Beep Baseball breaks barriers for blind and visually impaired kids

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Baseball season is in full swing and a group of kids who would normally be stuck on the sidelines got to experience it in a unique way at MSOE's Kern Center on Thursday morning, May 2. 

Do you remember the first time you stepped up to the plate? The first time you felt the crack of the bat. The moment you scored your first run.

For 10-year-old Norah Straw, baseball looks and sounds different. 

“I’m visually impaired and stuff. So, I can’t really be out in the field and stuff," said Straw. 

The sound of each ball and base is a guide. 

“It gives us a little signal to know where it is," said Straw. 

It's called Beep Baseball and it breaks barriers for kids like Straw.

“Be able to use other senses so they can fully participate," said Jaclyn Borchardt, the CEO of Vision Forward Association.

Borchardt says more than 70% of school aged blind or visually impaired kids never get the chance to participate in a sport.

"When you get the opportunity to play sports, it kind of can ease your everyday stress and some of the challenges of everyday life," said Corey Alderdan, an MSOE student and baseball team captain. 

Vision Forward Association with the Milwaukee School of Engineering helps lower that statistic. 

Beep baseball helps kids play with their hearing, rather than their eyesight. From the moment the kids hear the first peep, to the moment they hit a homerun, it's a reminder that sports have no limitations. 

"Practice makes perfect," said Straw. “It’s a good experience to feel the bat swing.”

At the Kern Center, baseball is more than just a game. 

"Just to see the joy that those kids feel when they get a little accomplishment like that – it’s such a significant thing," said Alderdan.