Police say the shooting happened around 6 o'clock Tuesday evening at Oakdale Park on West Pryor on the Far South Side as the victim's team was doing its postgame victory chant. Officials are now searching for the gunman.
Morgan Park High School student Kiara Faniel is able to walk, but the 14-year-old freshman is still shaken.
"You shot me over a softball game? Why? It's just like, everything rests on my head. It's like, why me? Was I wrong?" Kiara told ABC7.
She was treated for her injuries and returned to class Wednesday.
Kiara and her softball teammates were celebrating a victory over another school's team when she says a heckler began shouting.
"We just heard the man. He was like, 'you all could have won this, you all could have won but just watch this,'" said Kiara.
Kiara had her back turned but she heard six or seven pops, thinking at first they were fireworks.
The team dove for cover before their coach rushed them onto the bus and back to Morgan Park High School, two miles away.
Kiara says her leg was bleeding, but no one realized she'd been shot.
"I know that something had hit me, but it didn't feel like a rock or whatever. It just hit me real hard. It felt like it was burning. I wasn't sure what was going on. I was real shocked. I was just trying to get safe and get back on the bus," said Kiara.
Kiara's mother, who wasn't at the game, says she rushed to the school after being called by the coach. Corinthia Faniel works as a medical assistant and knew immediately the wound was from a bullet.
"I was numb. I'm still processing it," Corinthia said with tears in her eyes.
The mom rushed her daughter to Metrosouth Hospital in Blue Island.
"As I was helping her get out of her pants, the bullet falls on the floor," said Corinthia. "I panicked. I'm like, 'here it is. Here it is. It's the bullet.'"
Police have made no arrests and only have a vague description of the suspect.
"As I sit here...I could be making arrangements for my child. If she hadn't gotten down on the ground when the coach told her to get down, she very well could not be here today," said Corinthia.
Kiara's team was playing Chicago International Charter School in Longwood. Her mother is disappointed that no one called 911 or took Kiara to the hospital. Chicago Public School officials are looking into the matter.
