ANAHEIM – This was a gameday when everyone played, when everyone swung the bat, got a hit, scored and won a medal. This was the day everyone made a baseball memory.
It was a sunny Saturday at Angel Stadium, days after baseball’s champions were crowned and more than a month after the Angels last battled here. The outfield, sectioned into five miniature diamonds, became home to another World Series for 20 teams whose greatest victory comes simply by playing the game the best way they can.
We sometimes forget the good that’s at the heart of sports until we’re reminded of it. That happened Saturday when 800 special-needs players, their game “buddies,” and their coaches took the field for the eighth Orange County Little League Challenger Classic.
Baseball was fun, and at times, even funny when Ryan Wong, a 10-year-old District 62 Junior Navy team slugger from Huntington Beach slapped a line drive into left field.
Rather than take off toward his field’s first base, Ryan dashed way off course and ran the bases on the major-league diamond. His coach and his teammates shouted and pointed for him to go one way but Ryan was long gone, determined to take the same basepaths of the Angels he has watched on television.
“He was so happy to be in the stadium,” said Natalie Mendoza-Wong about her son who has autism. “He likes regular baseball, so I’m glad he has Challenger games where he can participate.”
Highlight plays were everywhere, many captured on camera and video by proud parents in the stands and some even shown on the giant videoboards looming over left and right field.
In an afternoon session game, one boy with Down Syndrome singled, got to first and chest-bumped the first baseman in triumph. They both fell to the ground laughing, climbed back to their feet, dusted themselves off and fist-bumped. Then it was back to baseball.
This, after all, was their World Series, their fall classic to complete the regular season they played on neighborhood fields during the spring and summer.
Games each lasted about an hour, which was long enough for every player to come to bat at least twice, often with bases loaded and no such things as strikes and outs. There were many foul tips, bunts and a healthy share of groundballs to field and flyballs to catch.
“Watching the kids play, run around and celebrate puts baseball in perspective,” said Angels bullpen coach Steve Soliz, who spent the entire day at the event. “Because this here is what the game’s about: having fun.”
Angels pitcher Jerome Williams and former Angels pitchers Jim Abbott, Chuck Finley, Clyde Wright and Justin Speier sunk low and tossed underhand to batters, eager to have their no-hitters spoiled. Former Angels All-Star second baseman Bobby Grich helped with fielding.
“I love this,” said a glowing Grich.
This event completed the sports calendar year for most players. Six players on the Newport Beach Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks will trade swinging at strikes for rolling them for Fountain Valley Sharkwaves bowling team, which will attempt to qualify for the Special Olympics Southern California Fall Games on Dec. 14 and 15 in Fountain Valley and Irvine.
But on Saturday, nobody – not even District 62 Navy cleanup batter Julia Kelly, 10, of Huntington Beach – wanted strikes. After two furious swings and misses left her braided, blond pigtails spinning, Julia clobbered ball through the middle, sending her coach/pitcher to jump out of harm’s way.
“There were a lot of highlights today,” said coach/pitcher Krissy Land, the president of the Challenger Little League District 62 that covers Huntington Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa. “That was a big hit.”
Even little hits, like the bunt from Julia’s teammate, Mercy Hill-Mariscal, felt big.
By the time the Temecula Valley infielders got to the ball, Mercy, 10, had already powered her wheelchair to first base, her best friend and game “buddy,” Abby Foster, skipping and clapping along the route.
Around the same time, a shy Trinity Virgen, 8, still wearing her pink glove, tugged on the hand of her father, Steve. Together they scrambled home to the shaking pompons and scissor kicks of Capistrano Valley High cheerleaders.
Across the outfield, Wesley Gore knelt down to strap the shin guards around the legs of his younger brother, Aaron, 19, of Costa Mesa, the District 62 Senior Grey team catcher. His team was buzzing after the previous inning in which Maggie Van Wig, 17, blasted a shot over the in-playing outfield and sprinted around the diamond in her aqua-colored Keds for a home run.
“A home run is pretty fun,” said a breathless Maggie, welcomed home by high-five- and hug-seeking teammates. “But I’ve hit one before.”
The achievements were relative but each one personal. Some players made their first catches. Some made their longest throws. Some stepped to the plate without the assistance of a buddy, swung the bat with both hands and made contact for the first time.
Nicky Yhap, 15, of Huntington Beach, ran solo from third base to home, where his mother, Chris, stood and shook his stuffed, gray anteater mascot that kept him focused.
“Something about the motions in sports keep his attention and ground him,” said Chris Yhap. “Anything with a ball or a puck or his mascot, Nicky loves.”
You knew something special had happened when parents jumped the highest, cheering, some even tearing up while smiling tight with joy. You realized you were watching stories that were bigger than baseball.
Between being on-deck and stepping to the plate for the Red team, J.J. Degeytere, 17, took the bat from his father and coach, Jesse, and bowed his head to be fitted with a batting helmet. But he wasn’t quite ready to enter the batter’s box. He looked around the stadium, needing one last thing in his pre-bat routine.
Batting gloves? A sip of water? Bubble gum? No. It was his mother, Liz, jogging from the bench to meet him at the plate, standing close enough for him to lean forward and give her a kiss on the cheek.
Only then was J.J. set to be the batter up.
And with a swing, a low-flying shot that dribbled along the third-base line and the cheers from his teammates, J.J. took off running, his fists pumping toward the heavens as he made his way to first base.
A runner scored, stopping short and then broad-jumping to land on home. Nobody knew or even kept the score because it didn’t matter. They all were playing baseball. So everybody won.
Contact the writer: masmith@ocregister.com
