Fan injured at Fenway Park expected to survive

BOSTON – A fan hit by a broken bat at Fenway Park is expected to survive after suffering life-threatening injuries during a game between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox.

Officer Rachel McGuire said Saturday that the woman is recovering.

Tonya Carpenter was struck in the head by the broken bat of Oakland's Brett Lawrie on Friday night. Carpenter is now in serious condition, her family said in a statement.

"Tonya's family and loved ones are grateful to all who have reached out with thoughts and prayers but are requesting privacy at this time as Tonya recovers," Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Hospital said in a statement.

Carpenter had posted a Facebook photo from the game earlier in the evening. A longtime friend, Sheila Hokhanson of Charlton, Mass., liked the post and said Carpenter was there with her son and a friend.

"They were just going to a game," Hokhanson said.

"It was just, if you get a chance to get tickets, you grab them and you go and sit where the ticket happens to be," Hokhanson said.

Friday night's game was halted in the second inning as emergency crews tended to a bloodied Carpenter and wheeled her off the field on a stretcher.

Lawrie broke his bat on a grounder and part of it hurtled a few rows into the seats between the backstop and Oakland's dugout on the third base side.

Alex Merlis, of Brookline, Mass., said he was sitting in the row behind the woman when the broken bat flew into the stands.

"It was violent," he said of the impact to her forehead and top of her head. "She bled a lot. A lot. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that."

There are signs posted on the low retaining wall facing fans in the front row that read: "Be Alert. Foul Balls and Bats Hurt."

After the game, Lawrie said he hoped the woman would recover.

"I've seen bats fly out of guys' hands in the stands and everyone's OK, but when one breaks like that, has jagged edges on it, anything can happen."

Concerned about a rash of flying broken bats and the danger they posed, Major League Baseball studied the issue in 2008 and implemented a series of changes to bat regulations for the following season.

"I do know that MLB is probably taking a look at the incident last night, as they do with any bat that flies into the stands," Red Sox manager John Farrell said.

Multi-piece bat failures are down about 50 percent since the beginning of the 2009 season, MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said.