KELLER, Texas — Rangers fans: You'll remember catcher Jonah Heim's pivotal two-run homer in Game 6 of the ALCS in Houston on Sunday.
But did you know it landed smack on a North Texas teacher's head?
"I saw it coming," Amy Hall told WFAA in her Keller home Tuesday. "So I had time to be afraid!"
Hall is a lifelong Rangers fan -- with, believe it or not, a lifelong fear of being hit by a baseball.
"I’ve promised her all her life, she was never gonna get hit by a ball," her husband Scott told WFAA. "I always said, 'You’ve got a better chance of getting struck by lightning.'"
On Sunday, Scott sure ate his words.
"And I failed to protect her," he said with a laugh. "But she’s a champ!"
A champ with a bruised noggin -- that'll happen when you're hit with a ball that flies almost 96 miles per hour off the bat -- but a champ nonetheless.
"I watched the game with an ice pack on my head, but I wasn’t leaving," Hall said. "I had to finish it."
To their credit, Hall said the Astros fans sitting around her in that moment at Minute Maid Park were supportive of her in that moment. They rushed to her side to make sure she was OK. A little boy from Houston even picked up the ball for Hall, insisting that she keep it for her troubles.
"For something that really could’ve gone another direction, it has brought a lot of love and joy," Hall said.
Indeed it has. Hall is a first-grade teacher in Keller ISD -- where, on Monday, all of her students rushed into class, worried about how their teacher might be hurt.
"It was so precious!" she said. "[They asked,] 'Ms. Hall are you okay? We saw you get hit with the ball? Do you have the baseball?'"
Actually, she did have the ball -- right there with her at school, with the intention of hosting a photoshoot where her students could each pose with the famous home run ball.
"Several offered to keep it for me," Hall said with a laugh. "And I said, 'Oh you’re so sweet! That’s OK, that’s OK!”
Meanwhile, the laughs keep on coming for the Hall family. Hall's son Conner, also a big-time Rangers fan, told WFAA he took to Facebook once he knew his mom was going to be alright.
"I made a joke on Facebook," Conner said. "I said, 'Hey Jonah, I appreciate the home run, but don't ever mess with my mama again!"
It's another fun storyline in the Rangers' incredibly fun ride.
"I’m very grateful to have [the ball]," Hall said, "to help me remember a moment I’ll never forget."
Photos of Hall's Keller ISD students posing with Jonah Heim's home run ball:
