How sad: Student dies on his 16th birthday after being hit in the chest with softball in school (PICTURED)

A California teenager has been killed on his birthday after he was hit in the chest with a flying softball during gym class.

Taylor Dorman was playing the bat-and-ball game Over the Line about 11am Wednesday when the ball – hit by a classmate – struck him.

Friends say he was celebrating his 16th birthday and had been planning a party for the weekend.

Tragic: Taylor Dorman was hit with a softball on his 16th birthday. He died hours later after his heart stopped beating regularlyTragic: Taylor Dorman was hit with a softball on his 16th birthday. He died hours later after his heart stopped beating regularly

Moments after he was hit at Romona High School, Taylor was seen laughing and joking with the student who accidentally struck him, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

He was walking off the field with a friend about 20 minutes later when he suddenly went into a seizure.

Teachers rushed to his aid and found he had an irregular heartbeat.

A medical helicopter landed on the baseball diamond and flew him to the hospital.

Initially, it appeared he would recover the the injury, but doctors at Palomar Medical Center could not get his heart to beat normally again.

Mourned: Friends and classmates posted tributes to the 16-year-old after he died at a hospital following the accidentMourned: Friends and classmates posted tributes to the 16-year-old after he died at a hospital following the accident

Tribute: Friends released birthday balloons into the air after Taylor's death and left cards at a makeshift memorialTribute: Friends released birthday balloons into the air after Taylor’s death and left cards at a makeshift memorial

 

‘He failed to [respond] to numerous attempts to stabilize his heart rhythm and his mother was advised of his grim prognosis due to prolonged resuscitative efforts,’ a statement from the medical examiner’s office said.

‘Lifesaving measures were discontinued and death was pronounced.’

A longtime friend told ABC 10 in San Diego that Taylor had a heart murmur when he was little, which might have contributed to the horrific injury.

Navar Findley said he spoke to Taylor’s mother after her son died.

‘He just got tired, I guess, and wanted to sleep and he just never woke up. They just couldn’t bring him back,’ he said.

Over the Line is a simplified version of baseball that is popular in schoolyards because it requires less space to play and only three players on each team.

About two children die each year from baseball-related injuries – most after being struck in the chest.

Even a slight blow, if made in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time, can caught a major heart irregularity that can result in death, a pediatric journal study found.

In the wake of Taylor’s death, his classmates offered an outpouring of grief.

‘I never thought in a million years someone would die at the high school. Especially not someone in my p.e. class,’ Katie Scroggins wrote on Facebook. ‘RIP Taylor Dorman. You will be missed by many.’

Friends gathered outside the school to release balloons reading ‘happy birthday’ into the air – a tribute to the teen who saw only one day of being 16.

Read more: Daily Mail UK

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