American Legion, Lady Guzzlers end title frustrations

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — After years of heartbreak and disappointing finishes, American Legion and Lady Guzzlers ruled the day Monday in the 19th Pacificwide Open Interservice Softball Tournament.

Four-time All-Air Force outfielder Chadd Malin homered and drove in four runs while the top three in the batting order went 10-for-14 with eight RBIs as Legion, which after winning in 2003 has repeatedly come up short, dethroned five-time men’s champion International Guzzlers 16-13.

All-American shortstop Leticia Pacheco tripled and scored on three-time All-Air Force catcher JoJo Dancer’s sacrifice fly as the Guzzlers, losers in two-game championships the last two years, edged Red Fox, a Korean team, 5-4.

Women’s championship

Lady Guzzlers 5, Red Fox 4: They have 23 All-Armed Forces and five All-American selections, and they spent more than $10,000, some traveling from Germany and Italy, to play.

That meant little in the past. The Guzzlers suffered a 15-14, 12-7 two-game finals loss last May and 4-3 and 8-0 in 2007 to Sang Ji University. On Monday, the Guzzlers finally reached the mountaintop.

"Third time is the charm," Dancer said. "Long time coming."

"I’m speechless right now," the emotional coach, Danny Acosta, said. "I’ve been wanting this for four years."

Baserunning mistakes and errors doomed the Guzzlers the last two years. This time, they committed just one error, didn’t run themselves out of innings and hit when they needed to.

"I said we would bring the defense this year," Acosta said. "And we hit the ball. Some people came through in the clutch."

After falling behind 3-2 in the first inning, the Guzzlers went ahead to stay 4-3 in the second and sealed it with Dancer’s sacrifice fly in the sixth. Pacheco and four-time All-Air Force outfielder Candace Dugo each went 2-for-3.

"This was it," four-time All-American outfielder Karrie Warren said. "If we didn’t win it this time, we weren’t sure we would come back. Now, we have to make another trip to defend it."

Men’s championship

American Legion 16, International Guzzlers 13: Legion avenged a 15-5, six-inning loss in last year’s final. RBI singles by Chris Souza, Dan Miller, Will Twaddell and Kevin Cumbie, Richie Krause’s RBI double and Chris Stevens’ two-run double plated seven runs in the third inning.

Legion had to hang on from there as the Guzzlers scored five times in the seventh, highlighted by four-time All-Armed Forces infielder Chris Simpson’s two-run single.

Six-time All-Air Force infielder Miller’s diving stop at third base and throw to first barely nailed Oliver Lambert for the second out. Then Deron Jyo, the potential tying run, flew out to end it.

"We knew it would be a close game," Legion coach John O’Brien said. "It’s never over until the last out. They never gave up. We knew they never would."

Like the Lady Guzzlers, Legion went to the All-Service well, cobbling together a team with a combined 11 All-Air Force and 10 All-Marine selections. Miller and Bo Brewer flew from Texas to play here. All Legion players either are or were stationed on Okinawa.

"It was a great trip back," said Miller, stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base. "Great to be with this team. So much closer than last year. No individual stars. A great team effort. It was worth it."

Miller and Stevens each went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, Twaddell was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Krause 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

"Legion had the best team here," Guzzlers coach Tom Costello said. "They did everything right. Good hitting, good defense and they jelled as a team."