‘MOST REMARKABLE THING’
As the coach of Oklahoma’s Little League team noted, if one saw a different player, in a different game, get hit in the head with a pitch and then leave first base to walk to the mound, one “might think he was going out to punch the guy.”
“But not Isaiah,” said the coach, Sean Kouplen.
No, what 12-year-old Isaiah Jarvis did was give the opposing pitcher — who was visibly upset over possibly causing injury — a warm, reassuring hug.
The moment, shown Tuesday to a national television audience on ESPN during the Southwest Region championship game with a berth in the Little League World Series at stake, quickly went viral. The display of sportsmanship, not to mention outright compassion, also brought tears to the eyes of more than a few observers, including some coaches and fans at Marvin Norcross Stadium in Waco, Texas.
“It was the most remarkable thing I think I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kouplen said in a phone interview.
The episode occurred in the first inning of a game between a team from Tulsa, representing Oklahoma, and a Texas East squad composed of youngsters from Pearland, Texas, a city near Houston. Kaiden Shelton, on the mound for Texas East, lost control of a throw that veered high and inside too quickly for Jarvis to get out of the way. The ball knocked Jarvis’s helmet off and left him clutching his head on the ground for several terrifying moments.
To everyone’s relief, Jarvis was able to get back up and take his base. Meanwhile, Shelton was in clear distress over what had happened.
“When I was at first base, that’s when I saw him crying,” Jarvis said later when he and Kouplen were reached by phone. “And I if was there, I’d probably be doing the same thing, because hitting someone in the head is not an easy thing to overcome, like, mentally and emotionally. If you hit a guy, you’d probably be pretty
down on yourself after that, and emotional, and you’ve got to think, like, ‘Is he OK? Did I just give him a concussion?’ ... So I was making sure he was okay, and was telling him I was okay, and just telling him it was fine.”
During their embrace, according to Jarvis, Shelton repeatedly expressed his sorrow over the pitch and asked how the Oklahoma player was feeling.
Jarvis later said that he “just had a small headache” but was “fine.”
Texas East went on to win the regional tournament title game, 9-4, and move on to the World Series, which will take place later this month in Williamsport, Pa.
Soccer
Dynamo Kyiv’s unlikely run toward the Champions League continued with an extra-time win over Sturm Graz in the third qualifying round.
The Ukrainian club is now two games away from making the lucrative group stage of the Champions League as it faces a playoff against Benfica over the next two weeks.
Goals from defender Kostiantyn Vivcharenko in the
97th minute and midfielder Viktor Tsyhankov in the 112th lifted Dynamo to a 2-1 win in Austria and a 3-1 victory on aggregate.
Dynamo’s four Champions League qualifying games in the past 20 days are the only competitive matches it has played all year because of Russia’s war on its home country.
Tennis
Naomi Osaka retired from her opening match at the National Bank Open in Toronto with a back injury.
Osaka was trailing Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (4), 3-0 when she withdrew from the match.
Entering the tournament, Osaka had been eliminated from her last three competitions in the first or second round, including a straight-sets loss to Coco Gauff at last week’s Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic. That was her first tournament since the French Open as she recovered from an Achilles injury.
WNBA
Kelsey Plum (La Jolla Country Day) scored 18 of her 22 points in the second half, A’ja Wilson had 24
points and 14 rebounds, and the Las Vegas Aces rallied to beat the visiting Atlanta Dream 97-90.
Breanna Stewart had 25 points and nine rebounds, Gabby Williams added 21 points and seven assists, and the Seattle Storm set a WNBA record with 37 assists in a 111-100 victory over the host Chicago Sky.
The Los Angeles Sparks were outrebounded 40-23 by visiting Connecticut in the Sun’s 97-71 victory.
Also
Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to police.
Ninth-seeded Alyssa Ahn of San Diego breezed past 17th-seeded Mary Grace Rennard of Asheville, N.C., 6-2, 6-1, to advance to Round of 16 of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s National Championships at Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma.
Rickie Fowler is parting ways with Joe Skovron ,a childhood friend and the only full-time caddie he has ever had.