Rays fan hurt when foul ball slips through gap in netting: Woman hit near eye

On Friday a woman was hit by a foul ball during the seventh inning of a game between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Rays player Steven Souza Jr connected with the ball, which traveled through a gap between the netting and struck the fan,...

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A Rays fan was seriously hurt when a foul ball escaped through a gap in the protective netting that was tiny in size. The ball came off the bat of Steven Souza Jr. who is a designated hitter for the Rays. That accident left him visibly shaken the remainder of the game.

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According to MSN News on April 16, the fan was sitting next to the Tampa Bay dugout in box seats on the first base side of the field. It was the seventh inning of the game that Chicago won with a victory of 1-0. The game was delayed 10 minutes as paramedics attended to the woman then rolled her out of the stadium on a stretcher.
According to Sporting News, Souza fouled off a Chris Sale fastball clocked at 97 mph. The ball headed toward the Rays' dugout on the first-base side. The ball went in front of the camera well after it made its way through a small opening in the netting. It struck the female fan near the left eye. Souza struck out three pitches later, as he was visibly distraught over the incident.
Souza appeared very concerned over the woman saying he thinks the ball caught her near the eye. Apparently he heard the ball make contact with the fan because he said “it didn’t sound good.” Pictures on social media show just how distraught Souza was after the fan was hit.
There is one photo where he is walking away after going into the stands to talk to the injured woman and on his way back he is holding his head. That photo can be viewed in the video above.
Souza described seeing the woman hit as “it wasn’t a good sight.” He said he was able to talk with her before they rolled her off to the waiting ambulance. He also said he would be praying for her to be OK.
It was a study that was done last year that has prompted the installation of netting anywhere within 70 feet of home plate to protect the fans from foul balls and flying broken bats. The ball slipped through the netting in an area where the photographers sit and made its way to the box seats.
While there is no word on the woman’s condition today, she was said to be in "stable condition" at the hospital last night. Souza did say that he had plans to go see her in the hospital. He said the people here are more important than the game!