Miracle League

This will be a post with a thousand pictures.

As soon as Michael started baseball this year Rachel has been asking to play. I know that sounds easy. It isn't. Rachel falls right in between two worlds. She is visually impaired enough that she does need some assistance with certain things, but for the most part she is independent. Please don't think I'm complaining about either part of that. I'm not. But it lends itself to certain challenges. Sports has been one of those. She can't play on traditional teams for a lot of different reasons, and typically she can't play with the special needs team, because she is so independent.

Anyway, through a contact at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind we found Miracle League Baseball. I emailed the director of the league back and forth a couple of times and he assured me that Rachel would be a welcome addition to their league. She had her first game on Saturday.

The field they play on was built by the Reds Community Fund and is made of the rubberized playground material. It is painted to look like a baseball field. Even the bases are painted on so that the kids don't have to worry about a level change while running the bases. They play with balls that are about the size of a softball, but they are all colored and softer so that if anyone gets hit with the ball it won't do any damage. The rules are simple. Everyone bats until they get a hit, everyone gets on base, there are no outs, and everyone makes it across home plate.

The field was filled with players, but also with Buddies. The Buddies wear bright blue shirts and are there to help the kids with whatever they need. Two guys stand on the pitchers mound. One pitches and the other one throws the ball to all the kids in the field so that they get practice throwing and catching the ball. Rachel asked Mike how she would know which ball was the one that was hit so she could get an out. When Mike explained that they didn't have outs, she thought that was great.

It was amazing. I have never seen Rachel so excited. The grin on her face says it all. And she had that same grin the entire time we were there.

There really are no words to describe what it was like to watch her play and just do a normal kid thing. I was very thankful for my sunglasses, which hid the fact that I was crying for most of the game. I am so thankful for this league. And since there are no words, here are the pictures, which I can't get to line up well, but I am out of time.



































Let me tell you about this little boy. He was probably about Michael's age, and I am guessing he was there with one of his siblings. He was AMAZING! He was the catcher and as every kid came across home, he was cheering for them and gave them all high fives. There were several kids there who can't do that, and so he would grab their hand in their wheelchair and tell them what a great job they did. It was so fun to watch him and see this little boy just as excited as all the kids on the field.

Can you tell I'm a fan?