Get rid of 'station-to-station ball'

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer remains ever grateful for having discovered Coconuts Café at the Palms on Camp Hansen, and wishes Semper Fit would hold the Marine Far East Regional Softball Tournament at Hansen for just that reason:

-- And so it has begun, the two-tournament run-up, also known as the Camps Schwab and Hansen Midnight Madness tournaments, to the Marine Far East Regional Softball Tournament, scheduled for Aug. 8-12 on Foster Field 1.

-- One thing I’m noticing that’s a departure from past years is, the open teams that participate in the Madness tournaments are more closely mirroring some of the team’s we’ll see at the Far East Regionals. They’ll simply change over from their Brickhouse, Club Red and other open-team jerseys and trousers to the traditional colors of the command teams vying for Far East Regional individual and team bragging rights.

-- One thing I’m hoping we don’t see in the Far East Regionals that we’ve seen too much of, at last weekend’s Schwab Madness (held at Camp Hansen but run by the Schwab fitness staff) and earlier in July at the Firecracker Shootout … is something becoming more commonplace when one of the open powerhouse teams takes on a lesser light.

-- It’s called “station to station ball.” A process used by the powerhouses that in theory ensures that it doesn’t bury a lesser light too badly, tries to play everybody on its roster, tries to extend games past the mercy run-rule limits (usually 20-run lead after three innings, 15 after four and 10 after five) and tries to save face for everybody concerned. The powerhouse doesn’t get castigated for trying to run up the score and the lesser light can feel good about itself, especially if it scores a run or four in the latter stages of the game.

-- The basic premise is that no matter how far a ball it hit to the outfield, how far into the power-alley gap the ball soars and no matter how badly an outfielder for the lesser light muffs the ball, the batter only runs to first base and at half speed. And any runners on base also advance only one base, also at half speed. Just the opposite occurs when the lesser light is batting; they go at full speed and the powerhouse fields as if it were a regulation game.

-- On the surface, it might seem like a good thing. No loss of face. No feelings hurt.

-- But … I’m neither OK with the theory or actuality.

-- It smacks too much of the non-competitive soccer that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts implemented at the youth level starting in 1998. In non-competitive soccer, no scores are kept, there are no winners and there are no losers, everybody gets to play, everybody at season’s end gets a team photograph, a trophy, a post-season barbeque and a pat on the back from everybody. No dominant teams. No lesser-light team’s players’ feelings hurt.

-- And none of the reality that life in and of itself involves competition. To win takes hard work and perseverance, it takes magnanimity and solid sportsmanship, to thank the vanquished for the opportunity. To lose … and more importantly to rebound from losing … takes a 100-percent resolution, a 100-percent determination.

-- You get neither when a youth soccer team or an open-level softball team can neither celebrate an accomplishment, nor learn what it has to do to improve and reach the same level as the team that just got finished beating it.

-- Disclaimer here:  The closest I ever came to playing open-level softball was as a company-level shot-and-beer player at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in the mid- to late-1970s, back in the days before starting each at-bat with a 1-and-1 count, no courtesy foul ball, no run rules, no stealing, no banned bats (we mostly used aluminum and wood), and no foul-ball third strikes.

-- I played for one of the smallest unit teams on Maxwell, the 3825^th Academic Services Group. We did all the side tasks that helped make the Squadron Officers School, Air Command and Staff College, Air War College and Leadership & Management Development Center function.

-- By day, deep in the bowels of the base library, in a windowless, combination-locked facility called the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, I bound and unbound wing histories for microfilming by the center’s technical systems staff (yeah, real challenging work, I know).

-- By night, our softball team, which barely had enough players to play each game, would go out and get our heads handed to us by our much larger unit counterparts.

-- The bane of our existence? The 3800^th Air Base Wing team, with its superstar tandem of slugger Mike Clegg (a former St. Louis Cardinals prospect) and speedster Eddie Rivera.

-- The only surprise when Clegg was at bat was if he didn’t go yard; the question from me, who always played catcher, was always, “Well, how far are you gonna hit it this time, Mike?” Rivera would go from first to third on groundouts. He’d score from second on sacrifice flies. A sure single for anybody else was a sure double for Rivera. And I’m told that today, even in his early 60s, Rivera can still fly around the bases with the best of ’em in the northwest Florida panhandle.

