7/1/2012 - JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Warhawks softball coach Michael Richardson expected his team to win last weekend's Commander's Cup tournament on its home diamond.
But for a slight bump on its road, the Warhawks followed through on Richardson's expectations by defeating the Fort Hood Tankers in two straight games Sunday, 7-6 and 12-9, to win the two-day tournament title.
After advancing past JBSA-Lackland's Navy Information Operations Command and then the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston San Antonio Guzzlers Saturday, the Warhawks opened Sunday's play by falling to the same Tankers team 11-5. The loss was the Warhawks' first in the double-elimination tourney.
But the Warhawks proved they weren't ready to pack up and go home when they defeated Team Drash from Fort Bliss 19-13 in the loser's bracket final.
To claim the cup championship, the Warhawks would have to win twice against the Tankers, ranked 12th in the United States Specialty Sports Association's Texas D division.
"A lot of people can take their first loss and tuck their tails in and run, but we as a team said, 'We're already here. We might as well play all day,'" said third baseman Brett Cannon.
The Drash game, which featured a slew of trash-talking from both teams, helped prepare the Warhawks for the eventual two-game battle against the Tankers.
Richardson had scouted the Tankers and Drash during their second-round matchup Saturday, a 12-2 thrashing of the Drash by the Tankers.
"I knew Fort Hood was a great ball club; it would depend on our offense to win," Richardson said. "I knew if we could do well offensively, there weren't a lot of teams who could hang with us."
Things looked bleak for the Warhawks until the bottom of the sixth inning in the teams' first championship matchup.
The Tankers used four solo home runs in the third and fourth innings to build a 6-0 lead. Then the Warhawks responded with their own power surge in the bottom of the sixth.
A solo homer by first baseman Joseph Contreras and second baseman Jason Session's three-run blast were the key blows as the Warhawks rallied for five runs, cutting the Tankers' lead to one, 6-5.
After the Tankers failed to score in the top of the seventh, two consecutive home runs by the Warhawks secured the first-game victory.
Scott Shannon's solo shot tied the game, and Contreras' walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning set up the winner-take-all finale.
It was the Warhawks' response to a challenge by Richardson in their last at-bat that set the stage for the two teams' third meeting in the tournament.
"One thing I asked them before the bottom of the seventh was, 'Do you think these guys are better than us?'" he said. "They took that as a personal challenge and they stepped up."
Pitcher Dan Miller, named Commander's Cup tournament MVP, answered Richardson's challenge in the winner-take-all finale with a three-run home run in the first inning. Center fielder Brian Goelz followed suit with a three-run shot in the second to give the Warhawks an early 6-1 lead.
Miller's second home run of the game upped the Warhawks advantage to 7-1 in third before the Tankers rallied for four runs.
Solo blasts from catcher Glenn Clemons and third baseman Pete Tagle, and a two-run homer by shortstop Jose Nunez narrowed the gap to 7-5. Michael Charvat's RBI single and Cannon's three-run homer in the fourth expanded the Warhawks' lead to six, 11-5.
But the Tankers again struck back.
RBIs from right fielder Bruce Hart and first baseman Casey Frioley, and a two-run home run by Tagle trimmed the Tankers deficit to two in the fifth.
Goelz's second homer in the seventh gave the Warhawks breathing room at 12-9 before starting pitcher Terry Northcut closed the door shut on the Tankers' hopes at a title. Northcut held the Tanker bats scoreless in the bottom of the seventh.
The win was redemption for the Warhawks following two fourth-place finishes in recent tournaments, and a second-place showing in last month's Memorial Day Shootout.
Richardson is hopeful the Commander's Cup victory will be the impetus for Saturday's Lone Star Southwest State Finals and the Military World Tournament in August.
"We are going in to the state tournament with a lot of momentum and hopefully, we can bring home the Lone Star Southwest State Championship," he said. "We are definitely moving in the right direction for the Military World championships."