Infant hit by fly ball during Hickory Crawdads game, flown to hospital
An evening meant to bring local families together in support of a local Minor League team ended in tragedy on Friday when a 3-week-old baby was hit by a fly ball and hospitalized.
The baby girl, Georgia Prestwood, was flown to Brenners Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem where she received intense care over the weekend.
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The Prestwoods went to the ballpark Friday night so their two older children could enjoy the game and fireworks. They were all together in a picnic area when they heard several people in the crowd yell, “Heads up!”
Hunt Prestwood said he heard the warning and tried to shield his three-week-old daughter. The foul ball ended up going over the net surrounding the infield, but it dropped right over his shoulder and bounced off of Georgia’s head.
“Forty-five seconds of running to the nurse’s station, but [felt] like an eternity,” said Courtney Prestwood, the girl’s mother.
Georgia had a fractured skull and bleeding in her head. Her parents couldn’t hold her for the first 24 hours because of her delicate situation.
Then the doctors told them the skull fracture would likely heal itself, and the bleeding could go away.
“I could sit and cry, and thank God that I could actually hold her,” Courtney said. “It’s definitely a blessing we didn’t think I’m gonna actually get to bring her home.”
According to her grandmother, “our little Peach” has improved substantially and had the neck brace removed. She is still being monitored.
A GoFundMe has been started to help with expenses.
The parents say they don’t blame the team for what happened, and they gave updates to a team representative while Georgia was in the hospital. The team’s general manager said they will inviter them to come back later this season.
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