WORTHINGTON, Ohio - In softball, there are home runs and great saves.
“You can't say it was anything less than a team effort,” said retired Columbus Police Officer Carl Rankin.
A group of retired police officers and firefighters are responsible for both. They were all in the right place at the right time.
“We were playing against Joe's team that day and he was pitching. Our guy hit a ball way out in the outfield. We all turned to watch. When we turned around, there's Joe on the pitcher's mound, with his knee up in the air," said retired Columbus Firefighter Fred Thivener.
All of the retired first responders and a business executive who just took a CPR class did what came naturally.
“He jumped right on him and started CPR right away and chest compressions,” said retired Columbus Firefighter Doug Sanderson.
The city does not have an AED at McCord Park, so one of the members of the softball league took it upon himself to purchase an AED for the league.
That AED has only been in place a few months.
“They said I'd had a major heart attack, I was dead. My guardian angels resuscitated me,” said Joe Erion.
Without this group of angels, Erion would not be here today.
“I was dead. There is no doubt that I would not have made it,” Erion said.
On Monday, the Worthington city council recognized this group who knocked it out of the park.
“We had a great effort by the whole team. A great outcome!” Rankin said.