Fall baseball is on the horizon, which means every night offers a deep slate of games full of playoff implications. We have entered the most exciting part of the baseball calendar, and yet, not one of those games will be as awesome as what happened Monday night in Baltimore before the game even started.

Hailey Dawson, a five-year-old from Las Vegas who has a condition that has led to an underdeveloped right hand, threw out the ceremonial first pitch with the help of a 3D-printed throwing hand designed for her by students at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Hailey suffers from Poland Syndrome, a condition where a person is born with missing or abnormal muscles on one side of the chest cavity, which usually leads to abnormalities of the hand.

In an attempt to avoid a much more expensive prosthetic, Hailey’s mother asked the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for help. The hand works by utilizing Hailey’s wrist muscles. When she moves her wrist down the fingers grasp, and when she moves her wrist up they release. The hand even matched the Orioles’ team colors and was adorned with the team’s logo. Although its primary use on Monday was to make our hearts grow three sizes, the hand also allows Hailey to do lots of things she couldn’t do before.

Oh, and if all of this doesn’t sound wonderful enough, Hailey threw out the first pitch to her favorite player, Baltimore Oriole Manny Machado. Watch it below, but be warned, it might cause a weird sensation in your eyeballs:

Have any other heartwarming stories about science making the life of a child better? Share them with us below.

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HT: NYMag
IMAGES: Baltimore Sun; Getty Images