In baseball and softball, foul balls are just part of the game for fans.

According to Darlene Parker, “The Pit” in Lower Sackville, N.S., is a great facility to play softball with friends.

She loves it, but it's missing one thing.

“We definitely need a net,” Parker said.

Parker and other players say foul balls hit over a six-foot fence down the third-base line are putting people who use a nearby walking trail in danger.

“They've put a pathway in,” Parker said of the trail that was built after the field was there. “It's not safe for people who come down and walk. We've had a few close calls already.”

Near-misses have occurred multiple times during games.

“We've had a lady walking a baby in a stroller and the baby was just about hit with the ball,” Parker said.

Parker fears someone is going to get seriously injured.

“We had an elderly lady here last night and the ball just missed her,” Parker said.

Nicole Salter wants the Halifax Regional Municipality to install safety netting as high as the light standards to prevent balls from landing on the nearby path.

“We've been asking for years, but now it's a priority because of the trail,” Salter said.

The HRM is about to take action later this summer.

“We are planning to put in an 18-feet high fence in that area to protect both park users and to make sure that sport equipment isn't going over the fence,” said Halifax Regional Municipality spokeswoman Maggy-Jane Spray.

That's not exactly the solution these two softball players were hoping for. A fence will be lower than a net and will cost more.

“Seems like a very expensive solution,” Salter said.

But they'll take it, and see it as progress.

When the fencing is installed, it will provide softball players and walking trail users a safer environment.

The two women play in the Sackville Women's Fun League and they both said that lately games haven't been that fun. They're concerned during the games and distracted during the games about people using that pathway to left of the ball field. Worrying about their safety is taking away from the fun of the games.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Paul Hollingsworth.