-- We never beat them. If we came within 25 runs of them, we were fortunate. But we never once barked about how badly we’d lose; heck, we’d crack open several cans of nails behind the ballfields after games were over to expand and adorn those tall tales. And on the rare occasions that 3825^th did do well, such as batting around twice in the same inning in one game (and I made all three outs), we still didn’t win.

-- But we saw through the example set by such greats as Clegg, Rivera and others the level that you had to achieve to be great. Some of 3825^th’s better players, such as rocket-armed shortstop Tom Poland and outfielder Roger Hamel, eventually were invited to play for the base team, the Maxwell Owls.

-- We didn’t need coddling then. So, why coddle teams now?

-- If a team such as the Marine Corps Base public affairs unit, “No Glove, No Love,” enters, say, the Firecracker tournament knowing it’s going to get clotheslined by teams more vastly experienced, then don’t let up on the gas pedal if you’re the powerhouse.

-- In my mind, “station-to-station ball” does a disservice to both parties.

-- If a powerhouse team goes at half speed through the round-robin portion of a tournament, its players may end up becoming complacent, being so used to soft-pedaling it that its players might – just might – continue at half-speed during a critical situation in a playoff game.

-- If I’m the lesser light, I feel embarrassed, even insulted, that this team is taking it “too easy” on us. I’d want them to go all out. Kind of like that scene in the movie Rudy when big No. 75 bypassed Rudy and blocked somebody else … and Rudy got in the guy’s grill and gave it to him good for soft-pedaling. “I’m here to help you get ready to play Purdue! Now, hit me!” he admonished … and got pancaked by – yep – No. 75 on the next play.

-- Life teaches us to give it our all, to go 100 percent in everything we do. Neither side gains a thing from going at it any less. Bottom line, leave the “station-to-station ball” to Massachusetts Commonwealth non-competitive youth soccer.

-- Eatery of the week: The afore-mentioned Coconuts Café. Enter the Palms through the front doors, circle around to the right, then enter. Everything from cold sammiches to stir fry to fried rice to my favourites: Six-ounce steak and eggs cooked to order, generous helping of hash browns and white or wheat toast. Coffee’s good, too. $11.75. Went back that evening for the country-fried steak, with sumptuous helpings of mash and green beans, two pieces of Texas toast and a couple of big, tall cups of sweet tea. $9.25. I’ll be back this weekend for the Hansen Midnight Madness tournament.

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Things learned, observed in USFJ-AFL Week 7.0

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer contemplates the just-completed U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League regular season and what’s likely to change during the playoffs, which start on July 30:

Imagine you’re a quarterback for a military football team and you’ve helped lead that team to the cusp of a league championship … only to not be able to complete the mission because the mission you were hired for – defending the country – takes precedence and must take you thousands of miles from the green gridiron to the harsh landscape of a faraway, dangerous land.

That was Ryan Jones a year ago, helm of the offense that boosted the Yokota Warriors to their fourth appearance in the USFJ-AFL’s Torii Bowl last July 31 at Yokota High School’s Bonk Field against South Division champion Joint Task Force.

Days before Yokota’s 26-23 victory over the Wolfpack, Jones departed for Afghanistan, much of his mind on the mission at hand … but at least a very small part of his mind wondering what part he could have played in the game.

Would that 72-yard, 8-play drive capped by Kevin “K.B.” Fortin’s game-winning 5-yard touchdown run have even been necessary? Might he have engineered enough points that JTF’s Kent Onuoha’s 91-yard interception-return touchdown and 92-yard game-tying kick-return TD would have made no difference?

These days, Jones refuses to get bogged down in such questions. Back from the hardscrabble mountains of central Asia to the green, green grass of Bonk, Jones is on a mission, says his coach, Selwyn Jones. “He wants to get back to that title game,” the coach said.

The numbers speak volumes. In the Warriors’ last three games, two of them victories, Jones has accounted for nine touchdowns … three on the ground and six in the air, four of the touchdowns coming in last Saturday’s 32-0 whitewashing of the Yokosuka Seahawks.

And if Saturday’s one-sided contest (at least on the scoreboard) is any indicator, just on points alone, Yokota and Jones appear to be a strong favorite to climb at least the first ladder back to the Torii Bowl.

