NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) -- A year ago, Nicholas Jones' peanut allergy forced his family to bolt from a New Britain Rock Cats baseball game just minutes after arriving. This month, the 6-year-old threw out the first pitch.

The team, and others around the country, are setting aside special "food-free" sections for fans with severe allergies.

At New Britain stadium, the section was cleaned before the May game and extra ushers were posted to keep people with food out of the area. For many kids with allergies, it was the first time they had been to a professional sporting event.

Normal childhood activities - ball games, going to the movies or the zoo, even some birthday parties - are usually off-limits for such children, because of the risk they could eat, touch or simply be near a food that would cause a fatal reaction.

"There's not a lot of options for us," said Laura Austin, the mother of a 2-year-old boy, Skyler, who is so allergic to peanuts, milk and a number of other foods that she has locks on her refrigerator.

Austin, who brought Skyler and 6-year-old Dakota to see the Rock Cats, said the baseball game was an amazing experience.

"It was so much fun," she said. "We never get to do anything like that."

More than 7 million people are estimated to be allergic to some type of food. About 1.5 million are believed to be allergic to peanuts. Even traces of the nut can cause highly allergic people to go into immediately anaphylactic shock that can end in death.

Sufferers must always carry syringes of epinephrine that can stop the reaction for about 20 minutes as they rush to the emergency room.

"When you're living with a child with a food allergy, you never have the luxury of letting down your guard," said Anne Munoz-Furlong, head of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, an advocacy and awareness group with more that 24,000 members.

At the same time, parents are struggling to balance their caution with giving their children as normal a life as possible, Munoz-Furlong said. That's why the group is helping parents like Laura Austin and Sandy Jones, Nicholas' mother, set up safe activities their kids can attend.

In Texas, a family with an allergic child was able to go to a Texas Rangers game last year because the team sectioned off a few food-free rows. In North Carolina, a local allergy support group is planning a food-free game in June with the Hickory Crawdads.

The Connecticut game came together after Jones approached the Rock Cats and explained her family's situation. Her baseball-loving son - who told her on the way out of the ballpark last year, "That's, OK, mom; I don't have to go to a baseball game" - should be able to go to a game, Jones said.

Rock Cats Manager John Willi agreed, and together the team and the parents set up the food-free section for the May game.

The team put extra security in place and made sure the families had a separate entrance away from the concession stands. Vendors didn't sell food near the section, and cleaning crews paid special attention to the area. Before the game, Jones and her father were permitted to come in with buckets and dishwasher soap (which dissolves the proteins in peanuts that cause the allergic reactions) to wash down the seats and the railings.

Nicholas and his family got the full game experience. He and his 7-year-old brother Christopher, who both play on a children's baseball team, donned a giant foam paw with claws and a big foam No. 1 finger to cheer the Rock Cats, who routed the New Haven Ravens 12-5.

Christopher got his baseball signed, and Nicholas took center field to throw the game's first pitch.

The game was a success for the Rock Cats, too, who sold out the section and earned some loyal fans in the process. Willi said the team is trying to arrange a few more games this season with food-free sections.

In North Carolina, the local group Food Education Allergy Support Team (FEAST) is gearing up for a Crawdads game on June 26. Amy Morrison, whose 3 1/2-year-old-son Cammron is severely allergic to peanuts and other foods, is helping the team to make safety arrangements.

Morrison is planning to use the game as an educational opportunity as well, setting up tables to let Crawdads fans know about food allergies. The hope is that the more people know, the less likely they are to their kids something dangerous.

"We're excited about the fact that our kids are going to a ball game, but we're also excited about the public awareness," Morrison said. "Every time someone new learns about this, our children are that much safer."

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.