Beep baseball makes its way to Tri-Cities

Hitting a baseball is supposed to be one of the most difficult things to do in all of sports — imagine trying to do it without the ability to see.

Prior to Tri-City's game against Everett on Saturday, the Dust Devils will help raise awareness about sports available for the visually impaired by hosting a beep baseball game with the Seattle South King Sluggers, one of the two baseball teams in Washington state comprised of blind players.

Beep baseball is one of the most popular and rapidly growing athletic activities for people with visual impairments, and is played with a ball that beeps and two five-foot tall bases that start buzzing after the ball is hit. Players on both teams wear blindfolds and must use only their hearing and touch to catch, throw, find bases, and — most difficult of all — hit.

Kevin Daniel is the coach and founder of the Seattle South King Sluggers and also helped start the Spokane Pride Beep Baseball team. Daniel said the No. 1 goal of bringing his team to the Tri-Cities is to show the public that just because a person can't see doesn't mean they can't compete, a concept he hopes will inspire a passion to start a team in the area.

"When we leave, our hope is that people go, ‘Okay, we need to have this for our blind community here,’ ” Daniel said. “If the legacy of the legacy of the Sluggers is to create teams, then so be it.”

Daniel was born blind but never let that keep him from playing sports. He wrestled throughout most of his childhood and tried all sorts of activities while attending a school for the blind, but beep baseball had a special place in his heart since the time he discovered the game at the age of 13, and still does 35 years later.

"The one thing I loved about beep baseball was that it was a little more brash,” Daniel said. “There was a chance I could get hurt if I got hit by the ball. I could run full speed, it was the only sport at that time that allowed a blind person to run full speed, anywhere. That is a freedom.”

Daniel now spends time sharing the game he loves with other visually-impaired people. Introducing the game to someone who lost their sight later in life is more rewarding for Daniel, he said, because they are getting back something they thought they had lost forever and gain a support group of people who understand their struggles and can comprehend the weight of their triumphs.

"It’s not just about beep baseball, that’s just part of the story,” Daniel said. “There’s not too many other places where you’re going to be around a group of people who are just like you, in this kind of way, who are all trying to find their way in life in spite of their disability.”

Daniel Lipparelli of Kennewick's Edith Bishel Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired had heard about the sport and thought putting on an event would be a great way to show the community just one of the ways blind people can enjoy the benefits of sports and competition.

When Lipparelli came to the Dust Devils with the event proposal, team ownership jumped at the chance to engage with the community and raise awareness for a worthy cause.

"For these players to have an interaction with people who love the game of baseball and have an impairment, but are still finding a way to play the game we all love, that’s really cool,” said Derrel Ebert, vice president and general manager of the Dust Devils.

It's likely several Dust Devil players will strap on the blindfolds and play against the Sluggers at the event, an idea coordinators from all levels of the San Diego Padres organization were thrilled to hear.

"At the age level we get our kids at, 17-22 years old, we kind of take on the responsibility of shaping these guys as men as well as baseball players,” Padres director of player development Sam Geaney said. “So exposing them to something they’re not familiar with, and even us on the staff and in the organization haven’t seen before, it’s a chance to impact people in the forum that they have and that’s definitely something we support.”

The question that will be answered Saturday is whether or not professional baseball players can hit a ball without the use of their sight. Coach Daniel and the Sluggers have some perspective on this quandary as they traveled up to Anchorage last weekend for a similar event with the Anchorage Bucs, who are part of the collegiate-level Alaska Baseball League.

Daniel said it took awhile for the Bucs to get accustomed to hitting without being able to see the ball, but eventually sheer talent took over and the college players got their hand-ear coordination down. In other words, if the Sluggers are going to have a chance on Saturday, Daniel said, they'll have to score early and often on the Dust Devils.

"I think talent always shines one way or another, but the uncertainty of being blindfolded and having to run to a base and swinging at a ball, without ever having done it before, is ominous,” Daniel said. “But what they’re going to find, is what we find, is that with practice and confidence and repetition, it gets a little easier.”

In addition to a view of the beep baseball game from Dusty's Deck, fans in attendance will receive a buffet dinner and free tickets to the Dust Devils' game following the event. Lipparelli said he reserved 200 tickets and still had some left to sell at the gate on Saturday. The event begins at 6:15 p.m. and tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for kids ages 4-12.

All profits go to the Edith Bishel Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Tri-City finishes three-game sweep of Vancouver

Chris Mattison hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to complete the comeback Thursday night, and Diomar Lopez and Jose Castillo threw four innings of one-hit relief to lead the Dust Devils to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canadians and finish off a three-game series sweep at home.

Tri-City’s victory kept them even with the Everett AquaSox at the top of the NWL North division at 9-5 and put them on a season-best four-game win streak.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Dust Devils teed off on fresh Vancouver (7-7) pitcher Jackson McClelland. Josh Magee led it off with a single to right, followed by a double to left by Chris Baker. Magee then scored on a wild pitch by McClelland to make it 3-2, and that was when Mattison lifted a ball high into the night air at Gesa Stadium that sailed over the left field wall and put Tri-City up for good.

The home run was Mattison’s first in his nine games as a professional and was just the second the Dust Devils have hit this season. Mattison also drove in the tying run against Vancouver on Tuesday with a double and scored the eventual winning run later that inning.

The Dust Devils opened a three-game series with the Everett AquaSox Friday. Whoever wins the series will have at least a one-game lead on the division after Sunday.

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Beep baseball makes its way to Tri-Cities."