WASHINGTON,
D.C. – Five-year-old Jimmy Brittain had practiced all
week for the Thurmont Challenger Little League game on the
South Lawn of the White House.
He
wasn’t working on his batting or fielding. His parents
were giving him etiquette lessons. “Hello, Mr. President.”
“Thank you, Mr. President.” “Goodbye,
Mr. President.”
Only
in existence for a year, the Thurmont Challenger Little
League team was chosen to play “Tee Ball on the South
Lawn” at the White House.
“This
is a pretty cool opportunity for our team,” said 12-year-old
Troy Baisey, who also played with the Challenger team last
year when they played an exhibition game at the Little League
World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Little
League’s Challenger Division is open to mentally and
physically disabled children from ages 5-18. It is Little
League’s fastest-growing division, with more than
28,000 players in the U. S. and other countries.
“Challenger
is a great opportunity for kids to do things like other
kids do without too much pressure,” said Nina Vitrolff,
who had three grandchildren – Brian, David and Richard
Matthews – playing on the Thurmont team.
The
Thurmont Challengers, sponsored by the Frederick Civitan,
played the Challenger team from Shady Spring, W. Va. in
the 15th one-inning game. The games have been held at the
White House since 2001.
The
teams were selected by Little League International based
on their proximity to Washington and the strength of their
charter organizations.
The
team left Thurmont on Saturday morning in two tour buses
that had a police escort through town. At the White House,
the team had a pre-game tour of the President’s house.
“Jimmy
kept asking, ‘Is that the President? Is that the President?’
He even asked some of the security people and others who
were around, ‘Are you the President?’ It happened
a number of times,” said Angela Brittain, Jimmy’s
mother.
Following
the tour, the teams gathered on a specially built field
on the White House south lawn. No scores were kept and no
runs or outs were counted. Every player on both teams batted
once and played on defense for the one-inning game.
Jimmy
was the very first batter. The crowd applauded as he stepped
up to the ball that President Bush had placed on the tee
to start the game.
He
swung and missed.
Undeterred,
he took another swing and hit the ball into the infield.
He ran along with Brad Little to first base.
Brad
was Jimmy’s buddy. Each Challenger player has a buddy
available to help with running and fielding if needed.
As
the players came to the plate, each was loudly cheered.
Robert
Shaffer was the clean-up batter. In Challenger Little League
that’s the last batter. Standing uneasily without
his walker, Robert hit the ball off the tee. He grabbed
his walker and moved with relative speed from base to base
as his hit was considered an in-field home run.
Robert,
who had joked about trying not to break the White House
windows when he hit, said after the game, “It was
awesome. Just getting to play the game was great.”
Once
the Thurmont team had batted, they took to the field to
deal with the Shady Spring batters.
Following
the game, President Bush and Honorary Commissioner Willie
Mays, a baseball legend, presented each player, buddy and
coach with autographed baseballs and posed for pictures.
Jimmy
was the first player to get his ball and picture taken and
Brittain told this story about her son.
After
all Jimmy’s preparation for the meeting, when he got
back to the dugout, his mother asked him, “Jimmy,
did you tell the President thank you?”
“That
wasn’t the real president,” Jimmy said.
“Yes,
it was, honey,” Brittain said.
Upset,
to have missed his opportunity, Jimmy tried to run back
to President Bush and thank him. His father stopped him.
Following
the game, the teams enjoyed a picnic on the south lawn.
President Bush didn’t attend because he had to leave
for another appointment on Marine One.
Some
of the players went to watch him board the helicopter that
had landed on the south lawn. As he climbed on board, Jimmy
called out, “Thank you for the ball, Mr. President.”
