Amazing display of Sportsmanship at LLWS

August 16, 2022 - Post #003

From Yahoo Sports article written by Jason Owens (August 9, 2022):

A frightening moment ended with a remarkable display of sportsmanship on Tuesday after an errant pitch at a Little League World Series qualifier hit a batter in the head.

The incident occurred during the first inning of the Southwest Region Championship between Texas East and Oklahoma with a spot in the LLWS at stake. With two men on and two outs, Texas East pitcher Kaiden Shelton threw an 0-2 fastball that struck Oklahoma's Isaiah Jarvis in the head.

The pitch knocked Jarvis' helmet off, and he immediately fell to the ground, clutching his head. Jarvis escaped injury and was eventually able to get up and take first base on his own. Meanwhile, Shelton was visibly upset about the errant pitch. He looked down at the mound in tears as Jarvis took first.

Jarvis saw that Shelton was upset and walked to the mound to console him and give him a hug.

"Hey. You're doing just great," Jarvis told Shelton. "Let's go."

The moment drew a standing ovation from the Waco, Texas crowd.

Here’s a link to the video of the entire moment in Waco, TX: Video of Jarvis letting Kaiden know he was OK 

Now that you have the background on the entire situation, here’s the bottom line: I cannot recall ever seeing a more excellent sportsmanship moment in sports in my life.

1. Kaiden was visibly shaken by what he did (obviously not intentional).

2. Jarvis was visibly OK despite being hit in the head. In the video it appears that the ball hit the bottom of the ear flap on his helmet.

3. Jarvis wanted Kaiden to know that he was OK and that he will be OK and that Jarvis was not mad or upset. In other words, he didn’t blame Kaiden. He understands that sometimes pitches get away from the pitcher unintentionally.

What a fantastic display of sportsmanship and humility from Jarvis. Kudos to him and his parents.