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MONROE — The community celebrated 25 years of Miracle League Baseball under sunny skies April 20 at Rotary Field in Monroe with food and the cracking of bats.
Players took to the playfield, with Coach Don Purvis pitching for the excited youngsters.
Miracle League doesn’t have the pressure of a competitive game. It’s designed for individuals who require assistance to play baseball.
Every player gets a chance to enjoy the pure love of the game, the rush of connecting with the ball, catching a pop fly, taking bases and scoring a run like their favorite ballplayers.
The players are paired with a volunteer buddy to help with their needs, such as bat handling and mobility assistance to the bases. This year’s buddies included members of the Monroe Police Department, the Monroe High School cheerleaders and the softball team.
The Y runs the league. “We ensure that all athletes feel successful and celebrated,” said YMCA spokeswoman Abbey McGee.
Miracle League founder and former Rotary Club president Ric Carlson started it with seven players he calls “The Original Seven” after seeing a similar program in Georgia. He contacted the Monroe Boys and Girls Club, which helped with equipment.
“The next year, we had 14 sign up, then 40, then 50,” Carlson said. “The league kept growing.”
Miracle League is now at 80 players.
Michelle McKenzie was the first of “The Original Seven” to sign up with Austin Cover as the second.
McKenzie said that seeing everyone takes her back to when she played in the Miracle League, and seeing the league grow puts a smile on her face.
“We had to cancel games because of the mud; this field is great,” McKenzie said of the playfield.
Austin and his father, Dustin Cover, flew in from Scottsdale, Arizona, for the event.
Austin put over 500 miles on his wheelchair tires, mostly from baseball. He wears out tires like grade schoolers wear out sneakers.
Austin’s family moved to the Southwest, and he brought his love of Miracle League baseball with him. He roots for the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks and now plays in a competitive league.
Dustin Cover explained that Austin has always promoted the Miracle League and has continued promoting it in Arizona at Diamondback games.
“He asks every disabled kid he meets if they like baseball,” Dustin Cover said.
Carlson, who builds ballfields professionally, said the league needed a new park by its third year. Something that wheelchairs could roll on that wouldn’t become a field of soggy mud.
The Monroe Rotary Club raised more than $1 million to purchase the land and build the park, complete with a mud-proof ADA-accessible artificial playfield. After its completion in 2009, the club gifted the park to the city.
However, the Rotary Club became overwhelmed running a league. Carlson explained that in 2007, they handed the league over to the YMCA of Snohomish County.
“I have done a lot of things in my life; this is the most fulfilling,” Carlson said.
The Monroe/Sky Valley Family Y’s director, Anthony Schmidt, and Monroe City Council member Jason Gamble spoke during a ceremony to commemorate the event between the games.
They honored Carlson, COO of YMCA of Snohomish County Patsy Cudaback, and volunteers Jody Rose, Don Purvis and Danielle Warner for their hard work over the years.
The Miracle League also retired the jerseys of three deceased players: Zachary White, Christopher Lindor and Jada Gould.
The games ended at noon before high winds blew in the afternoon, giving Monroe’s Miracle League a perfect day on the field.
To learn more about Miracle League, go to www.ymca-snoco.org/programs/1108/miracle-league-baseball
Doug Ramsay file photo
Umpire Ric Carlson calls a Miracle League player “safe” in a 2014 game.
