Kaitlyn Salazar, the teenage Los Angeles Dodgers fan who was struck with a foul ball at a recent game, is speaking out for the first time since blacking out and losing some of her vision at Dodger Stadium on Sunday
Kaitlyn Salazar, the teenage Los Angeles Dodgers fan who was struck with a foul ball at a recent game, is speaking out for the first time since blacking out and losing some of her vision at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
'When I was blinking, everything went dark,' Salazar, a native of Corona, California, told Los Angeles' ABC affiliate. 'And then came out in dark and light.
'It all happened fast.'
Salazar was seated four rows behind the dugout along the first base line, just beyond the reach of the protective netting. In the first inning, after getting up to go to the restroom, Salazar was hit with a line drive off the bat of Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger.
'You know in like those movies when a bomb goes off and you hear an eerie sound, then the scene starts to get fadey and then everyone gets, like, mumbled,' Salazar said. 'Like that.'
Salazar was diagnosed with a concussion and is still having trouble with the vision in her right eye, but doctors told her that should improve with time.
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Kaitlyn Salazar holds ice to her head after being hit with a foul ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Sunday
Salazar was initially given an ice pack and remained in her seat for 15 minutes before being taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Bellinger even took the time to check on her between innings and the two exchanged a 'thumbs up'
Salazar was seated four rows behind the dugout along the first base line, just beyond the reach of the protective netting. In the first inning, after getting up to go to the restroom, Salazar was hit with a line drive off the bat of Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger
The game was stopped for about six minutes while Salazar was tended to by first-aid responders.
'I know the game stopped because I looked around and no one was playing and I had a lot of people watching me,' said Salazar.
Salazar was initially given an ice pack and remained in her seat for 15 minutes before being taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Bellinger even took the time to check on her between innings.
'It was weird. I saw it literally hit her face,' Bellinger told reporters Sunday. 'I'm sure it was tough for everyone. I went over the next half inning to make sure. She said she was all right and gave me a thumb's up.'
'He waved at me,' Salazar told ABC 7. 'Because I didn't have clear vision in my right eye, he looked like a blob to me. But my mom said he was waving at me and he gave me a thumbs up.'
Salazar's mother described her feeling of helplessness.
'It was extremely terrifying,' said Roxie Salazar. 'As a parent your job is to protect your children. It was really hard because I felt like I couldn't protect her from the ball.'
Some fans are demanding extensions to MLB stadiums' protective netting following several similar incidents, including one in which a fan later died after being hit with a foul ball at Dodgers Stadium last year.
On Monday the Dodgers pledged to extend their netting, although the exact timing remains unclear.
Salazar (left, in the center) had seats along the first base line, beyond the stadium's protective netting. Her mother, Roxie (right), described the situation as 'extremely terrifying'
Salazar was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion
