Members of the Grays Harbor College baseball team, the Montesano High School softball team and Montesano Little League came together in support of an annual Montesano Challenger Division game held Monday at Nelson Field in Montesano.

The game featured several local baseball players in the league’s Challenger Division, which is Little League’s “adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges,” according to the littleleague.org website.

On Monday afternoon, more than 20 Challenger Division little leaguers took the field and played two innings of joyous baseball, where each player gets to hit regardless of strikes, no score is kept and every one of the several hundred in attendance cheers them on.

“It’s something that brings the whole community together and everyone comes to the ballpark and smiles watching all these kids come out here and have fun,” said current Grays Harbor College and former Montesano High School baseball player Cole Daniels, who thought of the idea of starting a local Challenger Division when he was still wearing his own Little League cleats.

“In 2014, I was picked to go to the Little League World Series as a (winner of) Little League of America’s ‘Good Sport Award,’” Daniels said. “While I was there, I watched a Challengers game in Williamsport (PA) and I just thought, ‘Man, that would be awesome of I could take this back home and start it.’ The next year we started it up and we’ve slowly grown and grown.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Grays Harbor College baseball player Tysen Richardson, an Elma High School graduate, and shares some smiles and laughs with Challenger Division player Scottland Ballew during Monday’s game in Montesano.

The cancellation of last year’s installment due to government shutdowns didn’t keep the crowds away on Monday as onlookers lined the stands and volunteers and players populated the field to create a festive atmosphere.

“This is the biggest turnout and it makes my heart melt that we have all these people who are willing to support all these kids and come out and show the community what Challenger baseball is,” Montesano Bulldogs senior softball player and Challenger Division Buddy Coordinator Cassadie Golding said. “It’s one of my favorite events to come to every year and I look forward to it.”

“It’s just a blessing because five, six years ago, this is nothing I would have even thought of,” Daniels said of the turnout. “Now, it’s an event that brings the community together to come watch these kids play. It’s pretty special.”

Golding, who has been the Challenger’s Buddy Coordinator for the past three years, said she will miss the event as she will attend Cal-State San Luis Obispo University in the fall, but hopes to see the growth and support continue.

“I’m sad that I can’t continue with moving to college,” she said. “But I’m excited to see how much the program will grow and I hope we can get a turnout like this from now on because you can really see how happy the players get when they have all these other ballplayers here to cheer them on.”

The number of players has also grown from six in 2015 — the first year the game was played in Montesano — to 23 on Monday.

The Challengers also plan to play games away from home, facing teams from Olympia and Federal Way in a three-team event in June.

For Daniels, Golding and their teammates, the joy on the players’ faces is a reward and reason why they continue to be involved in this game.

“I’m in it for the kids’ enjoyment and to see them get to play baseball like anybody else and really get that opportunity,” Golding said. “My favorite part is seeing how happy they get.”

“Pretty much the whole reason we come out here and do this is to watch them smile and to watch them have a great time and play with each other and get out,” Daniels said. “They weren’t always as blessed to come out and play baseball before this, so now, just watching them come play ball and smile, means everything to me.”

Challenger Division player Theoden “Bubba” Tom prepares to swing during the Montesano Little League Challenger Division game on Monday at Nelson Field in Montesano. RYAN SPARKS / THE DAILY WORLD