Becca Clark strides to the plate and assumes her Babe Ruth batting stance.

Standing a generous 2 1/2-feet tall, orange shirt hanging past her knees, bat at least 2/3 of her size, she steps in the batter’s box.

The tee the ball sat upon during her first at-bat is gone. This is the last game of the season and Becca, 4, the daughter of Amanda and Bennie Clark, wants to do exactly what the league is named for: she wants a challenge.

On the fourth or fifth pitch – no one counts – she wheels around with that bat and takes a mighty swing. The ball rockets off the bat and Becca is off, leaving her 8-year-old coach, Hailey Grimshel, hanging onto her left hand trailing her down the first base line.

After reaching first, Becca begins to high-five everyone from opposing players to coaches and anyone else willing to lend her a hand.

Welcome to the Challenger League.

The league is specifically designed for children with mental and physical disabilities. Some attend MIDD-West, others Jacob’s Ladder. When they get together on the softball diamond, though, everyone is the same – a ballplayer.

&#8220I love it. It feels great to be out here playing” said Kyle &#8220The Killah” Killgore, a bright-eyed 18-year old who attends Jacob’s Ladder and loves the Atlanta Braves.

Killgore, the son of Jack and Delane Killgore, had two hits and scored two runs. &#8220I think I can hit pretty good,” he said before the game.

Saturday marked the end of another season in the league that started in Vicksburg nine years ago by Elizabeth and Steve Bryant. Sandy Hearn now directs the league of four teams that plays about five weekends a year.

Challenger Leagues have sprung up nationwide over the past 18 years. The Challenger Little League was founded in 1989 to allow its players to experience what other Little Leaguers can be a part of. Each player gets to bat during each inning and outs are never recorded and every game ends in a tie.

&#8220I’m glad it gives them an opportunity to do what every other child gets to do,” Hearn said.

Hearn is part coach, part teammate, part encourager and sponsorship coordinator. Danny Hearn Trucking, Batesville Casket, Riverside Construction and Buford Construction take care of the four teams.

Vicksburg High sports announcer and teacher Ed Wong, who runs the VHS Key Club, is on the microphone. Several Key Clubbers in the field act as &#8220buddies” to the players. Parents and grandparents act mostly as cheerleaders – and the players know it.

Ten-year-old Jacob Engram, the son of Steven and Michelle Engram, steps out of the batter’s box and asks for encouragement. The crowd begins to chant, &#8220Ja-Cob, Ja-Cob” and he breaks into a smile seconds before bashing a single down the left-field line.

Jacob, like most of these players, has grown into the game. Hearn said most had to use a tee when they started and now only a couple need the tee. Most of the players have been together in the league since it started.

&#8220I like baseball,” said 18-year-old Willie Brown, who added that his favorite baseball player of all time is … Sandy Hearn.

She seems to be everyone’s favorite on this unique field of dreams. Some players cling to her for support, a needed hug. She soaks it up with the best cure of them all – a dose of laughter.

Hearn nearly left the Challenger League a couple of weeks ago. She said she woke up feeling ill and wanted to skip a week of the Challenger League, but decided against it.

&#8220I was so sick. My husband was working. I had no one to help me,” said Hearn, whose niece Misty Grantham, 15, a player who has Down Syndrome and was responsible for getting Hearn involved in Special Olympics years ago. &#8220My daughter and granddaughter were here with me and when I got out here the kids all hugged my neck.”

The talk of retirement ended right there.

A hug from Ruby Miller, a 12-year-old shortstop and the daughter of Barbara and Michael Miller, and &#8220perennial all-star,” will have that affect on anyone.

Leading Rose Kinnebrew, 6, the daughter of Linda Tatum, down the first-base line for an infield single is too much to give up.

Watching Becca Clark, the pint-sized dynamo who does three full body rotations with each swing because of the weight of the bat, get a hit not off the tee but from a blazing fastball, is infectious.

&#8220I said that day when I was so sick and they hugged my neck that I can’t leave these kids like this and I’m not going to,” Hearn said. &#8220As long as the Lord allows me to get around and move, I’m gonna be here for these kids.”