The Warriors host the Seahawks in the North divisional playoff at 5 p.m. July 30. It’s a Yokota team that has outscored the youthful Seahawks 73-6 over the course of the season … pretty much unheard of during Yokosuka’s salad days of the USFJ-AFL’s fledgling years, the early 2000s.

The Seahawks won the league title from 2000-04 and again in 2006-07, but have been on a downward spiral since an 18-12 playoff loss to Yokota on Aug. 1, 2008,after going 5-1 during the regular season, winning the North title and clinching home field throughout the North playoffs.

But you see, that’s the thing about the playoffs. Now, the games count for more than just a playoff seed. And in so saying, anything can happen in those playoffs.

Just ask Joint Task Force. Two years ago, they suffered a winless regular season. Come the playoffs? It took four overtime periods, but the Wolfpack handed the Kadena Dragons a one-and-done playoff verdict, winning 12-6.

Same thing could happen on July 30. Not saying it’s a done deal – far from it, bearing in mind Kadena swept its season series with Joint Task Force, but by a far less dominant 14 points – but I’ve seen stranger things happen in 31 years of covering interservice football.

So, what of this Seahawks team, and why has it fallen on such hard times?

Call it youth and inexperience. Many of the Seahawks players are just cutting their teeth on interservice ball. Coach James Price’s charges don’t include the stalwarts who led Yokosuka to the promised land last decade, veteran blood that knew how to win. Center Tim Graves. Linebacker Mike Favors. Edge pass rusher Thomas Curry. Multi-purpose backs Chris Noland and Chris Bolden.

But more than that, Yokosuka had the most potent, yet most simple weapon in interservice football down to a science: Smashmouth offense. Double-tight end set, full-house backfield, quarterback hands off to a series of running backs as interchangeable as they were numerous.

If Yokosuka can get back to that style of football … the sky would be the limit, just as it was last decade.

As for the South Division, what’s spelled success for the champion Foster Bulldogs is great balance, which they continued to demonstrate in their season-ending 30-8 triumph over JTF, which capped Foster’s second unbeaten regular season in three years.

As they have all season, they did it on all sides of the ball against the Wolfpack, to the tune of 194 yards on 34 rushing attempts, 124 yards on 15-for-22 passing, and defense as stingy as the day is long, allowing 75 yards on 33 offensive plays. Especially stingy were the Bulldogs when JTF ran the ball; try minus-69 yards on 17 attempts.

The only time JTF executed productively came in the final period, when quarterback James Fulz finally struck the right note, passing 80 yards to Sharome Cook for a touchdown, then on the next possession found Justin Malloy for 43 yards.

But on the next play, Freddie Davis showed why Foster’s defense has been so successful this season – he picked off a Fulz pass, giving the Bulldogs 13 interceptions on the season – 3¼ interceptions per game. Wylie Flowers earlier intercepted Fulz, giving him a team- and league-leading four pickoffs this season.

And coach Gerald Sharber continues to consider his team a “work in progress.” I’m sure four of the league’s six teams would take the Bulldogs’ “work in progress” at the moment.

So, what would make Joint Task Force better, and what would make Kadena better entering the South playoffs?

On paper, it would appear as if Kadena’s a solid, if not overwhelming, favorite to beat the Wolfpack on July 30.

Consistency is what the Wolfpack has lacked over the course of the season. They do things well some of the time, but not enough of the time. A little less time spent working the spread, which works occasionally but more often leads to trouble, and a bit more time spent working on the ground game, a few yards and a cloud of dust and take more time off the clock … and the Wolfpack might find themselves on the right end of the final score, if not give Kadena a really bad time.

Quite the opposite for Kadena, which can execute the ground game with rich efficiency, particularly that 291-yard performance in a losing cause, 30-14 to Foster on June 11. It’s the passing game that has killed the Dragons, and at the worst of possible times. They took much better care of the football in beating JTF 22-12 on July 9. A few more wise choices when under pressure, look off a receiver or two and a pump fake or two, instead of looking at the intended target the whole time, might help Kadena handle its opponents more easily.

And that straight-T offense? Strikes a good note.

Won’t be long. These games count. Green flag flies in nine days.

