Miracle League Plays Big Game
By IAN HICKSIt's an experience most children have only while daydreaming - making their way around the bases and back to home plate, spurred on by a cheering crowd.
Dozens of special needs children, however, got that opportunity Thursday as Wheeling's Miracle League team to hit the diamond at the J.B. Chambers Softball Complex after the Wheeling Post 1 team's 8-3 victory over the East Ontario Diamondbacks during the Beast of the East tournament.
The rainy skies cleared in plenty of time to get the Miracle League game in, and Lorraine McCardle said seeing the children's enthusiasm brought tears of joy to her eyes.
McCardle organized the Miracle League baseball squad last year so her son Austin, 8, and other area youths with special needs would have the chance to enjoy sports like everyone else. Austin has Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, a genetic condition that attacks the central nervous system. He gets around using braces, a walker or a wheelchair.
Mayor Andy McKenzie threw out the honorary first pitch. The players from the Post 1 team served as "buddies" for each of the players, helping them bat and keeping them safe while out in the field. Shirts N' More also was presented with a plaque, recognizing the business' efforts in donating T-shirts and caps for the team. McCardle expressed her thanks to all those people, as well as to Beast of the East founders B.A. Crawford and Bo McConnaughy.
"It went wonderful," she said. "We had a huge, huge crowd."
It was a homegrown crowd, too, according to McCardle. Most of the time the team must travel to Morgantown, which has the closest Miracle League field in the area. Last year, the team played in Benwood during the Beast of the East tournament, but she said many people who saw that game were from out of town, waiting on their tournament game to begin.
On Thursday, though, McCardle said the field was teeming with local supporters to cheer on the kids.
"It felt so good to play at home," she said.
And the Miracle Leaguers took another step Thursday toward achieving a permanent home field advantage, raising $600 in donations for a special Miracle League field of their own. It is difficult for those using walkers and wheelchairs to get around a standard baseball field, but Miracle League fields come equipped with a soft, spongy playing surface and bases painted on the field to eliminate obstructions.
The city of Wheeling already has donated the land for the field, which would be located at the Chambers complex.
Easter Seals has raised tens of thousands of dollars toward the effort to date and currently is trying to obtain grants to cover the $500,000 total cost of the field.
McCardle said donations of any size are welcome, adding she's appreciative of anything that will help in "getting our field sooner rather than later." She noted the team will play two games in Morgantown on July 12, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and she invites everyone to come and watch.
