Spirited Players In A League All Their Own

Although they belonged to a one-team league, that didn’t stop them from pouring all their effort into Saturday’s end-of-season game.

The team, a softball club for challenged children, had been playing together for six months.

Although all grade schoolers with disabilities were allowed, those who joined all suffered from either Down syndrome or autism.

Not enough players signed on - there were eight this first year - to form more than one team. That didn’t dampen spirits any, though. The sluggers in the blue jerseys at Broadway Elementary were just glad to have a diamond to call their own.

There has never has been such a group in the Valley, said coach Linda Berg.

There is one in the city, but it doesn’t cater to players younger than 12.

“The little kids didn’t fit in,” Berg said. She started the softball team this year because her 7-year-old son, Billy, had watched his siblings play organized ball.

“We didn’t want him to be left out,” she said. “It wasn’t fair.”

He wasn’t left out this summer.

Billy stepped up to the plate, plastic orange bat in hand. The pitcher sent a white plastic orb his way, and his bat made contact with a sharp smack.

He made it to first base, then sat down on it.

Just like in any other youth league sport, that prompted a loud response from Dad.

“No sitting on first base!” hollered Bill Berg, who coaches wrestling, track, basketball and football at North Pines Junior High. “Up!”

Chris Naccarato, also 7, came up to plate with a plan. Holding the bat at both ends, he prepared himself for a bunt. The first pitch came at him wild. He refused the foul ball.

The pitcher lobbed another. The ball approached slowly, drawing a sharp arc behind it. “Pop!” sounded the plastic-on-plastic. Chris took off.

His mother, Sharon Naccarato, said sports just aren’t the same without a team to play. Chris plays on a Spokane Valley Junior Soccer League team, but Naccarato said her son could have trouble playing on most recreational softball teams - “they play so fast,” she said. Still, a game of catch with parents isn’t enough.

“They have siblings in sports, they watch their sisters and brothers play,” Naccarato said. “They want to be part of something real, too. Playing in the backyard doesn’t do it.”

And, the kids can do more than most people give them credit for. Berg said the biggest obstacles to large team turnouts are parents.

“A lot think their child couldn’t do it, but they can,” Berg said.

There’s no win-loss record yet, no tournament to shoot for at season’s end. That, organizers hope, lies ahead. Some day, there could be a league. “That’s what we would love,” Berg said.

Until next year, then.

Fortunately for the kids, the fun isn’t over just because softball is.

The bowling season has just begun.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo