Home field advantage

Opening of new Miracle League field delayed by tornado damage.

A few weeks before the Miracle League of Troy was set to debut a new baseball field at the Troy Sportsplex in 2025, the unthinkable happened. An EF2 tornado tore through the sportsplex, ripping part of the roof off the recreation center and damaging ballfields, bleachers and lighting.

Debris tossed by the tornado shredded the Miracle League’s new playing surface.
“It picked up one set of bleachers in particular and threw it into the chain link and backstop of the Miracle League field,” says Dan Smith, director of Troy Parks and Recreation. “The bleachers disintegrated but then kept going and just acted like box blades. It went across the surface of the brand-new Miracle League field that had never been played on.”

The diamond’s debut was delayed a year, but Miracle League athletes stepped onto their home field for the 2026 season with a new playing surface.

The Miracle League is a national organization that gives children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to play baseball. Today, there are chapters, sports complexes and teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Players are paired with volunteer buddies, who assist them during play. The fields and dugouts are wheelchair-accessible.

The first Miracle League field opened at the Troy Sportsplex in 2011.

“Our original surface was a rubber-coated safety surface that was installed in sheets and rolls, and it was beautiful when it was installed,” Smith says. “But over the years, the edges began to curl up on all of the seams, and it became not only unsightly but a hazard.”

The league sold T-shirts and sought donations from supporters to help cover the $200,000 cost of replacing the playing surface.

In 2024, South Alabama Electric Cooperative was among the contributors to the field restoration project, pledging $5,000. The cooperative’s wholesale energy provider, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, pledged another $5,000. SAEC also submitted the project to the charitable program of one of its third-party lenders, CoBank, which put in another $5,000.

Each year, SAEC employees make a Miracle League donation as a Christmas gift to CEO David Bailey, whose grandson Kristian Prettyman played with the Troy Miracle League.

Smith says the generosity of sponsors, individuals and the city of Troy helped the Miracle League raise enough money to cover the field in a synthetic turf similar to what is used on college and professional football and baseball fields.

The new field was completed in February 2025. Then on March 15, the EF2 tornado tore through Troy and rural Pike County.

“It was a very proud day when we were finished with it, and then three weeks later, the tornado came through,” Smith says. “Because there was so much damage to so many of our other recreational facilities, it all just kind of blended into one challenge. We were, of course, discouraged, but at the same time we were enthusiastically motivated to get everything reopened.”

Everything at the Miracle League field had to be replaced — the playing surface, the bleachers and the chain-link fencing. All lighting had to be replaced at the Miracle League field as well as 11 other baseball and softball fields and the soccer complex. Upgrades were made as well, such as shades over bleachers and netting to catch foul balls.

While heartbreaking for all those who worked to raise money for the new Miracle League field, Smith says they were thankful nobody was hurt in the tornado. Insurance as well as a multimillion dollar bond issue by the city government covered the cost of repairs.

Baseball, softball and Miracle League games were played in 2025 at other locations, including Troy University’s baseball field, where the Miracle League has traditionally played its season-opening game.

The Miracle League of Troy’s Monday night games were packed during the 2026 season as the new playing surface made its debut.

“It’s just beautiful,” Smith says. “Everybody loves it, and it was just standing-room only — a lot of people in the bleachers and in lawn chairs.”