‘All about having fun’: Buddy Baseball is a grand slam for kids and adults with disabilities

Sweet-swinging Ryan Zima connected with the baseball. He drove a hard grounder through the infield and loped to first base.

On defense, he set up at shortstop, unaware of just how athletic he is.

“I don’t think anybody’s said that, really. Nobody’s said that,” said Zima, a 28-year-old autistic man from Wheaton.

Athletic or otherwise, in the Wheaton Junior Woman’s Club’s Buddy Baseball program there’s room for all players with disabilities ages 5 and up.

Buddy Baseball programs are offered by a variety of groups throughout the suburbs. They allow people with disabilities to enjoy America’s pastime with the help of dedicated volunteers known as “buddies.”

This year, the Buddy Baseball games are being played in Wheaton on Tuesdays from July 7 through Aug. 4 at Briar Patch Park. The program started at that park in 1991 with seven players and 11 buddies.

This season, around 80 players and more than 100 young volunteers are participating in the Wheaton program under the direction of up to 12 adult coaches, according to head coach Gregg Bettcher.

“It’s really low stakes, low pressure, and it’s all about having fun. And if we learn baseball along the way, that’s great,” said Deanna Sherpan of Wheaton, who for a decade has been the Woman’s Club’s chairperson for all-volunteer Buddy Baseball.

She has had sons involved as a player and as a buddy. The league welcomes players in wheelchairs, walkers and, over the years, those who have required guide dogs.

“We take anybody and everybody,” Bettcher said.

Like Zima, who has played Buddy Baseball for 23 years, some return year after year.

The list of suburban communities with Buddy Baseball programs includes Buffalo Grove, Elmhurst, Evanston, Lincolnwood and Prospect Heights.

Lake Zurich’s Buddy Baseball program is aligned with Little League’s Challenger Program for adaptive baseball. Lake in the Hills has a program under the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association.

The Buffalo Grove Recreation Association Buddy Baseball league, separated by “juniors” 5 to 14 and “seniors” 15 and up, is finishing its 32nd season Saturday.

Starting in late April, both groups play twice weekly on wheelchair-accessible Kendrigan Field, though each age group finishes with an all-star game on a dirt diamond. The juniors ended their season in June.

“It’s usually coach-pitch. So we pitch to them until they hit, then they run the bases, and we keep doing that for the next hour, hour and a half,” said Allen Katz of Arlington Heights, who has been the league director for 16 years.

His son, Stephen, a 41-year-old with Down syndrome, has been playing in Buffalo Grove’s Buddy Baseball program since 1995. Some have played all 32 years.

“I just love doing it, and it’s not just because my son is doing it,” Allen Katz said. “I have so much fun when I’m out on the field with the players. Each one is so special and different in their individual ways.”

Dena Seidenfuss can vouch for that. Part of the reason she founded the nonprofit Access Sports in Elmhurst was to get her autistic son involved in athletics.

Starting in 2007 with six soccer players, Access Sports now offers basketball, soccer, track and, after partnering in 2008 with the Elmhurst Baseball & Softball League, Buddy Ball.

“They rolled the red carpet out to us,” Seidenfuss said.

This past baseball season — Friday nights from May 8 to June 26 at Plunkett Park in Elmhurst — drew around 45 players between minors (5-12) and majors (13-22).

Seidenfuss said this year Access Sports has enlisted about 140 middle school and high school volunteers from 23 communities. In baseball, younger players are paired with one buddy, or two if in a wheelchair or walker; older players work together as a team.

“I didn’t tell you the best part of it — they all get a walk-up song. They are so cute,” Seidenfuss said.

It was cuteness overload on Tuesday, July 28, for Buddy Baseball at Briar Patch Park in Wheaton.

Players, coaches, and buddies — who help maintain order and safety — split into four groups, each drawing a lawn chair crowd of parents and relatives.

“I think it’s great,” said Wheaton North sophomore Ryan Babiarz, in her second year as a buddy. “It gives the kids an opportunity to do everyday stuff, and an opportunity to play with other kids.”

Buddy Baseball has been so great for 22-year-old Maddison Layman that, despite her family moving from Woodridge to Big Rock eight years ago, she asks her mother, Beth Doty, to drive 28 miles to Wheaton to play her favorite sport.

“She loves this,” Doty said. “Every time we say, ‘Buddy Baseball,’ she’s ‘Yeah, yeah,’ grabs her ball and her bat and is ready to go.”

doberhelman@dailyherald.com