Children with impaired vision given opportunity to tour White Sox baseball facility

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Very few kids get the opportunity to hit a ball in a major league stadium, and even fewer do who have impaired vision. But one group, part of a special camp this week for low-vision kids, had Guaranteed Rate Field to themselves Thursday, and they were loving it.

"I really liked hitting the ball. It was the first time I ever batted a ball in my entire life," 14-year-old Zander Karellas said.

After hitting the bright orange ball, Karellas ran the bases, all the bases. It was a home run in more ways than one.

"What they're doing here is letting them not feel embarrassed, feel really cool. Try it; don't fail. It's really good," said Leslie LeResche, with the Spectrios Institute.

The kids are all part of Gramma Martyl's low-vision summer camp, in honor of Martyl Reinsdorf, the late wife of Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who was a big supporter of the vision impaired community.

"To be able to do a tactile tour to let people see and feel the baseball experience and that's what today was about," said Christine O'Reilly, White Sox VP of community relations.

The tour helps those who are visually impaired to experience through touch and feel.

In the Sox dugout, they got to hold some of the equipment, including a ball cut open to feel the inside. And they even got to make a call to the bullpen.

It is an experience not only to make their friends jealous but one they will never forget.

"I think it's really cool that people like me, visually impaired, and can still watch numbers and do that same kind of thing as I do," 13-year-old Paige Tichon said.

For many of the kids, it was their first ever time in a major league ballpark.

They're all vowing to come back. However, next time they'll probably be in the stands.