The Syracuse Spartans collegiate baseball team recently hosted Syracuse Challengers players and families. The Syracuse Challengers are a baseball organization for children and adults with special needs and disabilities.
Challengers players took the field alongside Spartans, as Challenger Taylor Perkins threw out the first pitch and Brittaney Del Toro sang the national anthem. Challengers players also participated in on-field games in between innings and received autographs from Spartans players. Proceeds from ticket sales and a 50/50 raffle were donated to the Challengers organization.
Syracuse Spartans general manager JJ Potrikus said he wanted his players to learn from the passion and tenacity of the Challengers players.
“The Challengers are the real athletes — we aren’t even close to being able to do what these kids do!” said Potrikus, who also volunteers with the Challengers league. “For the Spartans to see and feel the love in these kids’ hearts, it was a life-changing experience for these college kids, just like it was for me when I first met them; and that will only elevate our game.”
The Syracuse Challenger baseball organization was started by a group of local parents in the 1980s, and is the oldest Little League program for special needs children in the country. The league serves over 280 players and is the largest of its kind in the United States, serving players who are blind, use wheelchairs or have other physical disabilities. Last year, the league opened the first phase of the Field of Dreams at Carrier Park in DeWitt, a handicap accessible, fully integrated sports complex for children and adults. For more information, visit www.syracusechallengerbaseball.com.
The Syracuse Spartans are the newest members of the New York Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat development league for collegiate athletes looking to improve their skills during the off-season. The team of 28 players from across the United States and Canada will play a 42-game regular season schedule in June and July at Dick Rockwell Field at LeMoyne College.
For more information, visit syracusespartans.com.
