- May 16, 2016
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An emergency visit is nothing trivial, but it's a far cry from "permanent disfiguration". There's plenty of good reasons for pitchers to wear face masks, but the risk of "permanent disfiguration" certainly isn't high enough to justify mandating them. That's just a scare tactic
I'm done trying to convince the macho minority masks are important enough to mandate for youth players. I am praying none of you have to learn this lesson the hard way....
Parents of injured softball players want masks to be mandatory | Lexington Herald-Leader
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A few weeks ago East Jessamine softball coach Tom Hamm was sitting on a bucket outside the home team's dugout calling pitches for his daughter Haylee, who was on the mound against Rockcastle County, when he got the scare of his life.
"I heard the crack of the bat but never saw the ball," Hamm said. "The next thing I heard was what sounded like another crack of the bat.
"But it was the ball hitting my daughter in the face." Haylee somehow stayed on her feet after the line drive slammed into her face, shattered the orbital floor of her left eye, sliced a deep cut into her eyebrow, and fractured her nose.
"When I first got hit, everything kind of went black," she said. "All I could think about was getting on the ground without hitting my head.
"I felt numb all over my face. A couple minutes later, I felt a lot of pain in my eye. I thought I was blind. My nose and teeth hurt, too."
Haylee was taken to the hospital and kept overnight. Doctors stitched up the laceration above her eye and monitored her condition. She did not suffer a concussion or impaired vision.
Five days later she underwent plastic surgery and a titanium plate was inserted to replace the shattered bone below her eye.
Haylee is now well on the road to recovery. She's free of pain and feels great. The scar above her eye is mostly concealed by her eyebrow. She's pitching again in practice, and is scheduled to return to game action on May 13.
That is not to say the Hamms have forgotten last month's frightening incident.
On the contrary, Tom Hamm is asking the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to adopt a rule that would require softball pitchers, as well as first basemen and third basemen, to wear protective masks.
"I know it's not a priority for a lot of coaches, parents or the KHSAA, but I can assure you it would be if they had witnessed what happened to my daughter," he said. "They'd understand how important it is."
Read more here: Parents of injured softball players want masks to be mandatory | Lexington Herald-Leader
I encourage you to read the entire article....
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