It was something to see for sure. A friend has a son who participates sense he is legally blind in one eye. So she invited me to join and volunteer. Which I did gleefully. It was an honor to attend.
It was hot! I think my white hair got further bleached by the Sun. My lady friend asked me how her hair looked. "Ever see a long haired cat after chewing through an extension cord!"
Yet these blind athletes played 3 games in what was a bake-a-thon. Now if you have never been to one of the games it is extraordinary. They have huge ball with a beeper in it. I'd say half again the size of a regular softball though as I found out it isn't soft. However, the beeper is not what guides them to hit the ball. Instead, as I learned, it was the consistency of the batter's swing and the accuracy of the pitcher's arm. Amazing! Basically you have the pitcher trying to hit the moving bat.
The pitcher and the catcher are both sighted and play for the at bat team. Now there are varying levels of blindness. To make everything equal all players must where a blinder so they see nothing. Even the fielders wore blinders.
The field is divided into 6 zones. You will often hear them shout their zones when they take the field. For an out the fielder must get to the beep ball before the batter gets to base. Once retrieved the ball must be held away from the fielder's body to count as an out. The beeper plays a role here. They locate the ball by the beep. The field spotter can yell out the zone in ball is coming into. Nothing more in regards to the fielders except the spotter can also yell stop should 2 or more players be on a collision course. There are 6 players per team and I think 3 field spotters.
There are two base spotters also. They man the two bases. There is only first and 3rd. Each base is a soft pillar with a buzzer built in. When the pitcher throws the ball a base controller selects which base to buzz via a switch. My lady friend had that task and did a remarkable job. So if the batter makes contact he runs to the base that is buzzing. The base spotters raise their arms when the runner makes contact with the pillar. The sighted, uh questionable at times
, umpire calls safe or out depending on if the fielder obtains possession in a timely manner. Making it to the base before the ball is fielded is considered a run.
Now when I first arrived one the players gave the ball a pretty good shot and that rascal tore out. I mean flat out toward the pillar. He tagged it like a good linebacker. It was astonishing. The base spotter also had the task of moving the pillar back to the proper location. It was a good distance. I would say 30 yards or more.
By the time the final game started the players, spotters, and other volunteers were exhausted and dehydrated. They had to make runs for more water. I manned the first base spotter position for a while because the original spotter looked over heated. He was! The rascal was wobbly at the end of the day.
After the game finally finished the athletes all lined up and shook hands. You could tell they had enormous respect for one another.
Then we took down the tents. That was a job in the heat. The original first base spotter was giving it is all. I mean everything. He was having trouble walking straight and getting up from kneeling. Fortunately he finally realized he needed out of the Sun and the 94 degree heat.
It was great day, a great learning day.
