BlindNews:PLAYING BY EAR IN THIS FORM OF SOFTBALL, = BLIND PLAYERS SWING AT THE SOUND OF THE BEEP

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PLAYING BY EAR IN THIS FORM OF SOFTBALL, BLIND PLAYERS SWING = AT THE=20 SOUND OF THE BEEP

6/23/2001

From: The Boston Globe

By: Nathan Cobb

BROOKLINE

Baseball is a sport in which the umpire is frequently accused = of being=20 blind. In this particular game, however, he's one of the few = people who=20 can see.

Here we are, sports fans, at the Cypress Street Playground, = where the=20 Lowell Lightning and the Boston Renegades are about to do battle = on a=20 sunny Saturday afternoon. Leading off for the Lightning is No. 17, = burly=20 Bob St. Germaine, who's waving his 38-ounce "Thunder Bat." . . .

St. Germaine, who is 37 years old and runs the snack bar at = Lowell City=20 Hall, had lost his eyesight to cancer by the time he was 2. He's = an=20 irrepressible Baltimore Orioles fan who takes the game of "beep" = baseball=20 seriously: spikes, kneepads, real baseball pants, and yes, that = aluminum=20 war club he calls his "Thunder Bat." He's played beep ball at the = national=20 level - the sport has its own annual World Series - but concedes = he's=20 lacking when it comes to such big-league ability. "I'm too old for = that,"=20 he muses.

Beep ball, meaning a form of softball for the blind and = visually=20 impaired, couldn't be more aptly named. The 16-inch ball, lobbed = underhand=20 by a sighted pitcher who is a member of the batter's own team, = chirps like=20 an ignited smoke detector. After it meets the bat, the hitter = tries to=20 reach a buzzing, 4-foot-tall padded cylinder before the ball is = picked up=20 by one of six fielders on the other team. (In the history of beep = ball,=20 there have been only four documented cases of a batted ball being = caught=20 in the air. There are two such bases, each located 100 feet from = home=20 plate just off the foul lines. One of the two is randomly = activated when=20 the ball is hit. Reaching the noisy base before the ball is = fielded -=20 defensive players usually try to block the ball like a hockey = goalie, then=20 feel for it on the ground - constitutes a run. If a fielder picks = up the=20 ball first, however, the batter is out. Each team has three outs = per=20 inning, although beep ball is a game in which four strikes, not = three,=20 constitute a strikeout.

Dot Donovon of Lowell is a 50-year-old part-time writer and = editor=20 who's been blind since birth ("I was one of those preemies who = didn't get=20 any oxygen.") and has been an avid beep baller for three seasons. = With=20 little baseball experience in her past, she's found plenty of = frustration=20 but not plenty of good instructors.

"This game takes practice, perseverence, and someone to explain = things=20 patiently," she says. "They can't say, 'Swing like this.' I mean, = swing=20 like what? So they have to physically put their hands on us and = show us=20 how to hit. They have to break the swing down to its components.

"Sometimes, someone will say, 'Swing level.' Well, you try = carrying a=20 bowl of water with your eyes shut. See if it stays level."

Indeed, if you think this is easy, try it. Try donning a = blindfold and=20 attempting to hit an oncoming sphere when your only clues are the=20 pitcher's cry of "Now!" and a sound rather like a low-level auto = alarm.=20 Try fielding a ground ball in a suddenly oversized and scary world = of=20 utter darkness, led only by that same maddening sound and the = shouts of=20 one of two sighted spotters positioned in the outfield. Try it.

Steve Roberts of Lowell contends that you need one thing to be=20 successful at beep ball: audacity. "When you're out in the field, = you can=20 get hit in the head, hit in the feet, hit in the unmentionables," = says=20 Roberts, a 34-year-old retail sales clerk who was born with 50 = percent of=20 his eyesight. "I've been hit by the ball. I've been stepped on. = I've gone=20 over a park bench and gotten a concussion. I broke my teeth.

"It's not a game for the faint of heart."

