A woman suffered serious injuries that were initially labeled “life-threatening” on Friday night after she was struck in the head by a broken bat at Fenway Park.
The Boston Red Sox fan could be heard screaming in pain by those in attendance in addition to on the telecast. She was left bleeding profusely after a shard from Oakland Athletics outfielder Brett Lawrie’s bat went flying into the stands.
The Boston Globe reports that the woman was sitting with her son at the time of the incident. A Boston police officer who rushed over to the scene immediately scooped the boy up and shielded his eyes.
Officer consoling child whose mom was hit by a broken bat at tonight's #RedSox game at Fenway pic.twitter.com/Bp8XceqdSV
— Elizabeth Cherneff (@echerneff) June 6, 2015
After receiving medical attention for several minutes, the woman was placed on a stretcher and wheeled off the field behind home plate and in front of the Red Sox dugout. Her screams were audible in a fan video that was posted on Deadspin. Below is a more graphic photo of the woman being taken out of the ballpark:
The condition of the woman, who was being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, remained unknown as of Saturday morning.
Red Sox manager John Farrell described the incident as a “scary moment.”
“Our thoughts and concern and certainly our prayers go out to the woman who was struck with the bat, her, and her family,” Farrell said. “All you can think about is a family coming to a ballgame to hopefully get three hours of enjoyment and unfortunately with how close our stands are to the field of action … an accident like this tonight, it’s certainly disturbing.”
Lawrie also expressed sympathy, noting that the setup at Fenway Park can be more dangerous than some other venues.
“The only thing there, you’ve got limited netting here in Boston,” he said. “When you’re behind home plate and you’re along the third base side and first base side, you’ve really got to be heads-up for foul balls, anything coming into the stands, because it’s so close there’s really no time to react.”
Our thoughts are with the injured fan and her family.
