Danny Acosta of Okinawa's Pacific Force runs out his run-scoring single in the fifth inning of a 20-19 win over Korea's Kunsan Wolfpack during Friday's round-robin play in the 13th CASS Pacificwide Invitational Interservice Softball Tournament at Lombardo Field, Yongsan Garrison South Post, South Korea. Acosta, an Air Force tech sergeant stationed in the Pacific much of his career, flew all the way from Uzbekistan, where he was deployed for five months, to play in the tournament. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)
YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — For a handful of players in the 13th Pacificwide Invitational Interservice Softball Tournament at Lombardo Field, money and long flights were no obstacles.
Try flying halfway around the world, as Danny Acosta did. Fresh off a five-month deployment to Uzbekistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the 35-year-old Air Force tech sergeant, who spent 13 years in the Pacific, said he refused to miss an event he’s taken part in eight times.
“It’s great to be back,” the backup catcher said after hitting a pinch-hit RBI single that helped Okinawa powerhouse Pacific Force edge Korea’s Kunsan Wolf Pack 20-19 during Friday’s round-robin play.
He could be forgiven if he was searching for the eye-toothpick salesman, after flying five days on a C-130 Hercules transport from Tashkent to his home station, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, then driving to Abilene to catch a flight to Seoul through Los Angeles and Tokyo.
“This is one of the best tournaments out here,” said Acosta. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it out in time.”
He wasn’t the only one who shelled out hundreds of dollars — Acosta spent $1,100 for an airline ticket — and piled up frequent flyer miles to play in the year’s first Pacific interservice Grand Slam event.
• Two airmen, Chris Mesa and Anthony Macias, assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, were invited by Heat 3N2, a Yongsan-based private softball club, which paid their airfare.
• Mike Ladd, Anthony Shaw and Jimmy Perez, three soldiers stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., offered their services to Korea’s Camp Casey, at the invitation of coach Bob Hochmuth.
• Dennis Allmendinger, a civilian working at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., who was at Yongsan for 14 years and umpired every Pacificwide since its inception in 1991, came back to play for Yongsan’s International Guzzlers, like Heat 3N2 a private softball squad.
• Four-time All-Army player and two-year All-Army coach Andy Watts of Fort Bragg, N.C., who played more than half his 25 years of service ball in Korea, also returned to his former team, the Guzzlers, for the weekend tournament.
Watts, who transferred to Fort Bragg from Yongsan nearly two years ago, traveled all this way for two reasons: he wanted to catch up with old friends from his eight appearances in the tournament and scout for the All-Army team.
“I’m always looking,” said Watts, a 42-year-old chief warrant officer fourth class from Tampa, Fla., hoping to find new blood for July’s All-Army tryout camp in San Antonio. “The Army’s strength is the outfield, so I look for infielders.”
Specifically, some who might help the Army regain the All-Armed Forces gold medal it won in 2001.
Personally, Watts says he remains steadfastly loyal to the Guzzlers, even travels with them to Southeast Asian corporate circuit tournaments in Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta. He estimates spending $4,000 in the last year for trips overseas to play ball.
Allmendinger, who has played and umpired in all four Grand Slam tournaments, ranks the Pacificwide as the best, pointing to “the around-the-clock competition, the camaraderie and the quality of players.”
“Good softball and good times,” said Mesa, who played for Heat 3N2 while stationed in Korea last year. “You get a lot of your best competition. You want good softball, this is the place to come.”
What of the risk of upsetting team chemistry by bringing in ringers? Hochmuth says his Fort Lewis additions have “blended well with the team.”
“I’d told the guys in March that I would be bringing in three players from the states,” Hochmuth said. “They all said it was no problem. They’re great guys, super guys.”
The U.S. imports said the benefits of playing in the tournament far outweigh the expense and travel ordeal.
Acosta, who left Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, for Dyess in September, wanted to watch the TPS Diamonds, a women’s team he coached, play one last time. Of course, suiting up for Pacific Force, with a record 36 of 55 Grand Slam titles since 1989, was pretty good bait as well.
“It’s worth it. It’s a blast,” he said.
