For some, things can get pretty ugly when winning is involved. But one young man put aside team competition and forgave the opposite teammate for accidentally injuring him.
When Isaiah Jarvis was asked why he hugged the opposing team’s pitcher during a little league game he said because “he was just trying to be like Jesus.”
Isaiah was up at bat during a game at the Little League Southwest Regional Playoff when Texa East pitcher Kaiden Shelton hit Isaiah in the head with a pitch.
Thankfully, it mostly hit Isaiah’s helmet but he fell to the ground and held his head for a moment.
“Wow, that is a tough kid right there,” the announcer can be heard saying in a clip of the incident.
“I was shaken up because I’ve never been hit a ball that hard,” Isaiah told NBC.
But eventually, Isaiah shook it off and took his base.
The pitcher, however, became more upset than Isaiah was and was getting emotional on the mound. That’s when Isaiah ran over to embrace Kaiden.
“We felt bad for each other. I felt bad for hurting him and he felt bad for when I was crying and he came and hugged me and made me feel better,” Kaiden said.
Isaiah told his fellow Little Leaguer “you’re doing just great. Let’s go!”
He also gave him some advice that might even put his team in jeopardy of losing saying, “just throw strikes and take deep breaths.”
But that didn’t matter to Isaiah. For Isaiah, it wasn’t winning but how you play the game.
“I saw Kaiden was getting a little emotional up there and feeling bad for me,” Jarvis told People. “When I saw him getting emotional, I was just trying to be like Jesus and comfort him and really let him know I was okay. I just wanted to make sure he was okay too.”
Eventually, Kaiden’s teammates and coach surrounded him to comfort him as well.
Kaiden and Isaiah soon received a standing ovation from those at the Waco, Texas stadium.
They even brought some teams to many people eye’s that day. It wasn’t long before that clip ended up going viral.
“It’s a high stakes game, and obviously it’s win or go home, and in that moment, that that was what came out of him, was to be a good person,” Austin Jarvis, Isaiah’s father, said. “I’m just overwhelmed with pride for him.”
Kaiden’s mom said she was initially terrified after her son’s pitch but was soon consoled by the reaction of Isaiah and the other young men on the field.
“The things that [Isaiah] said to Kaiden and the way that he hugged him, and the way that his teammates came up to him and tried to get him to feel better,” she said. “And after he went into the dugout, they just kept trying to get him to feel better. Isaiah, you are great kid.”
You can watch the full video below.
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That Oklahoma Little Leaguer showed such genuine compassion for the distraught pitcher who hit him in the head with a pitch. So heartwarming. ❤️😢 https://t.co/qdHUfuyKir
— Linda Cohn (@lindacohn) August 9, 2022
