JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland intramural sports director Dwayne Reed isn't afraid to toot his own horn when it comes to his intramural softball program.
Reed is confident one of the four teams representing JBSA-Lackland at the all-JBSA intramural softball tournament is going to win it all.
If a base softball team does win the tourney, which starts Monday at JBSA-Randolph, it continues an unbeaten streak that has a JBSA-Lackland team winning every all-JBSA sports title since the inception of the tournament format. All-JBSA tourneys feature the best sports teams from all three joint installations - Lackland, Randolph and Fort Sam Houston.
"And that's about the base winning in every core sport, not just softball," said Reed.
Since the inaugural all-JBSA intramural softball tournament, won last season by the 802nd Force Support Squadron, a JBSA-Lackland intramural sports team has won every tournament in the four core sports. The sports include flag football, won by the 59th Dental Squadron; basketball, won by the 543rd Support Squadron; and volleyball, won by the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency.
The base intramural softball champion 343rd Training Squadron joins the reigning all-JBSA softball champ 802nd FSS, the Navy Information Operations Command-Texas, and 624th Operations Center as the four teams representing Lackland.
Reed said it was important for one of the four teams to keep the streak alive because of the pride the base takes in its respective sports.
"The fitness and sports staff here knows the importance of sports to our military members and their families. It will be great to see one of our teams do well and win the JBSA intramural softball tourney at JBSA-Randolph," Reed said.
As defending champion, FSS is primed to defend its all-JBSA crown despite coming up short in the just-concluded base intramural softball tourney, losing to eventual champion 343rd TRS 6-1 in the semifinals.
"We have the potential to be very good on offense when we relax and don't pressure ourselves," FSS third baseman Steve Reichert said.
But FSS's Competitive League rivals, and current base intramural softball champion 343rd TRS, is ready to prove winning the base championship wasn't a fluke.
"We'll see how it goes this year at the JBSA softball tournament," left-center fielder Kyle Speer said. "Winning the base championship means we are the best team at JBSA-Lackland."