Every sports year brings about special memories.

Championships, coaching milestones and individual accomplishments can last a lifetime.

2018 was no different in that regard.

But we had our share of bizarre events in the Butler County sports world over these past 12 months as well.

Here are a few that stand out for me.

1. Slippery Rock’s Gar Bercury competed in the Boston Marathon in horrid weather conditions and collapsed along the course with hypothermia, Onlookers helped him out, took him inside someone’s home and helped him recover.

At the same time, elsewhere along the course, Bercury’s mother tossed her coat to a freezing runner and made national news for the gesture.

Quite a combo deal.

2. Mars graduate Erin Hershman played her final game at Pitt as a senior outfielder. The Panthers were on the verge of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title when a two-out home run in the bottom of the final inning by Florida State shattered that dream.

3. Butler wrestler Jack Codispot won his wrestling match for the Golden Tornado in New Castle, then hurried back to Butler, where he competed and won a pole vault invitational on the same night.

4. Butler graduate Colin McKee, pitching for the Buies Creek Astros, a Houston minor league affiliate in the Carolina League, helped his team make the league championship series.

Due to an impending hurricane, the participating teams were told the series would be shortened to one game. That game went into extra innings and McKee was the winning pitcher in relief.

5. Oakview formed a junior golf team for the first time — and that team won its PGA Junior League championship, advanced in the playoffs and fell one victory short of qualifying for the PGA Junior Nationals in Arizona.

6. Butler junior Ethan Morton broke a 25-year-old school record by scoring 48 points in a game. He did so by playing in his second game in less than 24 hours, taking only two shots in the first quarter and hitting no 3-pointers.

7. A handful of Butler County graduates not only helped Grove City College’s football team end a 33-game losing streak in a previous season, but helped the Wolverines to the program’s first-ever bowl win.

8. Karns City graduate Rebecca Pennington did more than lead the Chatham University cross country team as a freshman. She won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference cross country championship in her first college season.

Quite a year, 2018.

Sometimes bizarre sports moments are among the most memorable.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle