An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Rolling over the Competition: Pope places first in Cherry Point softball championship

  • Published
  • By Irvin Gourdine
  • 43rd Airlift Wing, Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  "A League of Their Own," the 1992 film starring Tom Hanks, is the best way to describe the performance of Pope's Softball Team at the North Carolina Southern Softball Association of America tournament at Cherry Point, N.C. July 11. Pope dominated the one-day tournament by winning all of their five games against other armed forces teams.
This year Pope came to take care of business, scoring a total of 150 runs. Their largest win margin was an 18-point victory against Army team Code Red. With the exception of the championship game, they "run ruled" every team by the third inning; none of the games were close. Pope scored in every inning they played except one inning during the championship game. 

"Last year we took pride in our defense," said Joe Renteria, team coach. "Though our defense was good, what was amazing was that our offense was just on point."
The first game was against New River. Pope's big hitter, Jason Bender, went five-for-five batting with three home runs. Both Todd Petzel and Jay Cortez had some impressive hits that game as well. Petzel was five-for-five batting and Cortez was four-for-five. Pope won that game by 12 runs with a final score of 31 to 19. 

Game two was against Marine Base MARSOC. Pope easily defeated them by 15 runs. Bender had another great game batting three-for-four. Cortez and Steve Wall also batted three-for-four that game. Scott Adam had the best hit going four-for-four. The final score of this game was 30 to 15. 

Game three didn't start off in Pope's favor. Marine Team Camp Lejeune scored 11 runs in the top of the first inning. Pope came right back scoring 16 in the bottom of the inning. The game turned out to be another 15-run victory. They defeated Camp Lejeune 32 to 17. Mike Johnson was the big hitter for this game, going a perfect five-for-five batting with three home runs. The hits didn't slow down for Pope as Bender went five-for-five as well, hitting two home runs of his own. Cortez joined in the home run derby by hitting one of his own, batting four-for-five. Petzel also had a solid bat, hitting a perfect four-for-four. 

Pope's overwhelming offense continued into game four against arch rival Army team Code Red. Like in game three, Pope had another home run derby-type game with Bender, Johnson and Ben Mooring hitting two home runs each. Those three were not the only players with great batting; Petzel, Cortez and Wall all went five-for-five at the plate. If there were any ill feelings towards Code Red it showed with the largest point victory for Pope - a 33 to 15 point defeat. 

After all of the batting practice Pope got in the four games leading to the final against Shady J, the team was ready to compete. Even though Pope hit their way through the first four teams, the final game proved a bit more challenging. The first inning of this game was the only scoreless inning for Pope. Shady J were able to keep the game close; Pope only won by 5 runs, but were unable to stop their onslaught of bats. Petzel, Mooring and Scott Adam each had one home run. Both Mooring and Petzel batted five-for-six, and Adam batted four-for-six. Final score of the game was 24 to 19, making Pope the state SSAA champs. 

MVP for the tournament was Jason Bender with a batting average of 800. He hit 10 home runs and was 20-for-25 batting. Todd Petzel was the leading batter with an 875 batting average. Jay Cortez and Steve Wall each had an 800 or better batting average. Mike Johnson had nine home runs in the tournament, behind Bender's 10. 

"Pope has earned a name -- recognition and respect of all the ball teams now," said Mr. Renteria. "Now when we come to play at these tournaments they are looking at us since we have been playing so well since we put this team together last year." 

The core of last year's team, which came in second in the Armed Forces World Series last year, is still intact with seven new players. Pope hopes to win it all this time around at the World Series Aug. 14 through 16. Before they can win there, they have to play in the SSAA Armed Forces tournament in Peters Creek, N.C., July 24 and 25. Last year Pope finished third place in the tournament. With such an impressive run for the SSAA State, one can only imagine Pope will be walking targets.