$14.5M for boy's injury tied to metal bat

A New Jersey pitcher left brain-damaged after he was hit by a line drive off a metal bat in a youth game will receive $14.5 million to settle his lawsuit against the bat manufacturer, a sporting goods chain and Little League Baseball.

Steven Domalewski, now 18, lives in Wayne. His family had claimed the metal bat was unsafe because baseballs can carom off it at much faster speeds than off wood bats.

"The Domalewskis are still saddened by the tragic events of June 2006, but this settlement provides them with some relief and comfort that Steven will get the care he needs for the rest of his life," said the family's attorney, Ernest Fronzuto.

"He still can't perform any functions of daily life on his own," he added.

Stephen D. Keener, chief executive of Little League Baseball Inc., said the settlement guarantees that "Steven Domalewski will receive the lifetime care he will require as a result of this tragic accident, a type of accident that is extremely rare in youth baseball."

Fronzuto said the settlement precluded his discussing details, including whether any defendants admitted liability.

The line drive slammed into Steven's chest, just above his heart, knocking him backward. The ball struck his chest at the precise millisecond between heartbeats, sending him into cardiac arrest, doctors said.

Little League reached an agreement with the major manufacturers in the early 1990s to limit metal bats' performance to that of the best wood bats. Little League said in 2008 that injuries to its pitchers fell from 145 a year before the accord was reached to about 20 to 30 annually.

-- AP