New England Patriots’ running back Rhamondre Stevenson narrowly avoided serious injury on Sunday when he collided with comedian Matt Rife during a charity softball event.
Stevenson almost had his leg injured by the comedian during the first-ever MayeDay Celebrity Softball Classic at Polar Park in Worcester. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and his wife, Ann, hosted the event.
The scary incident occurred during an at-bat by comedian Matt Rife. After hitting a ground ball to the third baseman, Rife ran to first base, but the throw was wild. Rife ran to second base, but the fielders caught him in a rundown. After the first baseman recovered the errant throw, he tossed it to Rhamondre Stevenson, who was patrolling the area around second base.
Stevenson then threw the softball to first base with Rife racing back to the bag. When the first baseman tossed the ball back to second base, Matt Rife tried to dive for the bag about 10 feet from it and ended up rolling up on Rhamondre Stevenson’s left leg, forcing it to bend awkwardly and sending him crashing to the ground.
The collision was scary enough to cause multiple players to think Stevenson might have suffered a serious injury, and they rushed to his aid. Thankfully, especially for New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who was in attendance, Stevenson popped up and seemed to be okay. As the comedian left the field, he gave the running back a pat on the back.
Matt Rife responds to a Patriots fan who didn’t like the collision
After the game, video of the collision was shared on social media with the caption, “Matt Rife almost put Rhamondre Stevenson on IR.”
“They were crowding the baseline,” Matt Rife responded with a laughing-crying emoji, adding, “Also- not a bad DB tackle.”
“We are not laughing,” an X user with “gopats” in his handle replied back to Rife.
To which the comedian replied, without a hint of empathy for the Patriots fan, “Cry about it dips—.”