This is one kid that gets the point of little league.
Ah, to be young again. Remember childhood, filled with the bliss of a sunny baseball game in mid-afternoon. There were birds chirping and the cheers of encouraging parents. And, if your childhood happened to to be like that of Midwest little league pitcher, Mekhi Garrard, that game was filmed and televised. Garrard recently appeared on television for the Little League World Series, where he took the term “gracious in defeat,” to a whole ‘notha level.
The Midwest took on the Mid-Atlantic little league team..and lost in a troubling defeat. The final score was a whooping 18-0, but that didn’t seem to bother Garrard one bit. He didn’t seem like much of a sore loser, because he was able to recognize talent when he saw it. When Mid-Atlantic’s Cole Wagner hit a grand slam in the third inning, Garrard respond as any adult would not: he was impressed.
The only thing more impressive than Wagner’s grand slam, was the pitcher’s reaction to the whole thing. We could all take an important lesson from this kid about what it means to be in it for the love of the game.
Some of us might be inclined to respond like this:
But he decided to respond like this:
Watch how it all unfolded:
[Featured Image Credit: SportsSpin1 via Youtube]