Croughton batter Joe Elmore smacks a single to score a runner during the fourth inning of the USAFE Small Units Softball Tournament championship game Saturday. (Sean Kimmons / S&S)
RAF FAIRFORD — RAF Croughton won the USAFE Small Units Softball Tournament the hard way: By defeating top-seeded Alconbury twice on Saturday.
Croughton won the championship game 18-14, after outslugging Alconbury 19-15 earlier in the day to knock the Dragons into a losers-bracket game against Kleine Broegel.
Alconbury easily won that game to earn its final shot at Croughton.
“Our hitters came through for us,” Croughton left fielder Frank Fowler said after the final.
In the championship game, Croughton took a 4-2 lead in the second inning on a three-run homer by catcher Dave Melchoire, who was hot all day.
The Cougars added six runs in the third and seven in the fourth to lead 17-5, and then held on for the victory despite a six-run sixth for Alconbury.
In the first game, Croughton built a 9-1 lead before Alconbury, behind a fourth-inning grand slam by shortstop Jared Webb, narrowed the gap to 12-7.
But Croughton came back with a big fifth inning, featuring another three-run shot by Melchoire, to go up 18-8. Alconbury outfielder Kevin Fromwiller hit a grand slam in the seventh to help make the final score close.
Alconbury blasted seven homers against Kleine Broegel to rout the Lions in a game called after 4½ innings and set up the final game.
Croughton and Alconbury finished 6-1 in round-robin play earlier in the week, with Alconbury getting the top seed in the championship round by virtue of a 22-19 victory over the Cougars.
Other teams in the tournament were Fairford, Menwith Hill, Sembach, Buechel and Morón.
