(Tom Robinson/CHSAANow.com)
The Limon community was honored by CHSAA on Wednesday and thanked by the Rocky Ford softball team for the sportsmanship it showed last fall.
In a time of great distress following a tragic car accident just prior to last season’s Class 3A state softball tournament, the Limon softball team went out of its way to reach out to Rocky Ford as the team was headed to Aurora to play.
So, on Wednesday, a contingent of CHSAA administrators and Rocky Ford softball players and coach JC Carrica traveled to Limon to recognize the Badgers’ random act of kindness. The Limon softball team and community were given a certificate which recognized their ethics and integrity, and were honored in front of the school’s entire student body.
Carrica recently wrote to the CHSAA office urging for Limon to be recognized, and said he wanted to come “to present the award personally” along with his coaches and players. Here’s that letter:
Mr. Robinson,
I am writing this letter to share several stories of exemplary sportsmanship from July 3, 2015 through October 24, 2015. …
On July 3, 2015, my 18U club third baseman and 12U first baseman’s mom passed away in a single car accident the day of an 18U game vs. Southern Plains All Stars. This was just the beginning of a very difficult four months for my athletes, the coaching staff, and of course our small community.
On October 21, 2015, the evening before leaving for the Colorado High School State 3A Softball Championships my Junior shortstop’s father and freshman brother were involved in a single car accident after leaving football practice and heading home. Her father passed away at the scene and her brother had a head injury of unknown seriousness and was rushed to Children’s Hospital in Denver.
The devastation of a second parent fatality was widely and deeply felt. Not only were we dealing with this tragic death, but the healing wounds of the summer fatality were immediately ripped open as my club third baseman was my flex on this high school team. The next day, just hours before boarding the bus, I was notified that our shortstop’s brother was stable and that she was coming to board the bus with us and head to state. This would be the first contact the team would have with her.
At this point, I contacted a college friend and his wife, Ryan & Sherri Smithburg, of Limon, Colorado, and asked them if there was any way that on the way through town if we could get some cheers. I was afraid that the 90-mile ride from Rocky Ford to Limon without cell phone or social media connectivity could be awkward and emotional for these 22 girls and four coaches. They immediately stepped into action.
As we entered Limon from the south, they actually blocked the road with softball players, parents and a large banner directing us into a parking lot. There, they had prepared, in just two hours, goody bags for each varsity player with their number on them and even were able to identify the player with the recent loss.
As we loaded the bus, they escorted us out of town with more signs, banners, and honking cars all the way to the interstate. The girls were hanging their heads out of the bus window, yelling, smiling, of course taking pictures and selfies. It was just the encouragement and lift we needed. As we left Limon and entered the interstate, there was not a dry eye on the bus. My assistant coach turned to me and said that in his 30 years of coaching, he had never seed anything like that. Nor had I!
Our first game was scheduled against Brush in the second round on Saturday because of the rainouts Friday. We had all the girls together on Friday and just shopped and ate to pass the time. They definitely needed the rest after the past 36 hours of events.
After losing to Brush 10-9 in a slugfest, four Brush players ran over and asked me to stall my shortstop before leaving the dugout area. When they returned, the whole team surrounded her, gave her a team card, and shared their condolences with repeated hugs. Like Limon, we have little interaction with those teams, but running into each other maybe in tournaments or one seasonal game. However, the significant amount of pure and honest support was something you would experience in a family.
Too many times we hear horror stories or see them on television or YouTube. Cathers tripping players at home when they cross the play standing up, opposing coaches fighting, or parents acting uncivilized. It is moments like the three above that we unfortunately do not hear or share enough, and is the essence of lessons taught through athletic competition.
Joseph (JC) Carrica
(Tom Robinson/CHSAANow.com)