ORLANDO, Fla. – A longtime baseball league for special needs athletes in Central Florida is at risk of shutting down if they don’t raise enough money to replace their aging field.

Tucked away at Trotter’s Park in Orlando is where you’ll find Central Florida Miracle League, a baseball league for individuals with physical and mental disabilities.

Jeanette Borbolla, league director and mom to one of the athletes, told News 6 the league’s mission is to help build self-worth, overcome boundaries, and make America’s pastime more inclusive.

“This league is sometimes the only outlet that some of these players have for exercise,” Borbolla said. “It’s something outside of doctors, outside of therapies and sessions, and gives the parents an opportunity to sit back for 45 minutes and see their kids participate out on the field and be part of a team.”

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It’s one of more than 300 Miracle Leagues across the world, and the first one to start in Florida. More than 60 athletes between the ages of 5 and 65 years old have signed up to play for the upcoming 10-week spring season, which starts on March 1.

“We have individuals who are very verbal and others who are non-verbal and some who are able-bodied and some who are not,” Borbolla said. “What keeps them in common is their love of baseball and the smile every time they come to the field.”

But after two decades of providing an outlet to an underserved community, the league is in desperate need of a new playing surface, or this could be their last season. Installed 20 years ago, Miracle Field is now nearly unplayable, has a significant drainage problem, and is becoming a safety hazard due to the chunks of turf missing on the playing surface.

“We can’t even repair the field because the product’s no longer available,” Borbolla said. “There’s a certain area that we need to keep players away from, not only from running, but from wheelchairs and walkers and crutches.”

Borbolla and league president Mike Houlihan have been working hard to raise money for a new turf field, but they say they’re running out of time.

“We’re at a point where if we don’t get this field changed out and resurfaced in the next six months to a year, we won’t be able to play on it anymore,” Houlihan added. “It’s just a safety issue.”

The new field, Houlihan said, has a price tag of $272,000. So far, the league’s been able to raise 70% of the cost.

“It’s the last 30% that seems to be the hardest,” Houlihan explained. “We’re always looking out to the community to say, ‘Hey, give us some ideas. Are there grants out there that we’re not familiar with?’”

When the facility was built in 2005, it was initially a 50-50 partnership between Miracle League and the city of Orlando. While the city currently leases the property to the league for $1 per year, it’s not involved in funding.

“We do our own cleanup,” Borbolla said. “We do our painting of the dugouts, we’re missing a bleacher cover that fell in a hurricane, and we have no bathroom.”

The Miracle League is now hoping for a miracle, so more memories can be made for these special athletes and their families.

“The ride home is where I get to enjoy it because (my son) is like, ‘Mom, did you see that triple? I hit it to the fence,’” Borbolla said. “It may have rolled to the fence, but to learn to see through their eyes that they hit it to the fence or hit it over the fence is all worth it.”

If you’d like to help Central Florida Miracle League, click here.