AMMO Bowl: Pope takes fifth place Published Aug. 3, 2006 By Senior Airman Cassandra Locke 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Pope came in fifth place in this year's AMMO Bowl in Panama City, Fla. The AMMO Bowl is an annual softball tournament that includes a variety of maintenance personnel and their family members. Pope was represented by members from the 23rd Maintenance Squadron. Saturday was "round robin" which involved five softball games per team to determine where teams would be seated in the final rounds for Sunday's double elimination tournament. Team Pope didn't let the Florida heat and humidity bother them and started off strong beating Little Rock AFB, Ark.'s team and Tyndall AFB, Fla. (B). Then Pope lost to Barksdale AFB, La. and Eglin AFB, Fla. (A), but came back and beat Eglin AFB (B). Once the tournament was up and swinging on Sunday, Little Rock AFB got their revenge on Pope by winning the first game, sending Pope to the loser's bracket. Pope fought long and hard to stay in the tournament and beat both Langley AFB, Va. and Tyndall AFB (B). The Pope team was hanging on by a thread and needed to keep winning to stay in the tournament. The team didn't let Sunday's rain and the drenched, muddy softball field stop them. Pope played Barksdale AFB and was leading 7 to 2. Barksdale AFB was frustrated due to some disagreements with the umpire's questionable calls. Plus, one of their players was thrown out of the game. Their frustration didn't last long. Barksdale AFB came back and beat Pope in the sixth inning 19 to 8. "For us not getting much practice in before the event, we did better than we thought we'd do overall," said Bryan Nelson, Pope's left fielder and third baseman. "There were some good teams out here and they had all year to practice." (Senior Airmen Brian Lilley, 23rd MXS, contributed to this story)