G-L's Galla goes to hospital after having chest pains.

Glen Lake varsity softball coach Gary Galla should have been enjoying a come-from-behind win at home against Elk Rapids on Thursday.

Instead, he went to the hospital after experiencing chest pains.

As Galla was celebrating while Stephanie Love made it home from second base to secure the Lakers’ win, he felt a pain in his chest and his left arm went numb.

Moments before, the score was tied 6-6 in the sixth inning and Glen Lake had two outs.

“I had a runner on second and Haley Sobczak at the plate,” Galla recalled. “Haley can bunt and I told the girl on second to go as soon as Haley hit it. Haley hit a beautiful bunt, and the runner came around third, I was yelling at her to go home.”

After Love scored and Galla was stricken, two parents came down from the stands. One was a paramedic and other a medical first responder.

“They checked me out. My blood pressure was 170 over 105. The pain had gone away, but I was shaky and had gone pale. They told me to go to the hospital,” he said.

At first, Galla didn’t want to leave between games. He and his wife, Trudy, did go to Munson Medical Center, however. “One of the parents drove us there,” he said.

The good news is after a couple of tests and some waiting, Galla learned there was no damage to his heart and no blockages. “The doctor told me to take it easy, so on Saturday I had Heidi Barber take over the third base box for coaching, with Brian Brzezinski and Tesha (his daughter) out coaching as well. All I did was sit in the dugout,” he said. The Lakers hosted a four-team tournament on Saturday.

Galla said he would go back to work yesterday. The whole experience was a bit sobering.

“It was scary. Nothing like that had happened to me before,” he said.

Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the scare, he added, was how the players, his family and the Glen Lake school community responded.

“The girls kept playing after I left. They stayed composed and played through a rough situation. I’m proud of them, proud of my family for all their support and for the support we received from the Glen Lake community,” he said.