LANCASTER, Pa. — A 5-year-old girl struck by a foul ball at a minor-league ballpark's playground area this month suffered a cracked skull and brain injury.

The injury to Brooke Nicodemus, who also suffered bleeding of the brain, highlights the potentially serious harm that fly balls can cause.

Fans are frequently struck in the stands and assume the risk of injuries that occur there under a long-honored legal doctrine.

"It happens at every baseball game," said Lancaster Barnstormers general manager Joe Pinto, who witnessed the Aug. 11 injury to Brooke at the team's Clipper Magazine Stadium.

"It's a different story when someone is in the play area," he added. "We're just sick about it."

The Atlantic League club is studying an option to put a 12-foot net around the area to prevent further injuries there. The location is the only place for a playground because the rest of the park is on a slope, Pinto said.

"If the equipment was not there and she was not up on it, the ball would have gone out of the stadium," Pinto said.

Brooke returned home from the hospital three days after the injury. Her parents have been told to keep her quiet and still to give her brain time to heal. The start of kindergarten is on hold for now.

"She sees the neurosurgeon on Sept. 5," said her mother, Teri Nicodemus of Elizabethtown, "and we're hoping she can resume normal play at that point."

By The Associated Press