Sammi Kane Kraft, "Bad News Bears," Died In Car Crash At Age 20
Sami Kane Kraft, who played the single female baseball player in the "Bad News Bears," passed away due to complications from a car accident on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
Kraft was only 20.
E! News reported that the Los Angeles Fire Department received a call of a three-car accident at 1:35 a.m., early Tuesday morning.
Molly Kate Adams, 21, was driving an Audi with Kraft in the passenger seat. According to the California Highway Patrol, Adams was "traveling at a high rate of speed" until she rear-ended a big rig truck. She was then hit by another car.
The three-car collision occurred on the westbound 10 Freeway near Crenshaw Boulevard. Adams and Kraft were taken to two separate hospitals: Kraft was rushed to California Hospital Medical Center while Kraft was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.
Adams was later arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving.
Kraft was known for her role as Amanda Whurlitzer in the 2005 remake of "Bad News Bears." Her real-life baseball skills, a 75 mph fastball hand, earned her the spot as the only girl on the Bears' baseball team. She reprised the role at the age of 13 that was portrayed by Academy Award-winning Tatum O'Neal in the 1976 original film. She played opposite Billy Bob Thornton.
"I could never fill Tatum O'Neal's shoes," she told New York Daily News in 2005. "But I tried to make the role my own. I added a bit of the New York in me. A little toughness, a little bit of smartass."
Kraft reportedly started a music band called Scary Girls in San Francisco and worked with her brother in a play called "Funerals."
