Courtesy Little League Baseball and Softball
At the Southwest Region championship in Little League Baseball, the crowd was treated to not only the best performances from the boys aged 10-12, but their best manners, as well.
One of the balls thrown by the pitcher for Texas East got away from him and beaned the batter in the head, knocking off his helmet and leaving him lying on the ground.
The 12-year-old Oklahoma player got up and signaled he was alright, and walked to first base, as fans in Waco, Texas, applauded him.
Even though Isaiah Jarvis recovered, he noticed from 90 feet away that the pitcher was having a much harder time.
Kaiden Shelton was hanging his head, clearly upset after his last pitch hit Isaiah in the head.
That’s when something unusual happened. Isaiah dropped his helmet at the bag and walked slowly to the pitcher’s mound where Kaiden was still struggling.
He wrapped his arms around the pitcher, and began assuring him that everything was okay.
Isaiah told CNN he wanted to “make sure that he knows that I’m OK— that I’ll be OK.”
“You’re doing great,” Isaiah said in his ear.
The whole scene was the opposite of what normally happens in baseball—when the pitcher might walk over to make sure the batter who got hurt is okay. Here, the blonde from Oklahoma, who later said he only had a small bruise from the incident, was soothing the emotional wounds that the pitcher was feeling on the inside.
People in the crowd were clearly moved, with TV cameras catching people wiping their eyes during the touching scene.
Kaiden told CNN, “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.”
Kaiden ended up leading Texas East to a win, which advanced them to the Little League World Series which will be held later this month. Isaiah said he’ll be rooting for them.
Watch the emotional video from ESPN below…
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