The metal had nothing to do with the girl getting struck by lightning. She was simply a convenient conductor of electricity to the ground. Although I have known of metal objects being melted when a person is struck.
However, it will be interesting if the story gets out that piercings attract lightning.
As I tell my Boys at safety meetings, electricy is the safest stuff in the world, as long as you don't become a part of the ground path.
We had, about 15 years ago, a guy who was tired of life and decided to give a 345 KV line a Monica, the pictures of the aftermath kind of get the new guys attention.