Crowds as large as five or six people deep lined West Fourth Street in downtown Williamsport on Tuesday.
Marching bands played as dancers waved flags that looked like baseballs during the annual Grand Slam Parade. The 20 teams hoping to win the Little League World Series waved to the crowds from decorated floats.
On another float, part of a team from the Wyoming Valley — which also will play in South Williamsport — took it all in.
“It’s surreal,” said Wes Shaffer, whose son Benjamin will play in the Challenger exhibition game on Aug. 23. “Ben just felt like a rock star up on stage. He loved every minute of it.”
The Little League Challenger Division includes more than 30,000 athletes with physical or intellectual challenges. There are more than 950 programs in 10 countries. Each year, two of those teams get to play in an exhibition game during the Little League World Series.
This year, the Wyoming Valley Challenger team from Luzerne County will play the Woburn Challenger team from Woburn, Massachusetts.
“The size and scale of this is just completely overwhelming. We've been to parades before, but never with a crowd this large,” said Stephen Cheskiewicz, a Wyoming Valley league board member. “Everyone was smiling. Everyone was waving. Some of our kids were dancing, and people were cheering. It was just a remarkable experience for everyone.”
His son, Michael, plays Challenger baseball and enjoyed walking in the parade. At 25, he’s too old for the exhibition game age limit of 22. But he’ll be cheering in the stands.
“It will be amazing,” he said.
The team joined the float of BLaST Intermediate Unit 17, which provides special education and other services across the Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga County region. The float played the song "Centerfield" by John Fogerty — whose familiar lyric "Put me in coach" embodies the anticipation for the game.
Challenger teammates Michael Piazza and Brendan Murray said they can’t wait to play at the Little League World Series complex.
“It was an incredible experience seeing all the people on the side of the roads cheering for our players,” said Brendan’s mom, Erin. “We can't wait to come back.”
The Challenger Division Exhibition Game is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 23 at Volunteer Stadium. Admission is free.
WVIA will produce a full television broadcast of the game and stream it live on WVIA-TV, on wvia.org and on the WVIA PBS app. The broadcast will also be available on-demand after the live event and will be made available to PBS stations across the country.