It's the middle of the fourth inning, sports fans, and the = Lightning=20 lead, 2-1. 'Inky' Inkiala led off the bottom of the first inning = with a=20 run for the Renegades, but Roberts and St. Germaine have given the = lead to=20 Lowell. There's plenty of chatter in the infield, and both benches = are=20 tense. . . .

Beep baseball dates back to the mid-1960s, when it was played = primarily=20 at various schools for the blind but failed to flourish. = Technological=20 improvements, most notably a ball with improved sound, gave the = game a=20 boost a decade later, and the National Beep Baseball Association = was=20 formed in 1976. There are now regional tournaments, a national = World=20 Series (this year's will be held in Cleveland July 31-Aug. 4),and = a sense=20 that beep ball is here to stay. The NBBA has more than two dozen=20 registered teams stretching from Lowell to Taiwan.

The Lightning are the third incarnation of a Lowell beep ball = team, but=20 this year they've been joined on the field by the Renegades and = the New=20 Bedford Brooklawn Bombers. The last two are offshoots of the = Association=20 of Blind Citizens, a local group formed last year to provide = recreational=20 opportunities to the blind and visually impaired. "Our goal," says = organizer John Oliveira of Randolph, "is to form a Massachusetts = Beep Ball=20 League."

Sit down with a bunch of beep ballers and you'll find that they = take=20 the field for a variety of reasons. For Cheryl Cumings of = Brighton, who=20 lost her sight 21 years ago at age 13, the lure of the game is = simply=20 being outdoors with other folks. For 35-year-old Darren Black of = Jamaica=20 Plain, who's been blind since age 7, it's a rare opportunity to = play a=20 team sport. (Blind people, he points out, tend to gravitate to = nonteam=20 sports such as skiing, golf, swimming, or fencing.) And for Sengil = "Inky"=20 Inkiala, 43, a native of Zaire who now lives in Somerville and has = been=20 blind since he was 16, beep ball seems to have fully entered his=20 bloodstream despite the fact that he took up the game only a month = ago.

"I want to do things," Inkiala effuses. "I don't want to be a=20 vegetable, sitting at home.

Anyone who bats or takes the field in beep ball must wear a = blindfold=20 so that all players are totally sightless. This includes sighted=20 volunteers who sometimes suit up if a team doesn't have enough = players.=20 For such folks, suddenly being cast into darkness can be a = frightening=20 proposition. "You just have absolutely no idea where you are on = the=20 field," reports Gregg Savage of Action, who volunteers for the = Lightning.=20 "And then there's the fear that if the ball is hit to you you'll = get hit.=20 And hurt."

Savage and wife, Nancy, are seeking more than an afternoon = under the=20 sun. Their 13-year-old twin sons, Ben and Dan, are also Lightning=20 volunteers. "We think it's important for them to do this," Gregg = Savage=20 says. "First of all, it helps them appreciate what they have. = Second, it=20 allows them to see blind people as normal people."

Oh my, sports fans, what a finish! After John Smith tied the = game for=20 the Renegades in the bottom half of the sixth and last inning, = 'Inky'=20 Inkiala came through again with a smash to the right side of the = infield=20 that the Lightning couldn't handle. Final socre: Renegades 3, = Lightning 2,=20 as the crowd goes wild!

While the Renegades whoop it up on their bench, the Lightning = are led=20 slowly to the shade of a nearby tree. They will lick their wounds = over=20 peanut butter sandwiches and begin to talk about future games. But = before=20 they leave their own bench - indeed, before the game actually ends = - Bob=20 St. Germaine sits sweating in the sun. "What we need out here," he = says to=20 no one in particular, "is a couple of beers."

Spoken like a true ballplayer. SIDEBAR: Batter up with beeps

Both the Lowell Lightning and the Boston Renegades are seeking = blind=20 and visually impaired players, as well as sighted volunteers. To = reach the=20 Lightning, call 978-458-1358. To reach the Renegades (and New = Bedford=20 Brooklawn Bombers), call 781-961-1023.

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