Introduction to the 2025 Wheelchair Softball Junior World Series
The clink of aluminum bats hitting the paved baseball diamond — immediately followed by the cheers of dozens of parents and loved ones — filled California Park on Saturday morning as four teams competed in the 2025 Wheelchair Softball Junior World Series.
The Competition
In a nail-biter game for the 15th national title, the hometown favorites the Chicago Junior Wheelchair Cubs fell 5-2 to reigning national champions the Kansas City Junior Royals. It was the Cubs’ first time back in the national championship since 2016, when they shared a championship year the MLB Cubs over at Wrigley Field. This was the fourth time the series was held in the city,
The Players’ Experience
The nearly 20 Cubs players held their heads high as they left the field, sad at losing but excited at having come in second in the nation.
“We haven’t been in this position in a while, so I’m just excited to get back out there,” said Lex McGuire, the Junior Cubs’ pitcher, and at 17, a default mentor to the rest of the team.
Cooper Roberts’ mind wasn’t on winning the game either — the 11-year-old was just happy to be cheering on his teammates: “I’d rather be here than at home,” he said to a friend after the game.
Cooper was an avid soccer player before he was one of the dozens of Highland Park parade shooting victims four years ago. Being shot and paralyzed from the waist down only temporarily stopped the multi-sport athlete, who now juggles basketball and hockey alongside softball.
The Impact of the Game
The Kansas City Junior Royals and Lincolnway Special Recreation Association Junior Hawks from suburban New Lenox also competed against each other in two days of round-robin competition, which also included a home run derby and field skills challenges.
But to Junior Cubs coach Dan Ferreira, who is also the adaptive sports and event coordinator for the Chicago Park District, the game’s reach doesn’t end on the field.
Ferreira helped found Chicago’s adaptive sports program 15 years ago — three years after he took the job. It
