Not the Ending You Hope For

Terrible news.

Man, oh man simply devastating.  Sorry to hear this.

A parent's worst fear.

Absolutely terrible. 

Prayers to his family/

Yes very terrible. Son's team was scheduled to play their varsity tonight. The game was obviously cancelled. I didn't know the family personally, but I have a lot of friends from that school and community. People are shocked. Son said his team and coaches sat around yesterday and had a good conversation about life and the bigger picture yesterday instead of practice as the weather was uncooperative anyway. My prayers are with the family and program. I hope I, as a parent, never have to face the decision to take a child off life support. God give the family peace and understanding that only You can provide.

How incredibly sad.  But thanks for sharing this.  If only for everyone to know this young man was important to a lot of people.

Terrible! I am so glad to see that the Vadosta community is embracing the young man's family in their time of sorrow. Also let's not forget the young man that threw the pitch as this accident will possibly haunt him for the rest of his life. Hopefully their Faith will carry them through during this time of sorrow.

As I understand it (from what I've seen online), he was hit by an errant infield throw between innings, while standing in the visitor's dugout.  Either way I agree, the player who made the throw will wrestle with this the rest of his life.

 

It sounds like just an absolute freak accident.  Tragic and unexplainable.  Prayers to all involved.

Just an update to this tragic situation. The young man that threw the ball was from the opposing team. The incident occurred while they were warming up between innings. He is having a VERY difficult time, blaming himself and wishing it had been him in the place of the young man that died. This will probably offend some, but I am sure there are many here that will appreciate this. God, in His infinite wisdom, has taken a tragedy and used for His glory. The father of the young man that died reached out to the young man that threw the ball. Dad assured him that it was NOT his fault, simply a terrible, freak accident. Apparently there have been several salvations of teenagers as a result of this tragedy. God took an unimaginable tragedy and used it to add souls to the Kingdom of Heaven. I know this is not a religious site and many do not share my views, but I felt compelled to share them for anyone who agrees.

How very sad... My heart and prayers go out to this family...

Prayers to his family.

My heart breaks for this family and community. My 14 year old son lost a dear friend a few weeks ago in a tragic accident. As adults, we've had many life experiences and many have faith to help us deal with tragedies like this. For teenagers, this is often their first experience with death and their own mortality. It is a life changing event that has a deep impact on who they are, especially the kids that were close to this player or were there for the accident. We are still working through the shock, sadness and finality of the loss we experienced. I can truly empathize and I will pray for the family, the friends and the entire community.

Not to hijack, but this tragedy shows how lucky some of us are and that we maybe should have be a bit more grateful in our lives. This could be (or if you're no longer on the field, could have been) any of us.

 

Last night, I took a shot to the face while in B--only the second time I've ever been hit as base umpire in my career. The batter was D3 rookie of the year his freshman year, and I never saw it until it was about a foot away. It hit me in the best place possible for a facial injury--square on the thickest part of the cheekbone. I escaped with a broken nose. An inch higher, it would have been a fractured orbital socket and damaged eye. A couple inches lower, it would have been a fractured jaw and loss of teeth. An inch to the left, and my nose would have had to be reconstructed...and six inches higher, it could have killed me.

 

 

Matt, glad it wasn't worse that what is was!

 

Time will come when some/all of the infielders will wear some sort of face protection.

Matt,

 

I'm glad it wasn't worse and hope you have a speedy recovery.

 

When former athletes regale their co-wokers with their sports injury war stories, they will often be asked if they held on to the ball or completed the pass or fell across the goal line or otherwise completed the play on which they got hurt.  

 

So I gotta ask. Did you signal the dead ball for umpire interference before you went down, or did your partners have to step up?

 

I don't even think it registered that I had been hit before I found myself facedown on the grass. I don't even know if anyone actually called anything--I saw the video once last night, and it looked like as soon as it happened, everyone came running, players, coaches, trainers, umpires. It definitely looked worse than it ended up being.

First, glad it wasn't worse for Matt13.  Second, my prayers go out to the family that lost a loved one. A tragic and unfornate deal for all involved.  This is a prime example of a  reality check.  The days we leave the park disappointed and upset in our son's or team's performance aren't so important when incidents like this happen.  I am the world's worse about getting upset about losses.  I don't think anyone at that park was worried about who won or how many runs their pitchers gave up.  This is more reason for us to be thankful for healthy kids that can play the game.  Instead of harping on the negatives (which this game is naturally full of) we should give thanks for safe games and the ability to just get to participate.  I'm writing this while pointing the finger at myself and the realization that I need to slow down and appreciate the many blessings my family and sons have received.