Emotional reunion in Grand Junction for SMC Pioneers
SMC
Tyler Lancaster wheels special-needs child Raymond Halsey down the first-base line Thursday.TODD SHANESY/todd.shanesy@shj.com
Published: Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 23, 2014 at 12:22 a.m.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- There was a special reunion at the park on this Memorial Day weekend.
At the end of their
baseball season, special-needs children in the Challenger League get to
meet some of their heroes who are in town to compete in the Junior
College World Series. A few teams participate each year, players are
matched up as buddies to help the kids during a game, and then they all
say good-bye forever.
Rare
is the creation of a bond that keeps player and child in touch with
each other after that. But it happened last season, in a couple of
circumstances, when Spartanburg Methodist took part.
Reunions,
however, are next to impossible. It had only happened once. First of
all, a JUCO team has to make it to the World Series in back-to-back
seasons for the kids to know any of the players.
But it happened Thursday evening at Canyon View Park.
And it was amazing.
SMC
first baseman Collin Steagall's special friend from last year, Seth
Dunham, who has Down syndrome, went racing up with a huge smile and an
even bigger hug.
“His face just lit up,” Steagall said. “It was awesome. I loved it.”
Collin
and Seth have been communicating for the past year. They email. They
text. They are Facebook friends. They even use Facetime on their cell
phones to see each other when the talk.
“I
heard somebody say that Seth hasn't smiled like that all year,” SMC
head coach Tim Wallace said. “He hasn't stopped smiling since we got
here.”
Patrick Gleason, a young boy
so introverted and shy that last year it took two SMC players, Preston
Fry and Cody Mincey, just to keep the child on the field for defense,
lit up in his own way when he saw Fry.
“He recognized me even without my mustache,” Fry said. “How about that?”
Fry
gave Patrick a T-shirt from Mincey, who now is a pitcher for South
Carolina. Mincey, as well as Fry, have talked often to Patrick's
parents.
“It's awesome
just to come back and to be able to see the same kids we played with
last year means so much more,” Fry said. “Mincey and I developed a
pretty strong bond with Patrick last year. To see him smile when he saw
me was incredible.”
Patrick,
his parents said, screamed with delight when they showed him an
Internet broadcast of Mincey pitching for the Gamecocks. The family even
wanted to make plans to travel to Columbia.
Mincey would have been so proud of Patrick.
Last year, Patrick wanted to play the deepest outfield possible and turn his back to the batter and hide behind his two buddies.
But this time, Patrick played short infield and didn't need anybody to prop him up.
He was ready to play ball. He was comfortable.
And that is really saying something.
“The
kids have familiarity from the team being here before,” said Carma
Brown, director of the Challenger League since 1998. “When they see the
same team come back, they are hyped at a new level. Plus, the buddies
know what to expect. That makes a great combination.”
Even
if some of their buddies are gone, the kids are quick to make new ones
because it's the same team. Raymond Halsey, a wheelchair-bound child,
was looking for Ranz Bodison, who doesn't play for the Pioneers anymore.
Raymond even wore the wristband he got from Bodison.
But SMC freshman Tyler
Lancaster was quick to jump in as the capable replacement buddy. They
exchanged hats, Lancaster got behind to push the chair and Raymond
yelled, “Full-speed ahead!”
Wallace
volunteered his team for the Challenger games even before his team won
the NJCAA Eastern District and qualified for the World Series.
“It's
good for those kids and it's good for our kids,” Wallace said. “It puts
things in perspective. There is a history of teams participating in
this doing well in the World Series. I don't think that's a
coincidence.”
“Last year,”
Fry said, “we thought this was just an activity for fun. We didn't
realize it was something that would last a lifetime.”
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