Miracle League offers special athletes big hits

By Melissa Maynarich, NEWS 9

The Miracle League, started by one metro mother, is giving opportunities to young baseball players living with disabilities.

Every week during the baseball season, families come from all over to play on the field in Edmond.

The baseball diamond was especially designed for children whose special needs limit their opportunities in sports and recreation.

Margo Price, the mother behind the idea, started the league eight years ago for her son.

"My youngest son is 19, has autism, and wasn't going to be able to play normal sports in school and he's very athletic," Price said.

Over the last eight years, the league has grown from 10 children to 110 children.

Parker Carson, a Miracle Leaguer living with Down syndrome, has been playing in the league for more than three years.

"We tell him ahead of time, ‘You've got a game Thursday or Tuesday,'" Parker Carson's father Keith Case said. "All week long you hear about what we're going to do on Tuesday or Thursday."

Organizers of the league said they don't discriminate against age.

"I'm not going to say 'no' to anybody," Price said. "If they want to come if they're 35, 40-years-old and wanna play, 'c'mon!'"

Parents said the games are helping to develop the young players' motor skills and cognition.

"They're not as high strung," Price said. "They've really gotten to the point they can focus on what they're doing and pay attention to what is going on in the game."

At the end of the day, to the children in Miracle League, it seems to be all just for the love of the game.