Letters to the editor July 5
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 4 months AGO
A missed opportunity
To dream the impossible dream. Then to have your dream come true, only to have it ripped away.
Almost every 12-year-old girl or boy who plays softball or baseball has probably dreamed or imagined what it would be like to hit a grand slam home run and be a hero in the eyes of their teammates.
Last weekend, that possibility became all true for on girl and her team. It was the final bat for her team in a tournament in Missoula. It was the bottom of the final inning with her team running behind 4-1.
All they needed was to score four more runs to win the game, which would find them moving into the championship, when the impossible happened. With two outs, three of her teammates managed to get on base. Now all the pressure was on her to make that impossible dream come true. She stepped up to the plan and gave it all she had.
There is was, that ball flying out over the fence, and now she was rounding the bases: first base, second base, third base and then heading toward home plate while hearing her whole team cheering her on surrounding home plate.
All of a sudden, everyone watched in horror when the umpire’s hand went up in the air calling a final out because he said one of the girls touched her arm before she touched home plate.
So this umpire in all his arrogance decided it was more important to call an out rather than using his discretion to give them a legitimate warning and using the opportunity to explain the rule these girls had never heard before.
The opposing team was also in shock and agreed they had been beaten. The coach of that team graciously came over and presented the home run ball to that young lady who was in tears along with all of her teammates.
What a lost opportunity by that umpire who must have forgot that this is just a game, and to help support all the girls improve each time they come onto the field and give it all they’ve got. Each time thinking maybe this will be the game that I can reach for that impossible dream.
— Sandi Waverek, Kalispell