NORWICH – There was no score kept or outs called but there were plenty of smiles on Wednesday at the Norwich Little League Field. 23 players took to the Norwich Little League Field as their teachers, community members, and parents looked on, cheering in excitement at the seventh annual Baseball Buddies game.

Norwich resident Dan Carson heard of the Challenger Division, which is organized by Little League, from a friend from Florida.

The Challenger Division is Little League’s adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges. The player is paired up with a buddy who assist the athletes in the areas of batting, base running and defense, but only as needed.

“I was close with a lot of the kids in my class like Amanda [Powell] and Anthony [Dimento], people that have been here for seven years now. I heard about the idea of this paired up baseball game and thought there is no reason why were can’t do it in Norwich.”

Once Carson graduated from high school, his younger brother Michael took over the yearly organization of the game to keep the game going in the area. Michael Carson “I saw how the turn out continuing to increase and saw how happy everyone gets. I was happy to carry out the tradition because I knew it would only get better and it would only be more fun to continue to do it.”