Trio of Italy-based teams have sights set on small-schools title

When Sigonella and Vicenza converged on Naples in the regular season’s final weekend, they weren’t playing just for momentum ahead of the 2026 DODEA European softball championships – they were jostling for seeding.

The Jaguars, Cougars and Wildcats were all within a game of each other at the top of the Division II/III standings, and as has been the case all campaign in the small-school tier, the trio reshuffled yet again.

Vicenza, which began the day in first place, dropped to third; Sigonella leapfrogged both to go from third to first; and Naples stayed put in second.

If the upheaval that weekend is any indication, the D-II/III tournament contested Wednesday through Friday in the Kaiserslautern Military Community should have plenty of fireworks. With Alconbury and Hohenfels joining the first three seeds in finishing with above .500 records, no team will get a chance to rest.

And that will make it exciting for all involved.

“It’s a lot more fun to play a hard game, where you really feel like you are playing other people who care about the game as much as you do and are also trying as hard as you are,” Vicenza’s Hannah Findlay said. “There’s nothing better.”

The favorites all enter with very different stories.

The Wildcats (9-3, 9-3) have produced a major bounce-back performance in 2026. After three straight crowns, Naples failed to make it out of pool play to cap off a down year in 2025.

Kristine Rostance took over the program this spring, and senior Emily Anderson said changes her coaching staff has implemented as well as the hunger from a year ago have sparked the rebound.

The Wildcats handed the top-seeded Jaguars their only two losses, as the two squads split the season series.

“Last season, we left with a bad taste in our mouths,” Anderson said. “We wanted to do more with our season, and it just didn’t pan out that way for us.

“This year, we came in strong, we came in really motivated and also disciplined.”

Vicenza, meanwhile, enters as the defending champion and brought back 11 players from the title-winning squad, including four seniors who have been with the program for four years.

They have the most experience of anyone in the field, and they also played on the championship field at Kaiserslautern High School on April 25. Findlay said she hopes that gives them a leg up over the competition.

“There was some pressure to it because it was a D-I team we were playing when we were up that, and I think that also helps feel both the physical aspect and then the mental aspect of it,” Findlay said.

Then there’s Sigonella.

The Jaguars haven’t experienced the success of the other two teams recently. The program’s last title came in 2019 at the end of a three-year dynasty.

Sigonella has pushed itself into the semifinals in recent seasons. This year, the players have the confidence to take a step forward.

“This year, we’ve become a lot more united, and I think it really makes a difference in how we play,” sophomore catcher Terra Love said. “We’re more focused. Focus is the name of the game, and it’s really changing how we play.”

Still, they aren’t entering the tournament with a favorite’s mentality.

“Even though we’re going up as one of the top seeds, we’re not going to look too far ahead in the future saying, ‘Oh, we got this,’” senior Nyeema Fernandez said. “We’re going to stay (humble), play our own game and just let the wind take us where it takes us.”

For the first time in three seasons, the Ramstein softball team doesn’t have a 0 in the loss column.

The three-time defending champions dropped the second game of a doubleheader at Stuttgart on April 25. The program’s last defeat before that came on May 13, 2023.

“It was 100 percent a wake-up call,” junior pitcher Kelsey Moya said. “We’re aware that we can be beat.”

The last thing the big schools want is a highly motivated Ramstein squad.

The top-seeded Royals (11-1, 9-1) once again are the favorites to take home the D-I title on Friday.

They outscored opponents 174-51 during the regular season. Only thrice has a Ramstein win been by single digits – 8-4 vs. second-seeded Lakenheath on April 11, 15-6 vs. fourth-seeded Stuttgart on April 25 and 6-3 vs. third-seeded Vilseck on May 9.

Ramstein is used to being in this position, so the players aren’t feeling more nerves than usual.

“As any team going into finals as championships, we feel some sort of pressure,” Makayla Pena said. “But I also feel like we’re pretty confident as a team.”

This year’s squad has added a new wrinkle in the circle.

Aces have fueled this current dynasty. Starting with Madison Mihalic in 2023 and 2024, Moya transferred to the school early last campaign and immediately took over in the circle.

This spring, freshman Kendall Randolph has given Stars and Stripes’ 2025 DODEA-Europe softball Athlete of the Year some rest, and the Royals don’t miss a beat in those games.

“She has different pitches, so that can throw (opponents) off. Her speed is a little different as well,” Moya said of Randolph.

The Royals will need the different pitching styles, especially with the power that third-seeded Vilseck brings and the weapons second-seeded Lakenheath possesses.

Still, the Royals like their chances of coming out on top and giving seniors such as Sanai Schneider a perfect high-school career.

“Getting that four-peat would be absolutely amazing,” she said.