Little League World Series permanently removes bunk beds in wake of player’s head injury
Aug 14, 2023, 9:30 PM
FILE- An image of Mountain Region Champion Little League team member Easton Oliverson is displayed on the scoreboard at Volunteer Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Little League World Series baseball tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., Aug 17, 2022. Teams that stay in the Williamsport complex for the Little League World Series will continue to sleep in single beds in the wake of last year’s incident where Oliverson seriously injured his head when he fell out of his top bunk. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Teams that stay in the Williamsport complex for the Little League World Series will continue to sleep in single beds in the wake of last year’s incident where a boy seriously injured his head when he fell out of his top bunk.
Little League International made the change last year after 12-year-old Easton Oliverson, a pitcher and outfielder for the Snow Canyon team out of Santa Clara, Utah, was injured in August.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we placed all beds individually on the floor during last year’s World Series, and in preparation for the 2023 Little League International Tournament, Little League decided to provide its participants with single, one-level beds for all of their player housing at each of its tournament locations, including those in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the dormitories can accommodate all 14 single beds,” Little League International said Monday in a statement.
This year’s tournament starts this week and runs from Aug. 16-27.
The Oliverson family had kept Easton’s condition continuously updated on social media with photos of the boy — in a wheelchair and wearing baseball T-shirts — posing for pictures with his family and friends until the end of 2022. The family later sued the league and the company that made the bed.
The negligence lawsuit, filed by Jace and Nancy Oliverson on last September in Philadelphia, said there was no railing on the top bunk. Little League did not comment on the lawsuit. A message left Monday for the Oliveron’s lawyer was not immediately returned.
