirs lmao

 

[RoastBeast]

Cool story man. Thanks for sharing.

 

[blaseblase]

Greatest little league moment is a bit much.

 

[EndlessCritic]

This comes from my days of little league, but isn't nearly as heart-warming. So my fat ass (picture John Kruk late years in child form) is playing 1st base. There's a disabled kid on the team we're playing. He only has use of 1 arm. The other one is just dangling there. Mentally, he's fine, but can only swing with this open stanced one arm whirl or whatever.

He makes contact, and the ball rolls up the base line towards me. I pick up the ball, and I'm just standing on the line. I hear people yelling "Just let him get on base!" I look at my coach, and he's just shrugging his shoulders with a confused look. So the kid's approaching with his goofy run, and I'm thinking about it. So I go to move out of the way, he smiles as he's about to pass me, then I quickly tag him, out #3, and run to the dugout. I can still clearly remember the amount of boos and you fat little shit comments I got that day. LOL I was kind of feeling bad, but then my coach sat down with me and said "Hey listen, don't feel bad about getting that out.....kid's gotta learn there's just some things in this world he's not cut out for." 1980's What a time to be alive.

This is exactly it. They could have given this kid charity. And it would have felt worthless.

You did the right thing.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

That’s a beaut of a story. These type of moments, especially witnessing live, are such a treat for the soul.

Thanks for the share

 

[IanEdwards]

I can still clearly remember the amount of boos and you fat little shit comments I got that day. LOL I was kind of feeling bad, but then my coach sat down with me and said "Hey listen, don't feel bad about getting that out.....kid's gotta learn there's just some things in this world he's not cut out for." 1980's What a time to be alive.

 

[Yoel Bromero]

This comes from my days of little league, but isn't nearly as heart-warming. So my fat ass (picture John Kruk late years in child form)

That description paints an amazing picture sherbro

 

[Zeke's Chaingun]

Background: My oldest kid plays U9 house league baseball. It's his first year playing, and there's a massive gap in skill between some of the players.

At this age/level, kids hit the ball from a pitching machine. It's objectively difficult to hit the ball. The kids get 5 chances to hit the ball and then it's considered a strike out. A lot of kids can't hit the ball at all.

One of the kids on my son's team has some type of developmental disability. He is profoundly physically and mentally delayed. He strikes out every time he goes up to bat, and has never come close to making contact with the ball. Until tonight.

At his second at-bat, with one out, he miraculously made contact with the ball on his 5th pitch. The ball trickled to the pitcher, who could have easily outrun the kid to first base. Instead, the pitcher threw to first base, and the first baseman fumbled the ball. The kid made it to first base safe.

Our entire section erupted in cheers. His mom was literally crying. I had tears in my eyes from what I just witnessed. He got a legitimate hit.

While the next batter was coming up to hit, the coaches were imploring him, "As soon as he hits that ball, you run to second."

The pitch comes, and the batter makes contact. "RUN RUN RUN". The kid freezes on first and doesn't move off the base. And then the second baseman catches the ball, and the hitter is out. The kid remains safe on first with two outs. He would have been out had he run to second.

Next kid hits, and the kid makes it safe to second.

Next kid hits, and the shortstop catches it. Shortstop throws it to third, and the third baseman fumbles the catch. The kid was safe on third by a second.

The next hitter comes out, and smacks it into the outfield, clearing the bases. The entire team erupts in cheers, shaking the bullpen fence. They all come out to congratulate the kid, with joy as if they had won the world series.

There is an unspoken but obvious rule with kids like this. You stay positive. You tell them, "Good swing", even when it's not. Today, it felt like all of that effort to stay positive finally manifested in the kid not only getting his first hit of the season, but his first run. And it was one of the greatest sporting moments I have ever witnessed.

Feel free to share your sporting moments of glory.

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Cielo_]

I struck out 15 batters in a little league game once. Pinnacle of my sporting career.

I could throw harder than anyone and had a good slider/curve.

Problem is I was never able to throw any harder than that.

 

[cowboyjunkie]

Well, mine isn’t a tearjerker like yours but…

I played all-star hockey as a kid. When I was nine our team had a winless season. When I was 10 that very same team had an undefeated season. It was pretty cool. There was a big article in the paper and the whole team received a civic sports award from the city.

 

[BB in Crazy!!!!]

Its awesome seeing the retarded succeed, they exude pure joy. Beauties.

Theres a baseball league in our city for them and they play at a park I walk my dog through every day. They have a guy announcing each batter and doing play by play. Sweet uniforms, new equipment, they do it up properly.

Whenever they are playing I stop and watch for a bit, they are always having the time of their lives out there. Its cool to see such a big group of people laughing and having an absolute blast. Huge smiles everywhere, always a nice pick me up.

You would love watching me do sports then.

 

[toasty]

I won a final for my basketball team once in juniors by taking an epic charge from a massive kid, all the parents loved me ha ha

I went to a major football college,,,my friend was friends with one of the two tight ends that fought for playing time with each other and both eventually went on to play in the NFL. the tight ends hated each other because they split time and one was white and one was black,,,,,

fast forward to the finals of intramural basketball championships. My friends and his tight end teammate are playing against the other tight ends team. Also on my friends team was a scrappy little 5 5 144lbs soaking wet point guard. Late in the hotly contested game, the opposing teams tight end, 6 5 245lbs pro athlete level breaks free for a layup but 5 5 145 slides in front of him, takes the charge, and goes skipping then slides about 15 feet across the floor and into the wall from the impact and size mismatch.

The entire gym goes crazy and the other team's tight end takes the basketball hums it the length of the court and curses the ref in frustration,,,,picking up a technical.....my friends team wins, and I will always consider that little kid taking that charge from that future nfl starter, one of the bravest things I've seen live in sports .