Richard Sherman Softball Game Brings Stars, Antics, Late-Game Drama To Tacoma

TACOMA-Insurmountable leads being surmounted. Check.

A smile-filled melee. Check.

The Northwest's coolest character losing his cool and engaging in multiple misunderstandings with a first-base umpire. Check.

The inaugural Richard Sherman Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday featured darn near everything, and it left South Sounders wondering what one of the NFL's premiere defenders and his camp had in store for next year.

The event - which benefitted Helping A Hero - drew a sold-out crowd to Cheney Stadium, the place where the Tacoma Rainiers call home.

But on this day, it was the Seattle Seahawks and their famed 12th Man fan base who converged on Tacoma.

Sherman got some of the biggest names on the Seahawks roster to lace up their softball cleats, including teammate and quarterback Russell Wilson, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner and Golden Tate.

He got Tacoma natives Marcus and Desmond Trufant to play, as well as Lawyer Milloy.

The event even drew some nationally known athletes from outside the Northwest, including Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Terrell Owens, one of the league's most outspoken personalities whose trash talk has rivaled Sherman's.

Wilson - a former baseball player himself - and his team flexed their offensive muscles. At one point, his team led 8-0.

But Team Trufant - whose roster included the host himself - continued to fight back, eventually tying the game at 8-8.

Over the course of seven innings, the Cheney Stadium crowd saw things they aren't likely to witness again anytime soon: "TO" taking the pitcher's mound, a 43-year-old Shawn Kemp legging out an infield single.

Even Wilson - one of the coolest characters in the Northwest - became unglued several times at a first-base umpire, at one point doing his best Lou Pinella impersonation by hurling a base toward the dugout.

And what charity softball game would be complete without an old-fashion brawl? OK, perhaps the bench-clearing dust-up created by an errant TO pitch into the back of Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin was good-natured fun, but it did the trick.

Toward the end, the game tightened, with Team Trufant tying the game at 20-20 in the final inning. That led to a winner-take-all homerun derby, the rules for which required a home-plate conference for several minutes between both teams. 

Walter Thurmond's blast ended up being the game-winner, giving Team Wilson the victory and an NFL-like scoreline, 23-22.

Afterward, the players gloated - MVP Tate held his trophy high above his head - then went on to sign autographs. Sherman did his best to sign as many autographs and take as many pictures as humanly possible.

He thanked the crowd for helping him and his friends have a little fun before the serious games begin this fall. He even got in one last bit of trash talk to the rest of the league.

"It's going to be a great season," Sherman said. "I'm looking forward to seeing you guys out there when we go win the Super Bowl."