The cat who saved a California toddler from a neighborhood dog threw out the ceremonial first pitch — well, sort of — at a minor league baseball game Tuesday.
Tara, widely known as "Hero Cat," was held by owner Roger Triantafilo as a baseball tied to a fishing line was pulled toward home plate at a game of the Bakersfield Blaze, an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
She may not be Sandy Koufax, but Hero Cat is a certified Internet sensation.
The lionhearted feline attracted national attention last week after surveillance video of her rushing a dog that was mauling a boy went viral.
Four-year-old Jeremy Triantafilo, Roger's son, was playing in his family's driveway in Bakersfield, Calif., when the K-9 ran up and grabbed his leg.
Tara, a stray adopted by the Triantafilo family six years ago, pounced into action and chased off the attacker.
"I see my cat flying out of nowhere, onto this dog, and just remember trying to get my son and get the dog away and back in its yard," the boy's mom, Erica Triantafilo, said last Thursday on TODAY.
Jeremy received 10 stitches for two lacerations to his calf. The dog was quarantined and will reportedly be euthanized.
