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After promising a beloved softball field at the north end of Jeanne-Mance Park would be reopened by the end of May, the city administration now says the risk of passersby getting injured by a stray ball is too great, so the field will be grassed over.

“We have been advised that, for reasons of public safety, we have no choice but to close the northernmost of the two softball fields in Jeanne-Mance Park,” said Alex Norris, city councillor for Jeanne-Mance district, in a written statement.

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Norris said a ballistic study carried out for the city shows that park users, as well as pedestrians and motorists on Mont-Royal Ave. are at “serious risk” of being hit and injured by errant balls if the softball field remains as is. Originally intended for children, the field was not built to regulation for adults, he said, although it has been used by adults for pick-up games for decades.

He said passersby have already been hit by softballs from that field, which is beside the tennis courts and just south of Mont-Royal Ave. The city was recently obliged to compensate one of the injured parties, he added. The city could be held liable, he said, if someone else suffers a similar injury.