JCU caps off perfect regular season with title Published June 26, 2008 By Staff Sgt. Jon LaDue 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- If you would like to know what it takes to win an intramural softball game, you could ask 21 teams on Pope just how to do so. If you wanted to know what it takes to have a winning record, 10 Pope teams could talk about that. If, by chance, you are wondering about perfection, there's only one team on Pope that would have first-hand insight. The Joint Communications Unit defeated the 43rd Security Forces Squadron Defenders June 13 to win the 2008 Pope Intramural Softball Championship game. While, this is nothing new for JCU, their perfect 20-0 regular season record was something different, something amazing. For more than a decade, JCU has made it to the playoffs and, most years, won the championship. Last year, they came into the season as defending champions. This was nothing unusual and just like most years, JCU made it to the championship game. What happened then was a bit unsettling for them as they lost a down-to-the-wire matchup versus the lowest seeded 66th Air Operations Squadron 14-13. The JCU team captain and pitcher Todd Petzel remembers the feeling that loss left with himself and the rest of his players. "We had a bad taste in our mouth. We lost in the bottom of the seventh. It was very hard to watch them celebrate," said Petzel. The important thing, however, is how JCU used that loss as inspiration and motivation to refocus for this year. Petzel said anything less than a championship was unacceptable and the whole team put in the extra time and effort to make sure a championship was obtained. Six weeks prior to the season start, JCU fielded two-hour practices twice a week. They worked on hitting, fielding and fundamentals. Petzel said that the team brought an unparalleled level of dedication toward practice, which paid huge dividends in the long run. In JCU's march to perfection, they outscored opponents 354-159, winning by an average of 11 runs per game. The coach says their success cannot be credited to just one or two people. "We don't have any superstars on the team. It is all about the team and the team concept," said Petzel. "There are no trophies for individual play." Although they were already on their way to a great start, the team barely won their sixth game versus the 43rd Communication Squadron. Petzel used this slim 12-9 victory as a chance to speak to the team about the possibilities of a perfect season and to keep his players focused on their main goal - a championship. "I reminded them of what it felt like the year before, losing in the playoffs," Petzel said, "I also stated that this year's team was the best team I ever had and I expected great things. I told them that I've never gone undefeated, but that this was the year." The talk motivated the JCU players and they all continued down their winning road. "Each and every player believed in one another; it was about staying grounded and hungry for the title," Petzel said. "Whether it was a sacrifice fly, a home run or a double play, it is about situational softball and my guys understood that. If you have players that understand the game and they have a no-lose attitude, you will win softball games." Petzel said he was lucky to have a team where, on any given night, any one of his 18 players could step up to be the leader. That team-oriented and never quit attitude is what the coach feels allowed JCU to cruise into the playoffs with an undefeated record. That is when, for the first time this season, they would have to prove they could battle through adversity. After defeating the 743rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 43rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron in the first two rounds of the playoffs, they dropped their first and only game of the season in a 17-15 loss to the Defenders in the first round of the double-elimination playoffs. "They have a good core of players that has played for years together," said Defenders Pitcher Joe Renteria. "I was pleased with my team's performance against a team that has proven themselves through the years." Petzel said "We ran into a tough security forces team in the playoffs and they were better than us on that day. I knew that they were the team to beat on our way to the title." After their first loss, JCU defeated 43rd AES again, this time in the loser's bracket, for the chance to make it into the championship game. After the emotional loss to the Defenders, JCU was refocused coming into the championship game. "I knew my guys had it in them; they were hungry to bring the title back to (our team)," Petzel added. Because the playoffs were set up as double elimination, JCU would have to defeat the Defenders twice. On the back of a strong defensive play in the bottom of the 7th inning game one and establishing a big lead early in the second game, they did just that. Looking back, Petzel credits hard work, determination and a hatred for losing for his team's success this season. Now that JCU has regained their pinnacle form atop the Pope intramural softball league, they have only one thing left to worry about. "We will have to see next year. We will have a target on our chest as everyone will want to beat us and everyone will bring their top game to knock us off the top," Petzel added. "Repeating is tough to do but it is about refocusing and keeping our eye on the prize."