Adaptive sports field allows everyone a chance to bat

CARTHAGE, Mo. (KOAM) - In Carthage, a rhythmic beeping could be heard as balls soared through the sky. The beeping is one of the only ways players on the field know a ball is headed their way.

The Sirens are an all women Beep Baseball team, who have competed in world championships for the game.

Beep Baseball , also known as Beepball, is an adaptive version of baseball for those who are blind or visually impaired.

“I feel very excited because it gives me an opportunity to actually be on the field and play a fair game,“ says Khlarah Bloomer, a 17-year-old player for the Sirens .

The team has players from all across the country who range in age from their teens to mid-fifties.

Cassandra McDaniel was inspired to start the team with her sister in hopes of getting more women onto the field.

“We did notice when we looked around at all of the different teams that we played that there were a lot of women that were sitting on the bench," says McDaniel. "So she made the comment to me, hey, do you think that we could start an all female team? And I said, why not?”

This beep ball game is the first one to be held at the Adaptive Sports Field for the Blind in Carthage, developed by the MLV Foundation .

The foundation's president says it's something she has always wanted to do.

“It's important for anybody with disabilities to feel like they can be normal like everybody else," says Debbie Sanders, President and founder of MLV.  "And we can still do the the things that everybody else does. We just have to adapt and make them a little bit different.”

In beep ball, the ball beeps to tell players where it is and bases buzz to let batters know where to run.

And because blindness is on a spectrum, players all wear eye coverings to make it an even playing field.

“You just have some adaptations to them and you can play and, and they feel just like they're normal like everybody else,” says Sanders.

For players like Bloomer, they say the opportunity to hit the field with others like them is meaningful.

“For me, it feels empowering because I get to learn and see how other people do what I do. And it's important that we all help nourish and teach each other to do new things,” says Bloomer.

Organizers with the MLV Foundation say they plan to continue holding other sporting and recreation activities at the sports field including beep kickball and blind archery.

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