When 12-year-old Chase Kovacevic first joined the Buddy League in Cambridge this summer, he was shy and unsure.

After battling cancer and spending months in a wheelchair, it wasn’t easy for him to open up to new people. But within weeks of joining Buddy League, his father, Steve Kovacevic, says he saw a completely different child.

“It was unbelievable,” Steve said. “It just brought him out of his shell.”

Buddy League is a program in Cambridge that gives children and youth with physical or developmental challenges a chance to play baseball. It’s part of Challenger Baseball, a national program supported by the Jays Care Foundation, the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays.

In Cambridge, the league is run by volunteers such as coach Cam Linwood, who Steve credits with encouraging Chase

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