Eight-time All-Army and All-Armed Forces slugger Dexter Avery will attempt to make it nine of each kind next month.

Avery, a sergeant first class assigned to the 307th Integrated Theater Signal Battalion at Camp Carroll in Waegwan, South Korea, was the lone Pacific player selected to the All-Army men’s softball tryout camp, scheduled for Aug. 23-Sept. 15 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

There, he’ll vie with 25 other players for berths on the All-Army team competing in the All-Armed Forces tournament Sept. 16-21 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

And if selected to his ninth All-Armed Forces team, he’ll travel to Oklahoma City for the Amateur Softball Association Class A national championship tournament Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

Other overseas-based players selected to the All-Army camp are Bryan Smith of Sarajevo, Bosnia; Jeramy Aponte of Kaiserslautern, Germany; and Ken Fairly and Robert Westbrook of Vicenza, Italy.

Humphreys-based soldier named to taekwondo campMichael Kandewen of Camp Humphreys has been selected to attend the All-Army tae kwon do tryout camp, scheduled for Aug. 21-Sept. 17 at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.

He and 12 other soldiers will vie for berths on the All-Army team, which will compete in the International Military Sports Council (CISM) championship, scheduled for Sept. 18-26 in Seoul.

Yongsan Garrison takes two of three softball titlesDays and weeks of seemingly endless rainfall finally gave way to a sunny Saturday afternoon, and 8th U.S. Army sports officials took full advantage, completing its company-level, women’s and over-33 softball championship tournaments — 22 games in a single day.

Playing from 8 a.m. until nearly midnight, 41st Signal came out on top of the company-level field, downing 18th Medical Command 11-6 in an all-Yongsan Garrison final at Yongsan’s Lombardo Field FourPlex.

“We loved it,” 8th Army sports director Tom Higgins said of the all-day, half-night softball marathon, which played before “a lot of spectators. It helped that we had two Yongsan teams in the championship, but it was great to get that spectator support.”

Area II also prevailed in the women’s tournament, routing Area I 19-1 in the second of a best-of-three series. That became necessary when Area III and Area IV women’s teams failed to show up for the event. In the senior division, Area IV edged Area II 16-15 for the title.

Yongsan and Area II next hosts the Korea Traveling League’s season-ending post-level men’s and women’s tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. Regular-season champion Osan Air Base drew the top men’s and women’s seeds in the tournaments, which will field six teams each.

USFJ-AFL moves Misawa’s first playoff game to Aug. 19Due to military commitments, the Misawa Marauders will play their U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League semifinal playoff on Aug. 19, a week earlier than the originally scheduled date, commissioner Kyle Rhodus announced Monday.

Coach Dwight Abel requested the change because Misawa Air Base will be in the middle of a week-long exercise.

“We would not be able to play or practice at all,” Abel said.

The semifinals were originally scheduled for Aug. 26, with the regular-season champion hosting the last-place team and the No. 2 team hosting No. 3. Aug. 19 is a bye week “built into the schedule for situations like this,” Rhodus said.

The other semifinal, not involving Misawa, will be played on the 26th, as originally scheduled.

“Our goal is to finish the season on Sept. 2,” Rhodus said.

One coach, Robert Cole of league-leading Yokosuka, expressed mixed feelings about the decision. One could argue, he said, that it “strengthens one team and weakens another,” giving the Aug. 19 winner the benefit of an extra week off and putting the Aug. 26 winner at a disadvantage.

“But that’s three weeks down the road,” Cole said, adding that if his Seahawks win their regular-season finale at Yokota on Saturday, “then we don’t even have to worry about the 19th. Right now, my focus and the team’s focus is on Yokota.”

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