Anna Rhoades, catcher for the Ramstein Rams, hits a single in a rainy USAFE championship game against the Incirlik Nomads. (Sean Kimmons / S&S)
Anna Rhoades, catcher for the Ramstein Rams, hits a single in a rainy USAFE championship game against the Incirlik Nomads. (Sean Kimmons / S&S)
Umpire Thomas Villegas calls a strike during USAFE's women softball championship game Friday at RAF Lakenheath. (Sean Kimmons / S&S)
RAF LAKENHEATH — After the rain had ceased and the dust had settled at the end of the weeklong 2006 USAFE softball tournament, the men and women from Ramstein Air Base went home to Germany as the big winners.
The Ramstein men topped Spangdahlem 19-17 to win the men’s title, and the Lady Rams knocked off Incirlik 20-10 in an “if necessary” game after a loss to Incirlik earlier in the day to take the women’s crown.
In the men’s game, Ramstein built an early nine-run lead and then had to hold on to beat the scrappy Sabers.
Master Sgt. Tim Snyder, who coached the Rams to the title, said strong defensive stops at key junctures made the difference.
“We made the defensive plays when we had to and hit well enough to win,” Snyder said.
Catcher Tech Sgt. Shane Byrd, third baseman Tech Sgt. Mark Noll and Master Sgt. Chris Barks paced the Rams by combining for 10 runs on nine hits. Bryan Maxwell added to the scoring with a home run for Ramstein.
“We’re just fortunate to have a lot of good players right now,” Snyder said. “We don’t get rattled, and we just go about our game.”
Ramstein finished the tournament undefeated, while the Sabers advanced through the losers’ bracket and finished with two losses.
Host Lakenheath got an early win over fellow U.K. squad Mildenhall, but was then relegated to the losers’ bracket after a loss in the second round. No team from the U.K. advanced beyond the quarterfinals.
On the women’s side, the Lady Rams came back from a 15-8 loss to the Incirlik Nomads that kept Incirlik alive and forced the final game.
Tech Sgt. Ness Burnett, Corrina Vieyra and Andrea Byrd led the way for Ramstein in both games with strong hitting and solid defense.
The women’s teams from Mildenhall and Lakenheath fared roughly as well as their counterparts on the men’s side. The Lady Lancers advanced to the second round before falling to Spangdahlem and then Incirlik in the losers’ bracket, while Mildenhall suffered two straight losses to Spangdahlem and Aviano.
All told, the 48th Services Squadron hosted a successful tournament that saw more than 100 athletes compete through a week of typical British summer slush and afternoon sun.
