Vicenza's Hannah Findlay slides across third base while Alconbury's Miranda Cowen tries to grab the ball Friday, May 23, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division I softball championships at Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – It’s been more than a decade since the Vicenza Cougars were the unquestioned leaders of the DODEA-Europe small school softball tournament.
Until this week, that is.
The Cougars started slowly against Alconbury in the Division II/III championship game Friday but finished by scoring at least three runs in each of the last five innings in a 19-12 victory.
Vicenza did that by constantly applying pressure on its opponent, aggressively running the bases and continually putting the ball in play.
“When you cause a little chaos, the other team can get a little shaken up,” said junior Hannah Findlay, who was named to the all-tournament team. “We can, too, but we’ve gotten better at keeping ourselves together.”
Alconbury put that to the test, scoring five runs in the first inning.
“I wasn’t nervous at all,” Vicenza coach Osvaldo Garcia Carillo said.
Findlay and teammate and fellow all-tournament selection Rielynn Casper shared a quick glance and a smile when told that. And both said they weren’t exactly nervous but didn’t exactly feel good about it either.
Most importantly, though, Casper said, the team’s confidence wasn’t shaken.
“We’ve worked so hard the entire year, trying to use everything in our book we could to get a victory when we needed to,” she said.
Friday, that meant taking an 8-5 lead with four runs in the fourth. Then scoring four more times in the fifth after Alconbury tied the game at 8-8. And scoring three more times after Alconbury pulled within a run in the fifth. And adding four insurance runs in the seventh.
Alconbury second baseman Anna Alejandro Diez tosses the ball to first Friday, May 23, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II/III softball championships at Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Rielynn Casper goes through her delivery in the championship game of the DODEA-Europe Division II/III softball tournament at Kaiserslautern, Germany on Friday, May 23, 2025. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Alconbury's Kalila Te'o connects with a pitch Friday, May 23, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II/III softball championships at Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza left fielder Peyton Atkinson snags a fly ball Friday, May 23, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II/III softball championshps at Kaierslautern, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
There wasn’t a single play or player that made the difference. Players throughout the lineup contributed.
“This is the best team we’ve had,” said Findlay. The Cougars finished second when she and Casper were freshmen, then fifth a year ago. They don’t have a senior on the roster.
So it might be possible for this generation of Cougars to duplicate what Megan Buffington and her teammates did in 2013 and 2014: win consecutive titles. A caution tale, though: Vicenza and Naples both moved up to Division I for a few years after that and didn’t fare as well.
The Cougars had defeated Alconbury 14-13 earlier in the tournament, so coach Duke Aidt and the Dragons knew what to expect.
“We knew they had good hitters, so it was just going to be an issue of if we could keep up with them,” he said.
Tournament Outstanding Player Taylor Zimmerman led Rota to a 12-10 victory over Sigonella in the third-place game.
