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Challenger teams given star treatment ahead of today’s exhibition match at Little League

By Pat Crossley 8 min read

Even though they hadn't stepped onto the field at Volunteer Stadium yet, the two teams who are meeting today for the Challenger Exhibition Game were all treated like champions as they were given a rousing welcome at the Williamsport Branch of the YMCA yesterday.

From the minute they stepped off their buses and headed inside they were greeted with clapping and cheers as part of a day that had been planned as a joint effort by BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 and the YMCA.

The Little League Challenger Division is an adaptive baseball program for people with diverse abilities, both physical and intellectual. Two teams, usually one from Pennsylvania and one from farther away are invited for the exhibition game.

This year the team from East County, California, traveled the farthest while the opponents, the Berwyn Paoli team from Berwyn in Chester County, had the shortest distance to come for the exhibition game.

Representatives from both teams had nothing but praise for the welcome their teams have received not just at the Y, but from the whole community during their stay here.

"It's been so welcoming for us. I mean, I've been shocked and in tears every day for how inclusive and how welcoming everybody is in there, and just coming here, the clapping and cheering, everything. I'm like, oh my gosh," said Amanda Ehringer, manager and head coach for the East Coast team, about their welcome at the Y.

"And even the hotel where we're staying and the representatives and the management, they came and they greeted us and they had these shirts that were custom made that had our names on it and our team on it, and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like this is amazing. Like this is incredible. We went to the museum yesterday, and they're like, if you have an extra jersey, please bring it, and we will put it on display. And I'm like, this is crazy," she added.

Gary Brooks, director of the Berwyn-Paoli Challenger program, who is also helping coach while they're here, came a few days before the rest of the team because they wanted to catch a game.

"My son and I came up a little early because I'm a Cleveland person and the Ohio team was playing yesterday. So my son asked me as we were getting ready to put everything together, hey, do you want to go up to the game? I said sure. So we left early, got in, and watched the Great Lakes game. So I was out a little bit," Brooks said.

"Just the reception that he and I got at the complex that day, just the two of us interacting with the Little League teams from Ohio and Iowa, the ushers, the people at the concessions. Once they find out that you're there with the Challenger program and are going to be playing on Saturday, amazing responses. People are offering pins. They're doing things. They're engaging with you. Conversation. So it's great to see," he said.

"And then flash fast forward to last night, we had an opportunity to take five or six of our players over to the nursing home and do a little meet and greet with the folks at the nursing home to bring joy to them, which was fun, and we had a great time. One of the residents actually wanted one of our hats, and I was like, here you go. So we had extras, and so we got some pictures and everything. But it was great to engage, and they loved baseball and bringing our families there. We brought some Uno cards, so we played some Uno and just engaged with the residents over there, which was great," Brooks continued.

"We got back at the hotel last night, and we were all going over the Buffalo Wild Wings. We go over with a group of 20, and you end up with the Latin America team that just lost to Japan, and one table outside, and then another Panama team, and I was encouraging our families and players to go up and say hi. And the language was a barrier, but you give them a fist bump, you give them a high five and you know that sort of breaks down the language barrier. So, that reception, you could tell, was great, and then you come into this, this morning, and I think our families are starting to get a feel for how special this is. You know, the pin trade coming in here and getting the reception when you walk in, and you got people giving you a standing ovation. Yeah, it's great for the players to be able to get that rock star treatment," he said.

The Berwyn-Paoli Challenger program began in 1991, two years after the Little League International started their program.

"We've had a thriving program for 35 years," Brooks said, noting that they had even played during COVID by following protocol by washing down baseballs and bags and keeping people spread out.

"It was important to the league to be able to have a season. It was important for us as well to get people out of the house at that time. I think it's even more important because you didn't have anything to do socially," he said.

Inclusion has been a big part of their program and they have found ways to showcase the program in the community, one way by working with the local high school baseball team.

"Those players grew up playing in Paoli Little League and they're now at the high school level. I think what's important is when they do a clinic for us, or we've attended their games and been able to throw out the first pitch, these are students that are walking the same halls in the high school," he said.

"I think it's been it's a great thing to get to know people and to have that camaraderie and be familiar, and I think that, from an inclusion standpoint, the other thing that is really important with the Challenger baseball, just like any other Little League player, sports has the ability to bring so many things. I grew up the son of a coach. I was preached from the time I was that big that hard work, discipline, perseverance, dealing with issues, sportsmanship, teamwork, being humble in victory, gracious in defeat-all those things are sure they help you as a baseball player. Those are skills that hopefully instilled by working with the Challenger players, just like the Little League players, they're going to help them in their lives because at some point they're going to be 21 and they're going to be out in the community working and they're going to have a bad day.

Brooks' community has made the Challenger program a priority. The league had built eight fields for the Little League teams, were funded privately, and the first game played was a Challenger game. The community also comes together for Challenger Day.

"We have a special environment where I think people don't understand is like outside of the community. So there's still only a handful of little leagues out of all of them that are there that have a Challenger program, and there's a desire and a need to have it because it's important to provide those opportunities for our young adults," he said.

For Ehringer, it's been a struggle to get the program together in her community, while Brooks has a total of 50 players on the whole Berwyn-Paoli team, the East County team has struggled to get players sometimes and because of finances, was only able to bring 12 of their team members for the exhibition.

With the help of their District 4 Little League, and several other sponsors, the California team was able to make the trip from the west coast to Williamsport.

But Ehringer just wished more people knew about the Challenger program.

"You know what MLB is and you know what the WNBA is. You know about all that, but you never really hear about Challenger a lot and it kind of saddens me," she said.

"I just wish more people knew about it," Ehringer said.

While at the YMCA, the teams joined the special needs drumming group and were treated to an old baseball favorite, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," led by Rashan West-Bey, who is known as the "Director of Smiles" for the Williamsport Crosscutters baseball team.

Starting at /week.