In light of our publishing yesterday the article titled Around The Backstop: Club Head Coach Scott Berndes on “15 College Camp Must Do’s!” (Jan. 15, 2015), the one thing that jumped out was his emphasis on hustling at every opportunity.

It reminded us of a an incredible play made on the baseball field which we highlighted in May of last year (2024).

Check out the video below which is a great example of how hustling–i.e. putting all your effort into every play– can make all the difference in the world…

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*** Video and video images courtesy of West Ohio Sports Network (WOSN)

This has nothing to do with softball, but EVERYTHING to do with giving it your all every play and never giving up.

Friday night, two high school baseball teams from Northwest Ohio played in a District final which saw Fort Recovery High defeat Marion Local (Maria Stein, Ohio) High by a score of 11-3 to advance to the Division 4 Regional Semi’s.

However, that isn’t what people will remember from the game—what they’ll forever recall is the actions of one player who, well… watch this short clip once or twice and then continue reading!

Have you ever seen a center fielder tag someone out at home plate? Well here you go! pic.twitter.com/MORPFxt5Tp

— WOSN Sports (@WOSNScores) May 25, 2024

If you’ve only watched the runner, look again at the video and watch the Marion Local centerfielder (blue uniform) No. 4.

His name is Griffin Bruns and you’ll see that, after the ball lands safely in the outfield, he looks for a teammate to throw the ball to ahead of Fort Recovery hitter and runner Caden Grisez.

Grisez—to his credit—keeps looking ahead as he rounds the bases and no one is close by a bag to stop his progress.

Outfielder Bruns ultimately realizes what’s happening and makes a mad dash home to tag out Grisez in the ultimate example of hustling to the very end of the play.

All of this action game with one out in the top of the 6^th inning as Ft. Recovery was comfortably ahead 11-3 and would go on to win by the same score.

Still, Bruns can always feel deserved satisfaction in knowing he busted his tail in the defeat in what is a play you will likely never see again in baseball OR softball: a centerfielder making an unassisted out at home plate after the ball was hit into the outfield grass!

As it was, it was a triple for Grisez who could take satisfaction knowing that HE never gave up on the play either. It would part of a 3-for-4 game for the Fort Recovery standout who also had two RBIs and even pitched 5.1 innings and striking out seven opposing batters in the victory.

And, most importantly, his team advanced to compete another day in the Ohio high school baseball playoffs.

As of this weekend, this jaw-dropping play has been viewed close to two million times and has been featured in media all over the country including USA today, Yahoo! Sports, MLB.com and even the New York Post!

Deservedly so for, as my father used to say: “Effort never dies” which means that even when something seems hopeless, the effort can be well worth the results if pursued to its conclusion.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball