Like most 10-year-old baseball players staying together as a team in a hotel away from home, the Madisonville Dixie Youth team couldn’t wait to jump in the swimming pool Monday night.

Especially pitcher D.J. Vanderwerf, who threw a one-hitter last week in the district tourney to help propel his 9-and-10 year-old squad into this week’s state tournament at Signal Mountain.

But unlike his teammates, Vanderwerf had to leave a little bit of himself in the hotel room before hitting the water.

“He had to take off his leg and throw it on the bed,” said Danny Jones, whose son Dalton plays right field for Madisonville. “Then he dove right in. That’s one thing about D.J. He never complains; he never whines. He’s a heckuva player and a heckuva kid.”

The artificial limb was firmly attached to Vanderwerf’s lower left leg Tuesday night against the Goodlettsville Americans in Madisonville’s 14-0 loss that dropped them into tonight’s losers-bracket game.

But that made Vanderwerf’s effort none the less remarkable. He pitched two innings, played third base for a time. And first. And center field.

“He’s the hardest worker I’ve got,” Madisonville coach Scott Bowers said. “He always hustles. He’s just an amazing kid.”

The fact he’s playing at all is more than amazing. When D.J. was 9 months old his left foot was amputated at the Shriners Hospital in Tampa, Fla. Born without a fibula, Vanderwerf’s doctors decided that was his best hope to lead a somewhat normal life.

Every year since, he’s had to have a new artificial leg because he’s outgrown the old one. The Shriners will treat him for free until he’s 18.

“He’s broken the (artificial) foot the last three baseball seasons,” said D.J.’s mom, Tamara, on Tuesday evening. “One time I had to tape it back on with a paint stick just so he could play. He keeps telling me he wants to play football, but I don’t know about that.”

Vanderwerf has played baseball for the past five years. He says pitching is his favorite position and a slider his favorite pitch.

As for that football dream, D.J. says he wants to be a quarterback.

When asked if he saw himself as a drop-back passer because of his disability, he said, “I could run the option.”

Then again, Vanderwerf’s a huge fan of the Florida Gators and their Heisman Trophy quarterback Tim Tebow, perhaps the most powerful option quarterback ever.

“He and his father (Dan) love Florida football,” said Tamara. “I like Tennessee, but Dan and D.J. are all Florida. D.J.’s room even has two orange walls and two blue ones.”

Not that Tebow is Vanderwerf’s only sports hero.

“Prince Fielder is my favorite baseball player,” he said of the Milwaukee Brewers power hitter. “But I really like Tebow.”

His mother keeps a scrapbook of fellow amputees doing great things in sports and in life. She hopes they’ll continue to motivate D.J., who is also a straight A student at Brown Intermediate School, as well as a team captain for his 4-H Club’s Clover Bowl team. Many of her latest entries involve South African sprinter Oscar Pistorious, who has come remarkably close to qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, despite running on two artificial legs.

“Anything I think that might inspire him,” she said. “I found one story about an amputee in New Jersey who’s a firefighter, just like D.J.’s dad.”

His job kept Dan Vanderwerf away from Tuesday’s game, but he’ll be there tonight, hoping to see D.J. make the same prince of a fielding play he made a couple of weeks ago to help save a Madisonville win.

“He was down on his knees but threw the kid out at first,” said Bowers. “An incredible play.”

Tamara will tell you everyone on the Madisonville team has been incredible, especially second baseman Dakota Roberts, who nicknamed D.J. “D-Peg.”

“Sometimes he’ll take that limb off and pretend it’s a gun,” she said. “It makes everybody laugh.”

Added D.J., “Or sometimes I’ll pretend it’s a guitar.”

Said Bowers as Madisonville headed back to the hotel and another probable dip in the pool, “I wish I had another 12 more just like him.”

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