Children with disabilities experience fun on the ball diamond
11:02 a.m. Tuesday, September 2, 2008
It's her first time at bat during the season and 14-year-old Morgan Lawless hits a single. Morgan, who has cerebral palsy, plays in a baseball league for children with disabilities.
"It's actually fun because we get to be kids. We can play like regular people," Lawless said.
Unlike other little league fields, this one is rubberized and allows for easier movement for those in wheelchairs.
"We started out on a dirt field and we had a real problem with power wheelchairs; power wheelchairs and dirt don't mix," league founder Cathy Smith said.
Coach Tom Estes joined the league with his son Justin eight years ago.
"During a game, the players are paired up with young helpers. It's whatever it takes for them to play baseball. If we have to help them hit, help them run, help them catch, we are simply here to let them play the baseball," Estes said.
The games are short, just two innings, and no one really keeps score.
"It's not about the competition as much as it is about the ability to just do what other kids do," Morgan's father, Mike Lawless, said.
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