Bianca Lopez, a member of the Kaiserslautern, Germany, Little League fastpitch softball team, delivers during practice last week at Ramstein Air Base. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Bianca Lopez, a member of the Kaiserslautern, Germany, Little League fastpitch softball team, delivers during practice last week at Ramstein Air Base. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Mary Peterson, left, and Lindsey Jones get ready to field ground balls during a practice session for the Kaiserslautern, Germany, Junior fastpitch softball team at Ramstein Air Base last week. The team will be playing in the Junior World Series beginning Sunday in Kirkland, Wash. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
Kristan Burns, 14, a member of the Kaiserslautern, Germany, Junior fastpitch softball team, delivers a pitch during practice at Ramstein Air Base last week. (Scott Schonauer / S&S)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Some teams need a little luck to win it all. Early on, Kaiserslautern’s Little League softball team needed more than that.
It needed players.
Players competing in the summer youth leagues had to try out for the team. But only 10 showed up; tournament teams need at least 12.
“The first tryout we told them, ‘Hey glad you all came out. Right now, unless we get more girls coming out, we just won’t be able to field a team,’ ” recalled Senior Master Sgt. Chris Arnold, head coach of the 11- and 12-year-old team.
“Somehow word got out, they knocked on doors and did whatever they had to do and got a couple more girls to come out.”
And it is a good thing they did. The team finished first in the regional tournament last month in Poland, qualifying for the Little League Softball World Series, which begins Thursday in Portland, Ore.
The Little Leaguers are not the only softball team from the Kaiserslautern military community with a shot at a World Series title. Its 13- and 14-year-old Junior League division all-stars will be in Kirkland, Wash., for that age group’s tournament, beginning next Sunday with pool play.
It is the first time the KMC will be sending two girls fastpitch softball teams to the World Series. Both will represent the Europe/Middle East/Africa region.
In each division, 10 teams will be competing for first place. Teams will be grouped into pools, with the top two from each advancing to continue championship play. The Little League semifinals and finals will be televised on ESPN2 on Aug. 15-16.
Success at the district level has helped both squads build confidence. Bianca Lopez, a pitcher on the Little League team, said players are beginning to believe in themselves.
“I think we can win,” said Lopez, who attends Ramstein American Middle School. “We’re not that bad of a team. We’ve got good hitting and we’ve got a good defense.”
Arnold said the team has come a long way and could win a game or two in Oregon.
“I had my doubts in the beginning, definitely, just because I could tell the experience level wasn’t there,” he said.
“But as we started and we kept going these girls just had that we-can-do-it attitude … I was very impressed.”
Senior Master Sgt. Steve Burns, head coach of the Junior team, said he has a “scrappy” team that could surprise some people. It beat the heavily favored Russian team to reach the World Series.
“I know the Europeans, they didn’t think we would be this strong,” Burns said. “And they were really taken aback by our ability to put the ball in play and run the bases really well. That’s how we scored runs.”
Megan Stubblefield, 14 and an infielder/outfielder on the Junior team, said her squad could challenge for the title if it minimizes mistakes.
“We all have the ability, but if we don’t work together and focus then we just make mistakes,” she said.
