Getting back in the game. MLB sideline reporter Kelsey Wingert is recovering from being struck in the head by a 95 mph line drive, with a little help from some of her Colorado Rockies colleagues.
“My parents live in Texas. My fiancé and I have a house in Georgia so when it happened in Denver, I was ‘alone.’ But [AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain] general manager [David Woodman], his wife [Paula Woodman] and my producer [Alison Vigil] stayed with me the whole night,” the sports commentator, 29, told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, May 25, about the immediate aftermath of her injury. “Then my GM and his wife took care of me at their house for a few days until I was cleared to fly. It was only the second time I had met his wife!”
The pair held Wingert’s hand through the entire experience — sometimes literally, including when she had “a panic attack in the hospital over the thought of needles.”
She continued: “[There was] no judgment. It meant so much.”
The official Colorado Rockies correspondent was sitting by the first base camera during the team’s May 16 game against the San Francisco Giants. In the ninth inning, Rockies pitcher Daniel Bard threw to Giants’ Austin Slater, who hit a foul ball that went flying into the stands toward Wingert.
“Hey guys, I’m hanging in there. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to respond to texts yet. I took a 95 MPH line drive straight into my forehead,” the journalist wrote via her Instagram Story two days later. “I received internal and external stitches because of how deep the wound is. They are hoping the scar won’t be too bad for [my upcoming] wedding [to fiancé Casey Linch]! I’ve been sleeping at the Woodman’s [sic] who have quickly become family. I can’t say enough about how the network and organization has treated me. I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
The incident occurred just 19 days before Wingert’s June 6 wedding and shortly after she moved from Georgia — where she recently bought a house with Linch — to Colorado. “Prior to this, I was starting a new job cross-country commuting, we had just bought a house in Atlanta and I was planning a wedding, so I didn’t have a second to breathe,” she told Us, adding that it took some time for her to process the entire experience.
“Today was the first day I’ve been alone since it all happened, so it was very emotional with a lot of processing of everything I’ve gone through,” she said on Wednesday, adding that it was “really the first day in months I’ve had to reflect.”
Despite the roller coaster of emotions that Wingert has been experiencing since getting hurt, the journalist is trying to focus on the positives in her life. “It’s just a lot to accept, but I also am so grateful because I know it could have been so much worse,” she explained. “I’m very grateful for my faith because it’s been able to give me a better perspective than if I didn’t have it to lean and rely on.”
Keep scrolling to learn more about how Wingert’s recovery and her upcoming wedding plans:
