Black Bear Joins Junior Varsity Baseball Game in Connecticut

As Simsbury parents watched their kids playing in a JV Baseball game on Tuesday afternoon, a player not on either teams roster showed up and became a fourth outfielder.

Players sprinted for the dugout in the middle of a JV Baseball game on Tuesday afternoon when a Black Bear wondered out of the woods and into the outfield of the game between Simsbury and Plainville.

The Bear was in the wooded area between the field and a nearby Country Club, and decided to catch some of the action. The field where the game was being played is not fenced in, so the Bear wandered out of the woods and into the outfield. When he was spotted, players ran to the dugout, and an emergency action plan was put into effect.

According to the Simsbury Patch, Jeff Pinney, the Athletic Director of Simsbury High School talked about the action taken after the Bear was spotted:

The coaches and umpire handled the situation well, evacuating the immediate area until the bear was gone, and the trainer took the golf cart to the area to ensure that the bear was in fact gone before play resumed.

There have been numerous Black Bear sightings recently in many towns around Connecticut. This is the time Bears are coming out of their winter hibernation, plus with a lot of new construction happening throughout the state, the bears are being forced out of their natural habitat, leading them to explore more populated areas.

In this particular case, maybe the bear thought the "Cubs" were playing — Sorry about that, I just couldn't resist.

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