On a recent Saturday morning, Donnie Bryant gripped an aluminum baseball bat, focusing on the baseball perched atop a batting tee at home plate. Summoning all his strength, he swung, sending the ball bounding across the dirt infield. With a wide grin on his face, the Silver Gate Elementary School student grabbed the rubber handgrips on the silver rails of his walker, his legs pushing the four-wheeled device with all his might toward first base 60 feet away. With his parents and teammates cheering him on, Bryant arrived at first base, where Point Loma High School varsity baseball player Campbell Wear greeted him with an enthusiastic high-five and words of encouragement. Suddenly, the phrase “Field of Dreams” took on a special meaning. Until this spring, Bryant, who has cerebral palsy, could only imagine stepping onto a baseball diamond to play the national pastime. But thanks to a new program at Peninsula Little League (PLL), Bryant and others — known as the Peninsula Padres — are now batting, fielding and throwing a baseball on Saturday mornings, nattily dressed in their navy-blue uniforms. “Donnie loves the program,” said his mother, Rhonda. She and Bryant’s father, Raul, watched from the stands as Donnie took the field for warm-ups with his Pointer buddies. “He just wants to be like a regular boy. He cannot wait every Saturday to just get out there and play,” Rhonda Bryant said. Challenger Division is the brainchild of Little League Baseball, conceived to enrich the lives of children with physical and/or mental challenges that have previously kept them on the sidelines. Teams have formed across the nation, and PLL president Kevin Otsuka thought the time had come to start a team in his league. When he first proposed the team last year, however, his idea was met with apprehension by parents of the special-needs players. “There was reluctance at first,” Otsuka said, “so we invited two existing Challenger teams to play at our field. After that, the parents couldn’t wait to start a team.” Home games are played Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. at PLL’s well-maintained complex in Bill Cleator Park on Famosa Street. Games last three innings, with every player batting. When all have batted, the inning ends. Outs and runs are not recorded because the emphasis is on having fun. “Next year, we’d like to have a second Challenger team,” Otsuka said, “so there would be no need to travel. Our players can come from anywhere since only a few leagues have a Challenger program.” The league is considering extending the season, which recently ended after 12 games. This would be much easier with more players to create an opposing team. The three levels of Challenger League play include tee ball, pitching by coaches or pitching by players. All levels allow players to use a “buddy.” That’s where PLHS players come in. Pointer head coach Jon Posternack brought his varsity players to the Peninsula fields on a recent Saturday. The teens, wearing their game uniforms, took the field serving as Peninsula Padres buddies while the home team hosted the Mira Mesa Angels. “I had a lot of fun with the Challenger kids,” said Connor Baits, a 6-foot-5-inch sophomore who leads the Pointer pitching staff with a 9-2 record. “I took a step back and noticed that kids love baseball, and everyone wants to play, but some don’t have the opportunity we do because of setbacks in their lives. But they all want to have fun just like we do.” Junior pitcher/second baseman Kellen Urbon said, “It made us feel more blessed to have our abilities and (showed) how baseball is a universal game and it can please anybody.” Next up for Challenger players is an area tournament on Sunday, June 6, hosted by Clairemont Hilltoppers Little League. For further information, call (858) 229-7619, or visit www.eteamz.com/PeninsulaLL/.