Clarksville's special needs baseball team celebrates last game of the season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It was pure joy at Clarksville's Little League fields Thursday night as the Challenger teams played their final game of the season.

For 16-year-old Jonah Colvin, the objective is simple: "Just have fun and play ball."

"That's right, it's our last game, but we're gonna play ball," added Jonah's dad, Joey, who is one of the coaches.

The team couldn't play last year because of the pandemic.

"They still have the same passion for playing the ball," said Joey Colvin, as Jonah came in and gave him a hug.

"This is how we give hugs," said Jonah, who has been playing on the Challenger League for 11 years.

"It's like when we saw our other children (play baseball), but yet he's still out here, and he's with his friends, and you know what? They treat him just as well as anyone else," said Joey Colvin.

Mickey Higdon, the league's vice president, said about 90 players make up this year's league.

"Our aim is to have fun. We don't keep score. Nobody ever makes it out. We just have a lot of fun," said Higdon. "We have players of all ages, from 4 to 64, and the skill level is about the same, so we don't really cut off at any age."

Players of all abilities, some joined by their parents, played on the wheelchair-accessible baseball diamond.

"I know you hear a lot of things like, 'Oh, everybody gets a trophy' I say yeah, but this is a different circumstance," said Colvin. "We're teaching children to be socially active together, and they are. And they all love each other, they really do."