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Wounded Warriors Softball Team Gives Injured Veterans A Chance To Return To An Active Lifestyle

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- A group of Wounded Warriors has spent the last 15 months traveling the country playing softball, and they recently stopped on Long Island to take on the Sag Harbor All-Stars.

The players come from all branches of the service, although most are from the Army or the Marine Corps, they compete using prosthetic limbs but Coach David Van Sleet told 1010 WINS reporter Juliet Papa that they are not necessarily at a disadvantage.

"I think at first people feel sorry for them because they know what happened to them, but then by the second inning they're saying 'these guys are doing okay'," he said.

1010 WINS Reporter Juliet Papa reports...

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Josh Wegge, 22, is the youngest player on the team. During Saturday's game at Sag Harbor he hit an inside-the-park home run and lost a prosthetic and a shoe in the process.

The program gives the wounded heroes a chance to return to living the type of active lifestyle that most of them were used to before being wounded in battle.

Army Captain Ben Harrow of Great Neck was in the dugout during the game. Captain Harrow stepped on a pressure plate land mine during a Special Forces mission in Afghanistan, he lost his legs during the incident and is currently doing rehab at Walter Reed. Captain Harrow was scouting the game to see if he will be able to participate when he finishes rehab.

Coach Van Sleet said that the program is a great way for Wounded Warriors to get back in the game.

Have you caught the team in action? Let us know in our comments section below...

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