It may have looked like a regular little league game, but when about 50 kids took the field in Ozone Park recently, the outing marked several firsts - the first time children with autism played in the WORKS Little League and the first game of what organizers believe is the only official “Challenger” division in Queens.“We didn’t publicize it before we started. It was something new. We were all excited about it, but we were all scared also,” said WORKS Little League President Terence Flanagan, of the division formed this year from a connection with the Ozone Park-based New York Families for Autistic Children (NYFAC).The WORKS “Challenger” division - short for children that are physically- or mentally-challenged - played the first game in their nine-week season on Saturday, April 19 after the idea took root last year.Flanagan had read an article about another “Challenger” league and contacted NYFAC, which spread the word to its own little leaguers about the plan, and the WORKS - short for Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens and South Ozone Park - “Challenger” division was formed.
