Mother & Daughter Duo Share the Beep Baseball Diamond

For eight-year-old Sanibel Davis, who was diagnosed with a rare condition hindering the attachment of her retinas, participating in Little League was a challenge. 

 

Whether it was following the sound of her mother, Vicky Wu Davis, wearing a vibrant-colored vest around the field or attempting to track the dirty rubber baseball catapulted from the soft toss machine, there were many complications. 

 

These issues isolated her with many of the other young ballplayers unable to understand the challenges she faced playing the sport. 

 

However, Sanibel Davis found a new home in Boston Strong, an all-age inclusive beep baseball team in its first year of tournament play.

 

Naming their lone daughter after the area where the Boston Red Sox play during Spring Training, baseball is quite important to the Davis family. This past year they even took a family trip to Williamsport, PA to watch the Little League World Series. 

 

With this factor in mind, Wu Davis was looking for a solution towards a better athletic experience for Sanibel and stumbled across the prospect of beep baseball in 2021. Unfortunately, there were zero opportunities for children to participate in the sport in Massachusetts at this time. 

 

However, keeping her ear to the ground helped her become knowledgeable about the creation of Boston Strong and she jumped at the opportunity to be a volunteer.

 

“I knew that I wanted to be a part of creating a space that could be fun and competitive and was going to contribute what I could to doing that,” Wu Davis said.

 

For most of the season, Sanibel would be the youngest player on the team, but her mother wasn’t worried about any form of skill or age gaps. She attributes Sanibel’s personality to why she believed it would be a success for her daughter.

 

“Sanibel is very extroverted,” she explained. “She's just got something about her and has a large presence on the team.”

 

Her social skills were well displayed during one tournament weekend when she was collecting a large amount of pins from umpires and other spectators at the event. One umpire became aware of Sanibel’s new hobby and returned to the field with a whole catalog of pins which resulted in a gleaming smile. Wu Davis said the community curated through beep baseball is one of its best qualities for her daughter.

 

“Everybody is just so helpful, motivating, and inspiring,” she said. “With Sanibel, we want her to be able to have great role models and experiences and Boston Strong has been excellent at providing that.

 

Although there are no age restrictions to be on the Boston Strong roster, most tournaments have a 12-year and up requirement to be on the field. This limited Sanibel’s ability to play before the first tournament and many uncertainties were going into the year. She would get her chance at the Beast of the East competition on July 15.

 

With one knee to the ground and her catcher mitt out, Wu Davis watched her daughter stroll to the plate for her first beep baseball plate appearance. In this sport coaches and volunteers pitch and catch for their team to increase contact. Wu Davis called the opportunity surreal. 

 

“As a parent, you want to shout or cheer them on maybe cross your fingers and hope and be proud no matter what happens, but it was a little different as the catcher,” she said. “There was a bit of added pressure to be on the same side, but to be right there in the moment was a golden moment.”

 

As the beeping baseball headed towards the plate, Sanibel swung through all the nerves and made contact but would be out on the play. There was excitement from all involved nonetheless.