Baseball team makes student with autism's dream come true with home run
A high school baseball team in Whitesboro, Texas, gave a young man with autism the opportunity to experience something he won’t ever forget.
The Whitesboro High School’s baseball coach and team let 17-year-old Alex Reed suit up and play in their game late last month against S&S High, KXII reported.
Alex is a huge sports fan and always wanted to play on the school’s baseball squad, but wasn’t able to because of his disability.
“Challenged kids, they just want to be like everybody else, and the kids at Whitesboro gave him that opportunity,” said Alex’s father, James Reed.
For the game against S&S High, Alex dressed in uniform, participated in warms-ups and sat with the team in the dugout.
“They were practicing, warming up and he was out there with them,” James said.
Late in the game, with Whitesboro in the lead, Alex even got a chance to pinch-hit. And it was during his at-bat that Alex really got to show off what he could do.
“I hit a ground ball and I ran it all the way to home plate,” Alex said.
On his first at-bat ever, Alex had hit an inside-the-park home run. “My team is so good,” he said.
“They take extremely good care of him,” said James Reed. “They enjoyed it. They enjoyed watching him do what he did.”
The baseball team even gave him the game ball.
It wasn’t the first time Whitesboro players have gone out of their way to include Alex.
Alex “also stands on the field at football games, even getting to score once, and he has his very own letterman jacket,” KXII reported.
“The kids he goes to school with, they treat him unbelievable, they always have,” James added.
James had a piece of advice for fellow parents out there. “Raise your kids to be like that group of boys,” he said, referring to the Whitesboro players.
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