Batting blind: Beep baseball finds its way to Anchorage

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The Seattle Sluggers take the field for defense. The Seattle South King Sluggers beep baseball team took on the Chugiak Eagle River Chinooks of the Alaska Baseball League on July 18, 2017, at Loretta French Sports Complex. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News)

When Kaitlin Ogden first heard about beep baseball, she couldn't help but laugh.

A sport where blind people try to hit a ball and run full speed to a base? It sounded like a mess.

Then, she decided to try it.

"At first I thought, 'This is going to be hilarious: a bunch of blind people trying to play a sport — it's going to be a complete, total disaster,' " Ogden said. "Then we started playing and I was like, 'This is really awesome … we're getting this.' "

Ogden, 21, is blind. She is also one of 15 players on the newly formed Aurora Knights of Anchorage — Alaska's first beep baseball team.

Beep baseball, an adaptive version of America's pastime for the blind and visually impaired, features an oversized beeping baseball and two bases, one of which sets off a steady buzz when the ball is hit. If the batter reaches the buzzing base before the ball is fielded, it's a run. If the fielder gets the ball first, it's an out.

All players, aside from the sighted pitcher and catcher who play on the team that's at bat, wear blindfolds so the playing field is even. There are no age, gender or ability restrictions.

"The only requirement for our team is that you be visually impaired," said Aurora Knights manager Sarah Walker, whose team features players ranging in age from 15 to the mid-60s.

Walker said the idea for the team started in June 2016, when the Anchorage Lions Club brought a beep baseball team from Seattle to town to play the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaska Baseball League.

[Video and story: A look back at the 2016 game between Sluggers and Bucs]

The Seattle Sluggers came back this year for two more games against ABL teams, and this time some of the Aurora Knights got to play for the Sluggers.

Walker said she was terrified when she played her first official game Monday, but in her very first plate appearance, she hammered the ball and scored a run for the Sluggers.

It was a good game, she said, even though her team lost 10-9.

"It was terrifying … but it was fantastic," Walker said. "It's like a roller coaster: once you've taken it, you're like, 'Let's do it again.' "

Walker, 34, has a degenerative retinal condition that limits her peripheral vision and makes it difficult to see in extreme low or bright light.

Before managing the Aurora Knights, she had never played baseball or softball and hadn't coached a sports team of any kind. But when team founder Kevin Whitley of the Anchorage Lions Club asked if she would manage the team, Walker couldn't refuse.

"(Sarah's) really great at showing up and getting things done," Ogden said. "She's a little spitfire, but we love her because of that."

The Knights have played a couple of scrimmages games against local softball teams this summer. They practice on Sundays whenever they can find a field to play on.

Walker said the team will travel next year to an invitational beep baseball tournament in Seattle. She also hopes to play a series of charity events next summer against the Anchorage police and fire departments as well as a military game. The ultimate goal is a trip to the annual National Beep Baseball Association World Series held every August.

But for now, the team is all about practicing and learning fundamentals.

One of the hardest parts, Ogden said, is trying to hear the ball and bases, especially when there are other noises like cheering fans — or singing teammates.

"Tony (Gebhard), he's our resident band member," Ogden said with a laugh. "He'll be, like, singing all during practice. Gotta tell him to shut up so we can hear the ball."

Players are able to laugh at their mistakes and joke with one another, which is important when you have a disability, Ogden said.

"It's really teaching me that just because I'm blind, that doesn't mean I can't do certain things," she said. "That's what I really love about this."