"Is this part of the show?!"
The ESPN broadcast team for Friday's college softball matchup between Bradley University and Gardner-Webb University in the Knights Classic Tournament expressed what we were all likely thinking when a pair of parrots flew onto the field of play and, eventually, the home-plate umpire's shoulder.
Incredibly, the parrot that landed on the home-plate umpire took a tour of the bases to get there with an inside-the-park homer. It demonstrated a textbook rounding of third base and could probably make a great baserunner -- er, flyer.
We've seen a lot of different types of animals make their way onto a baseball diamond in the past, and we'll surely see more wildlife wanting to get into the game in the future.
You can add parrots to the list after these two beautiful birds infused some vivid color into the Bradley-Gardner-Webb contest in Orlando, Fla.
Manny Randhawa is a reporter for MLB.com based in Denver.