A High School Pitcher Struck Out His Best Friend To Go To The State Championship, But Refused To Celebrate and Instead Sprinted To Home Plate To Console His Friend
When is the last time you saw an athlete, at any level, clinch a championship and instead of celebrating immediately goes to show respect for the opposing team?
It happened Wednesday night in a Minnesota high school baseball game, the section championship game between top seed Totino-Grace and Mounds View.
After striking out Jack Kocon for the final out to send Mounds View to State, pitcher Ty Koehn made a beeline for the beaten batter and embraced him, all while his teammates rushed the field, celebrating wildly.
But there’s a story behind this act of tremendous sportsmanship, the pair are old friends and have known each other since childhood.
“We are very close friends,” Koehn told BMTN. “I knew him from all the way back when we were 13. We were on the same little league team. It was tough when we went to separate schools but we kept in touch.”
I don’t care what level of sport you’re playing in, if you win a championship the immediate celebration is incredible and something you never forget. Nothing beats a dog pile with all your teammates on the field after winning it all. To be the pitcher who strikes out the final batter to win the ship is a position I have legit dreamed about being in. If you’re a baseball fan, you definitely have too.
Here we have this kid striking out his best friend in the whole world and literally passing on the chaotic celebration going on behind him to hug his boy at home and console him. How the hell do you have the willpower to not throw your glove in the air and go apeshit like Brian Wilson when he struck out Nelly Cruz in Game 5 of the 2010 World Series?
There’s no way in hell I’d be this empathetic in such a moment. I don’t think I have any friends I’d do this for and vice versa. I’d shoot them a text after or see them after the game, but there’s no way I’d have the presence of mind to do this. All the credit in the world has to go to the pitcher of course for showing an incredible amount of sportsmanship. Although, if I’m the hitter I think I would’ve rather just been left alone to be honest. If I go down like that to lose the game I kind of want to just sulk by myself and be miserable. I don’t need a hug from anyone. Once people come up to you and say everything will be okay that’s when the water works come out.