It's storm season and local slo-pitchers received a nasty jolt from an angry sky.
On the evening of June 7 the Bambino Chuggers of the co-ed 590 Slo-Pitch League were in the last inning of a game when lightning struck.
“The first cloud of thunder came by about 6 p.m. and it seemed like it was going to pass by 7 p.m. so the game went on,” said Tiffany Pembleton, coach and manager of the team. “We had one inning left, the thunder and lightning picked up and we knew we had to hurry it up.
“In the middle of that inning, that's when a bolt of lightning hit one of the fences down by the tennis courts.
“At that instant it was game over. (We told) everyone get off the field,” she said.
A 22-year-old male was apparently hit by a lighting strike, said Pembleton, adding several other players experienced electrical shocks in parts of their bodies. She said the male has recovered but was taken by ambulance to the Innisfail Health Centre about 9 p.m. that night.
“Everybody else was up and about but he was lying on the ground and was farthest away from where the strike hit,” she said. “He was hit hard.
“When he left the diamond, his vitals were OK. They wanted to take him to the hospital for further monitoring,” explained Pembleton, noting he was released about 11 p.m.
She said the team learned an important lesson that day.
“We are definitely going to take extra safety precautions next time,” she said. “The president of the league warned us not to take any chances (next time) and get off the field.”
