Balls and Bases that Beep Provide St. Louis Softball with Life-Changing Experience

As a Division I head softball coach you receive a lot of emails. They range from recruiting to general correspondence to groups inquiring about using your facility.

Throw in that you have a beautiful on-campus facility, and you are located in a large metropolitan city, and the volume only increases.

Two years ago, St. Louis head coach Christy Connoyer was sifting through emails when one caught her attention.

MindsEye.

“This organization asked if they could use our softball field. I looked up the organization and read a little bit about it,” said Connoyer. “And I’m like, absolutely they can use our field. Come out and do whatever you need to do.”

The MindsEye’s BeepBall Program adds a spin on baseball that allows people of all visual abilities to compete.

Players are guided by sound, not sight – the sound of the beeping ball, buzzing bases, and cues from the pitcher. In fact, all BeepBall athletes are blindfolded except for the sighted pitcher and outfield spotters. This makes the game a unique opportunity for people of all visual abilities to play together.

Because BeepBall uses blindfolds, individuals with typical sight play ball side-by-side with athletes with a disability. This is a learning experience for all and a truly diverse community event.

When the day came for MindsEye to use the field, Connoyer was intrigued.

“I thought, I’m going out there. I went out and was in awe of what these guys do,” she said. “It was guys whether they lost their sight at a young age, whether they went through their teenage years playing baseball and then lost their sight, or their sight is currently diminishing.

“And they’ve been playing some kind of ball and they just don’t want to give up that competitive edge. And to see these guys finding ways to still compete. It was refreshing and humbling.”

The result was a relationship between MindsEye and the Billikens softball program formed.

“I put a blindfold on to try hitting and to feel what it was like. It was incredible,” Connoyer said. “These guys are appreciative of the sport and any type of bat ball sport. We had some great conversations and eventually I played in a tournament with them and went to their gala event.”

Initially it was just Connoyer working with MindsEye, but she knew she wanted to involve her entire softball program.

On Sept. 9 of this year, 18 members of the Billiken team took the field and played against BeepBall teams.

“There was competitiveness from the BeepBall teams,” Connoyer said. “We’re playing against SLU softball, and they are a Division I program.”

For junior Taylor Hochman it provided an appreciation for the game of the softball and an admiration for those who play BeepBall.

“It was a very humbling experience and put a lot of things into perspective,” she said. “It’s totally different than softball for sure because you must have trust between who’s throwing you the ball and know what you need to do and try to hit it.

“Every day we get to go to practice, and I feel like sometimes we can maybe take our sport for granted and our ability to see. And being able to have experiences like this makes us more aware of people that might not be as fortunate as us. And it just puts it into perspective.”

So much fun supporting @MindsEyeRadio through the Ultimate BeepBall Tournament! Great to see some of our friends on the Gateway Archers & STL Sirens BeepBall Teams! #AdaptiveAthletics pic.twitter.com/Zii6uCTkZ1

— SLU Softball (@SLUSoftball) September 9, 2023

The value for the Billiken program goes beyond the field of play.

“But what it does for our team is raise awareness,” Connoyer added. “We’re around incredibly talented young men and women in our athletic department and we go here, and these are some incredibly inspirational and talented individuals that are trying to hit and catch a ball they can’t see.”

“I think the whole experience was incredible,” said Hochman. “We went as a team, and we split up into two teams of nine. And it was a good communication and team building experience because we can’t see anything, and it was about trusting each other. I thought it was a good experience and something that we could learn from and use on the softball field this upcoming season.”

Those around the St. Louis team and the St. Louis community are aware that the Billiken program is centered around giving back to the community.

“I’m an educator and I work in an educational institution,” Connoyer said. “I’m a teacher and my classroom just so happens to be a field. These are young women that are going to go on and be successful in all academic areas, in all facets of life. We spend a lot of time relating what we do on the field to things they’re going to do 10, 15 or 20 years from now.”

A sentiment that is echoed by Hochman and the rest of the St. Louis team.

“We talk a lot about building our community and creating relationships in the community. At the end of the day, we are playing softball but it’s so much more than softball. We’re representing so much more. We’re representing St. Louis University and we’re representing our city and so being able to build relationships with those in the community is going to help us way beyond our years at SLU.”

But Connoyer did not miss an opportunity to take in what giving back truly means.

“And that moment of connecting them with the community, knowing that when they graduate, if there’s an opportunity for them to play in a tournament or do something to give back, that they might say yes, because they got a feel for what it’s like to really be involved in the community. Standing on the mound and looking around at our kids that are all in blindfolds was a heartwarming moment because they are giving back to the community.”

Blindfolded yes, but with a clear vision of how engaging with the community changes lives.

For more information about MindsEye visit the company website.