JUSTIN GUIDO/butler eagleMike Sherry proposed starting the Miracle League in Cranberry Township after watching a Miracle League game in Alabama about two years ago. Sherry’s 5-year-old daughter, Jordan, is autistic and will be playing.

The Miracle League is an organization of baseball teams for children with special needs between the ages of 5 and 18.

<B>THE PLAYERS</B>• Nearly 100 players and 200 volunteer “buddies” have registered. “Buddies” will assist the players during the games.• Nearly 90,000 special needs children live in the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Lawrence, Mercer, Westmoreland and Venango, according to 2000 census statistics.

• Registration fee is $35, though no player will be turned away because of an inability to pay. Register at www.mlswpa.org.

• The playing field is a rubberized, level surface, free of obstacles and totally handicapped-accessible.• The Miracle League facility will be 14,900 square feet, including dugouts and foul territory.• The distance from the plate to the center field fence is 115 feet.• The nearest Miracle League Field to Cranberry’s is in Altoona.• There are 120 Miracle League fields throughout the United States and Canada.

‘We asked that they have Opening Day when we (Pirates) are at home because we want to be there.’<b>Patty Paytas,</b>Pirates’ director of community and public affairs

Volunteer groups, coupled with Pirates Charities of Pittsburgh, raised $300,000 toward the field’s construction.

The Miracle League field will be part of Cranberry Township’s new 115-acre Graham Park, located off Rochester Road.