The Friday evening sun was disappearing from the sky as the seventh season of Jefferson City's Miracle Baseball League came to a close at Binder Sports Complex. Watching the final games of the season unfold before her, Debra Hendricks, the woman known affectionately as the "Miracle Baseball Commissioner" could not help but smile.
"They are just kids playing baseball," Hendricks said. "They play for the joy, there are no angry parents, no frustrated coaches, everyone is here to witness their triumphs and we celebrate those triumphs together."
Hendricks and her husband Curtis, have watched the league dedicated to children with disabilities grow from two teams that were "barely cobbled together with 20 kids" to six teams split into three age divisions.
Just like Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan "Bud" Selig, this commissioner knows each of her 65 players by name and greets each one when they arrive at the ballpark.
"Every kid here gets a major league jersey with their name on the back," Hendricks said. "Every kid gets the chance to feel like a real major league baseball player."
Hendricks is quick to credit her volunteer coaches and Miracle Baseball League buddies.
"To be a volunteer, you do not have to be athletic," Hendricks said. "You just need to be able to keep the kids safe and have fun. You just have to have the heart to help kids have fun."
Making Friday night's season conclusion even more special for the six teams in the league - the Giants, Mets, Marlins, Nationals, Angels and Brewers - was the addition of their Miracle Baseball Buddies who consisted of members of the Jefferson City High School wrestling program.
Wrestling Coach Phil Cagle, a longtime fixture on the wrestling mats at JCHS, watched his players interacting with their athletes with the spark of pride in his eye and a smile on his face from the third base sideline. Cagle said he was amazed by how his players responded to interacting with athletes.
"This is such a strong, positive program for this community and for these young men," Cagle said.
About 20 of Cagle's players had volunteered Friday night as Miracle League Buddies. He said he sees this program as "helping his athletes learn to appreciate what they are able to do and to make them become better adults in the future."
Two members of the wrestling team, Corbin Howard and Jacob Brune both said they felt like the Miracle Baseball program was a great opportunity for them to provide a service to other athletes.
"Everybody gets to play," Brune, a junior at Jefferson City High School, said. "This is pretty close to the real deal, they make it as life like as possible (with the announcer and with the jerseys)."
Howard, a Jefferson City High School senior, who spent his time being chased in the outfield by his athlete Aiden of the Mets, said despite this only being his first time at Miracle Baseball, he would be making a return next season.
"To give these kids a chance to play baseball when they may not have had the chance outside of this, makes this a pretty great program," said Howard.
As the announcer BJ Davis called the first batter to the batter's box and they played the tune of "Charge" for the Angels and Brewers game one more time, the season had officially started its last game. As the "Commissioner" watched the families interacting with their athletes, cheering them on from crowded bleachers, she shared an important announcement regarding the league.
By the first pitch of the 2016 season, the players will be playing on a customized Miracle Baseball field, ushering Jefferson City's Miracle Baseball League into an elite group of just three other programs in Missouri.
"After raising funds for the last few years, our dream is to host a Miracle League All-Star weekend for the teams from Springfield, Chesterfield and Independence," Hendricks said.