No matter the sport or level, it's important to listen to your coach. That's a valuable lesson every athlete learns at a young age. Not following orders can definitely get a player in trouble, but the defiance of one high school baseball player actually produced an incredible play.
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Zach Sanidad of the Eastside Catholic Crusaders wasn't going to take no for an answer. Nothing was going to prevent him from trying to score the game-winning run that night in Washington. Thanks to some acrobatics, it happened.
How Sanidad touched home plate without getting tagged remains a mystery.
High Schooler Zach Sanidad's Jaw-Dropping Slide
@SportsCenter check this out! #SCTOP10 pic.twitter.com/52xKtxb3m2
— Eastside Catholic Athletics (@ECCrusaders) April 24, 2019
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With runners on first and second, Eastside Catholic's Connor Neimann drilled a pitch to right field. The runner on second, freshman Drew Sanidad, scored with ease. His older brother, senior Zach Sanidad, blew past the third base coach's stop sign and headed home.
The ball got there as soon as young Zachary went into his sliding position. But instead of getting tagged out, he somehow flipped over the hapless catcher to score.
The run gave the Crusaders a 13-3 lead, which ended the game thanks to Washington high school's 10-run mercy rule, and the play was trending for days.
"He ran through the stop sign, he shouldn't have even have gone," Eastside Catholic coach Kyle Larsen said. "But to be honest, that's Zach...He has unbelievable baseball instinct and it's so easy to coach him. He's been doing it since day one."
Whether it's a high school softball player or in the MLB, that slide is tough to duplicate and why it's still amazing to watch during the coronavirus pandemic.
Young men and women should still listen to their coaches, though, because Sanidad could have gone from hero to fool pretty quickly.
This post was originally published on August 6, 2020.