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Sign up for Korea Volleyball Academy summer camp

Camp director Joanna Wyche has announced that registration is open for this Korea Volleyball Academy (KVA) camp Aug. 22-25 at the Camp Carroll Fitness Center.

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Casey to send three players to All-Army men’s softball tryout camp

A hearty congratulations to George Finney, Russ Mitcham and All-Army veteran Brandon Sonnenburg, keys to Camp Casey’s most successful men’s softball season in years, for being selected to attend the All-Army men’s tryout camp. The three play for a Warriors team that’s gone 41-6 so far this season, including the championship in the Firecracker Shootout Pacificwide tournament earlier this month on Okinawa. The All-Army men’s camp runs Aug. 24-Sept. 16 at Fort Benning, Ga. Players selected to the All-Army team move on to the All-Armed Forces tournament Sept. 17-23 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.. The All-Armed Forces team then plays at the Amateur Softball Association’s national championship Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Oklahoma City.

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Things learned, observed in USFJ-AFL Week 6.0

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer tries slamming on the brakes to make summer last just a bit longer, but to no avail:

See what happens when you take good care of the football? “Mistakes will kill ya,” Dandy Don Meredith used to say repeatedly on Monday Night Football, and how true it is. The more mistakes you make in a football game, the less chance one has of winning, and two games played this U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League season by the South Division’s Kadena Dragons stand as a true case in point:

-- June 11, Field 6, Gunners Fitness & Sports Complex, Camp Foster. Kadena’s single-wing offense debuts to the tune of 291 yards on 51 carries, but Foster’s Luke Hicks picks off three passes, three of four takeaways by the Bulldogs, who convert two of them into points en route to a 30-14 romp over the Dragons.
-- July 9, Mike Petty Stadium, Kubasaki High School, Camp Foster. Dragons quarterback Kelvin Lewis throws nary an interception and is one of three Kadena players to run for touchdowns, and Kadena commits a season-low two turnovers and gains 180 rushing yards in a 22-12 triumph over Joint Task Force, the Dragons’ second win over the Wolf Pack this season.

In Kadena’s other two games, the Dragons staged an improbable rally from 18 points down against JTF, scoring 22 fourth-quarter points despite committing a season-high six turnovers, including four interceptions. And Foster picked off three more Kadena passes, all by Wylie Flowers, and had five takeaways overall in a 20-6 win over Kadena.

Let’s go over that again: In its first three games, Kadena turned the ball over 15 times, was outscored 68-42 and were comparatively fortunate to come out of that span 1-2, thanks to the rally in the rain on June 18 at Ryukyu Middle School’s Habu Field on Kadena Air Base.

The Dragons amassed far fewer rushing yards, 291-180, in Saturday’s victory over JTF. The difference being, of course, Kadena gave the Wolf Pack far fewer chances on which to capitalize. Just two fumbles, one of which led to new quarterback Rodney Hunt’s 4-yard quarterback sneak that got JTF within four points, 16-12.

Naturally, taking better care of the football comes with practice and execution. Harkening back to my days in 1972 and ’73 as manager and statistician for the John F. Kennedy High School Cougars of Bellmore, N.Y., one always knew what would happen if somebody put the pumpkin on the ground and six or seven people weren’t Johnny on the spot to dive on it. “GET GRASS!” coach Greg Maushart would yell at the guilty parties, who’d then have to run to the fence furthest away, snatch a few blades of grass and bring them back to him.

There was a reason for that drill, just as coaches from sea to shining sea have similar methods of punishment for players who get lax when it comes to taking care of the pumpkin.

And there’s a reason why coaches repeatedly admonish their charges to come to practice; So they can nail their routines down to a science, running plays as if they were doing it in their sleep, get to know their teammates so well that they can predict each other’s moves and read the tone in each other’s voices. If enough players came to practice every day or every other day that you could run a full offense vs. defense scrimmage, I’d guarantee a 40-percent drop in turnovers per team per game. And there’d be no need for close-call victories such as Kadena’s first win over JTF last month.

Speaking of close calls, it becomes more and more apparent each week that North Division champion Misawa continues to be the poster-child example of the expression, “To be good, you have to be both good and lucky.”

