Scary Injury Halts Baseball Game

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School baseball player Kyle Kromberg, a junior center fielder, sustained a concussion, a broken nose and suffered a seizure following a collision when he dove for a ball during the Nighthawks’ game at Bethel on Tuesday afternoon.

The game was halted and Kromberg was taken to Danbury Hospital where he stayed overnight. Kromberg, who lost consciousness, also bit through his lip during the incident, which required him to have plastic surgery, NHS Coach Carl Strait said.

The injury occurred in the bottom of the third inning when Kromberg dove for a ball as two teammates converged. It was unclear if the injuries were sustained upon Kromberg hitting the ground or if other players collided with him. One thing for certain was that the incident was frightening.

“It was scary,” Strait said. “Everybody was shook up just watching it.”

Strait added that in all of their years around baseball, none of the members of the Newtown coaching staff had seen anything like this.

The teams decided not to continue the game and were scheduled to start from scratch and make up the contest in its entirety on Thursday (after The Bee went to press). Strait credited the Bethel team members and coaches for not wanting to resume the game despite taking the lead on the game-halting play.

Newtown held a 3-2 advantage and Bethel had runners on second and third with two outs in the inning when Kromberg dove for the ball in an attempt to preserve Newtown’s edge on the scoreboard. The ball dropped in and both Bethel runners scored.

“He was going all out like he always does,” Strait said of his outfielder.

It was unknown, as of Wednesday, when Kromberg would be released from the hospital and whether or not he will rejoin the lineup this spring.