How horrible & tragic is this Baseball story? Your thoughts & some of the story inside->?

13-year-old killed by pitch in Arizona Little League game

Tragedy struck in Winslow, Ariz. on Wednesday morning when a 13-year-old Little Leaguer died hours after being struck by a pitch in the middle of a game.

According to the Associated Press as well as a variety of Arizona outlets including ABC 15 News, Hayden Walton was struck by a pitch in the chest when he turned to bunt during a game on Tuesday night. The pitch reportedly struck the middle schooler in the chest, directly over his heart. That stopped his heart entirely; a condition medically referred to as commotio cordis, according to ABC 15.

"He took an inside pitch right in the chest," Winslow Little League official Jamey Jones told the AP. "After that he took two steps to first base and collapsed."

Walton was almost immediately transported to the nearest hospital, but he never recovered and was pronounced dead on Wednesday morning. The Winslow Little League suspended all games until Friday as a result and the incident was kept under wraps while those closest with the Walton family grieved for the loss of a young member of the Winslow community. Understandably, the Walton parents -- who also have a young daughter -- have been unwilling to speak to the press because of their shock and grief.

That sense of tragedy has been shared by members of Little League's national branch, where Steve Keener, the president and CEO of Little League Baseball and Softball, released a statement offering up condolences for all those connected with the tragedy.

"Words cannot adequately express our sorrow on the passing of Hayden," Keener told the AP. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hayden's family, all the players and volunteers of the Winslow Little League, his classmates, and his friends, at this difficult time.

"The loss of a child is incomprehensible."

Anonymous2011-06-04T20:16:09Z

Favorite Answer

It's awful. This is one of those freak accidents that words don't describe.

BTW, how do you think that kid who threw that pitch feels right now?

Brad2011-06-04T20:12:26Z

Kind of wish they would have said how hard the pitcher was throwing. It would obviously had to have been pretty hard to stop the kid's heart entirely. I've never heard of anything like this before.

Anyway, that's awful. I feel horrible for the family right now. But I really hope this doesn't scare other kids in the league to quitting baseball, because this is an extremely uncommon occurrence.

EDIT- I also agree with Brian's comment about the physicals before the season starts. As I said earlier, unless the pitcher was throwing extremely hard, this should not have happened without a medical issue being involved.

Dude1012011-06-05T00:30:33Z

Chipmaker said it very well. If the impact occurs in the right place and at the right time, it does not have to be fast or hard to cause great damage. A few years ago I knew an umpire who was struck by a pitched ball that hit him in the chest and caused him to experience heart fibrillation. He was taken to the hospital where he survived. The EMTs used the defibrillator on him at the ballpark. He was wearing a chest protector (he was the plate ump), the chest protector was a type that had increased padding in the area of the heart (a type of trauma pad). It is rare, but such impacts do occur. .

Chipmaker Authentic2011-06-04T20:47:56Z

The speed of the ball would have mattered little, and this can (and has) happened to perfectly healthy hearts. It is caused by the timing of the impact -- if it hits just right during the heart's pulsing cycle, it interrupts the rhythm catastrophically, and the heart stops (alas, children are more susceptible than adults -- less mass to disperse the impact). Recovery is possible but it requires immediate, knowledgeable care, and usually a defibrillator.

Safety equipment designed to prevent and diffuse chest impacts is available. Even though the odds, based upon the number of Little League (and other juvenile leagues) players, makes this sort of tragedy extremely unlikely, every instance is utterly awful. Little League should consider mandating such safety equipment. And sponsoring more research, since the efficacy of current equipment is considered inadequate.

Here's Wiki with more information, and if you don't trust Wiki, go check WebMD for a variety of articles that reference commotio cordis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotio_cordis

Alan S2011-06-04T22:25:04Z

It is very sad, and I've heard about this before. People can get hurt and killed in a variety of ways in any sport, but I wouldn't want to discourage kids from playing sports, especially baseball, where the chance of this happening is so rare. Maybe it would be worthwhile to have the kids wear some type of chest protector while batting. It would have to be designed in a way to just protect their heart without being too intrusive to interfere with their swing.

Show more answers (22)