But Isaiah Jarvis, who hit his head first, soon recovered. He was OK, and the crowd at the Little League Southwest Region Championship in Waco, Texas applauded as he stood and captured first base.
Back on the hill, however, Kaiden Shelton was still shaken. Then something amazing happened: Isaiah got off the bag, walked to the hill and wrapped his arms around the jar to let him know he was fine.
“I wanted to go there and spread God’s love and make sure he’s okay and make sure he knows I’m okay and I’ll be okay,” Isaiah told CNN on Wednesday morning, appearing on the New days”. next to Kaiden.
“Hey, you’re doing great,” Isaiah said in a video that has garnered widespread attention as strangers everywhere have praised the young man’s athleticism.
“It felt like he cared,” Kaiden said when asked about Isaiah’s hug. “I took care of him too, and that just showed that baseball is sportsmanship — there’s a lot of sportsmanship in baseball.
“Isaiah he has – his heart is different for the people,” he added. “He’s just a good boy.”
Isaiah has a small bruise, he said, but other than that he’s fine. Stunned by the reaction to the video, players try to remember this moment that goes viral online.
“It’s really crazy,” said Isaiah. “Like, who knew a hug would go so crazy, you know? That just goes to show, do nice things and you’ll be rewarded I think.”
As for people to take away from their moment on the Hill, Kaiden told CNN, “I think the lesson is that you should take care of other people. If they’re down, you should just take care of them and try to build them up.”
Ultimately, it was Texas East that won the game and advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania later this month – and Isaiah will be cheering on Kaiden’s team.
“Yeah, they’re from the same region as us and we were really good friends, our teams,” he said. “So we’re going to cheer for them all the way.”