Beyond the Byline: Everyone is a winner in Victory Baseball

WILKES-BARRE — It’s been a while since Brandon Harvey caught the ball.

In 2012, Brandon was playing for the Yankees in the Victory Sports baseball program.

Maybe Brandon Harvey catching the ball doesn’t sound like a big deal to you, but it really was.

Maybe that doesn’t sound like a major news event, but it was an accomplishment of Major League proportion.

Harvey, of Plymouth, has Down syndrome. He’s a member of the Victory Sports baseball league for adults with mental and/or physical challenges. Brandon was playing third base — the “hot corner” — during a spring training game at the Little League field on Tripp Street in Forty Fort.

A left-hander, Harvey stood at the ready for anything hit his way, and on this mild early May evening, he answered the call. The ball was pitched, the batter swung and the ball was lofted in Harvey’s direction. He had it in his sights from the crack of the bat. He followed the flight of the ball — right to his glove.

Brandon Harvey caught the ball, something unprecedented for this league’s participants.

To appreciate Victory Sports is to appreciate the effort that each player puts forth each game. The participants are all adults 21 and over who love to play sports. But after “aging out” of Little League’s Challenger Division, they had no options until Victory came along.

And the typical execution of baseball doesn’t happen due to their physical and/or mental challenges. Whether they have Down syndrome, or muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis, these athletes aren’t gifted with the same coordination or agility that other athletes possess.

But the effort and enthusiasm are there — and always at 100-plus percent.

Now, the rules of Victory are a bit lenient. Every player bats in each inning. The score is always tied. There are only winners in this program.

On this field, the dreams always come true.

And, most importantly, nobody gets out — ever.

But Brandon Harvey caught the ball.

And when Harvey caught the ball, he celebrated. He raised his hands, bobbed his head up and down and gave high-fives to almost everyone in Forty Fort. It was a major league moment in every way.

Across the diamond from third base another celebration was going on at first base — the batter, Jimmy Bonchonsky, was celebrating his “hit.” Jimmy crossed first base and stood his ground as he awaited the next batter.

Brandon Harvey might have caught the ball, but Bonchonsky was safe at first.

You see, in Victory, everyone wins. And that is the essential reason why the program works.

The Victory program is a natural outgrowth of the Challenger Division. When Challenger held its 20th anniversary game during April 2011 in Pittston Township, most of the initial local Challenger participants turned out for an “old-timers’ game.”

Edward Orloski, one of those Challenger alums, asked officials a simple, yet profound, question: “Why can’t we play baseball anymore just cuz we got older?”

There wasn’t a reason — not a valid one anyway. Nobody had ever thought enough about it to see the need.

So in the fall of 2011, Victory Sports was born.

Entering its 10th year, Victory participants play baseball in the fall and basketball in the winter. They also enjoy several dances at which they renew friendships and have fun — a lot of fun.

The 2020 season has been canceled due to the pandemic — a disappointment for all involved. But Victory will be back, hopefully soon.

The outcomes in Victory are not measured scientifically, but parents tell league officials that Victory has made a big difference in their children — all positive. They have become more social and active, and that’s a good thing.

At that Challenger 20th reunion in 2011, Andy Ashby, former pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and other MLB teams, renewed his friendship with Christina Capitano, one of the first-year Challenger players who was now in her early 30s.

During a game in 1991 at what is now PNC Field, Capitano walked over to Ashby and asked for his autograph. Ashby complied and the wide-eyed Capitano, then 10, asked a question: “Why should I want your autograph?”

Ashby told her he played for the Phillies, to which Capitano responded: “You do? So do I.”

Do you see the simplistic charm in that?

With Victory Sports, will always see a real baseball game played by real baseball players who are concerned about one thing — giving their very best while playing the game they love.

And Brandon Harvey, or somebody else, just might catch the ball.