The Jets for the fourth time this season survived yet another close shave against a “Black-and-Blue Division” opponent, this time outlasting the Seahawks 9-7 at Yokosuka Naval Base’s Berkey Field. Misawa scored all nine of its points in the first quarter, then left it up to the defense to keep the door slammed shut (or at least closing on the Seahawks’ toes) the rest of the way.

That made the Jets a perfect 4-0 during the North regular season, giving them host rights to the division championship game on Aug. 6 and with it the right to host the Torii Bowl as determined by preseason teleconference call.

But it’s been anything but easy for Misawa this season, right from the jump, when the Jets had to rally at defending champion Yokota 18-12 on May 28.

Two weeks later, Misawa led by just 13-12 at halftime at home against Yokosuka before pulling away with 21 unanswered points.

Then on June 25 at home, Misawa again trailed at halftime before charging past the Warriors for a 24-22 edging which clinched the North regular-season title for the Jets.

The difference maker the last two games for Misawa? Versatile Douglas Brown, who has done it on all sides of the ball, playing punter-kicker, safety, running back and quarterback.

In those last two games, Brown threw a touchdown pass and ran twice for scores against Yokota, then booted a field goal and scampered 40 yards for a TD against Yokosuka. Twenty-seven points in two games. 121 yards total offense against Yokota.

But it hasn’t been all Brown; linebacker Donald Jones helped hold Kevin Fortin and the Warriors offense to just 2.6 yards per rushing attempt while racking up 11 tackles, and Justin Stabler had 95 return yards, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Still, the way Brown has played the last two games, you’d think defensive coordinators are making notes to themselves: “Whatever you do, shut down No. 25.”

A shame that Misawa’s interdivision game Saturday at Kadena was called off due to duty commitments for many Dragons players. Given the fact that this season’s schedule is somewhat truncated due to the relief effort in the wake of the March 11 Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and tsunami, this was something I’m sure the Jets were looking forward to.

The Jets are to host South Division champion Foster on July 23 in an interdivision exhibition, with proceeds from concession sales going to the ongoing earthquake-tsunami relief effort. One byproduct of the game is, assuming both teams win out during the playoffs, this game could serve as a possible Torii Bowl preview. Kickoff is 2 p.m. at Misawa Air Base’s Hillside Field.

We will see what we will see.

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Things learned, observed on Day 5.0 of 2011 Firecracker Shootout

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer once more repairs for the great indoors to let his aching, aging, sun-skewered body heal from a softball tournament that he’s renamed: “Survivor: Okinawa.”

Now, it can be told: Camp Casey/Area I, after nearly two decades of frustration, has finally vaulted atop the mountain, capturing its very first Pacific interservice softball Grand Slam tournament title. They did it the hard way, dethroning two-time champion American Legion 9-2 in the second of two final games in the double-elimination tournament; Legion forced that second game by beating the Warriors 15-7 earlier Monday.

Ah, sweet victory. Wiping away the bitter memories of 1992, when Casey came close twice, but no cigar, and again in 2002 at the Pacificwide Open at Korea’s Yongsan Garrison, And last July’s Firecracker, when a Casey team comprised of pretty much the same players got their heads handed to them by Legion.

All-Army players ranging from third-baseman Luis Ortiz from that 1992 team, to Brandon “Iowa” Sonnenburg and David “Tre” Moore from this year’s team, must certainly be pleased.

But more than just winning it for themselves, Iowa and Tre did it for Casey Bob.

Robert Hochmuth, a civilian who’s been at Camp Casey since … well, probably since I was in swaddling clothes and can recall every olde skool star who ever passed through Casey, ranging from Al Reeder to Clarence Freeman, endured every measure of the Warriors’ miseries over that long haul:

­­-- May 25, 1992: In that 1992 Pacificwide, on a rainy, dreary Memorial Day on old Field 7 at Yongsan Garrison’s Lombardo Field FourPlex, Casey looked like they had it going on, until Bill Hartman and the “Look to the East” bunch from Kunsan Air Base derailed the championship run.

-- July 6, 1992: The grey clouds off the west coast of Okinawa looked more ominous by the second as they rolled toward Torii Station. The old Firecracker 16 – 16 men’s teams, no women’s teams – was ongoing at Torii Field and Camp Casey appeared a shoo-in to at least reach the championship and perhaps avenge the events of six weeks before. They never got the chance. Heavy rains washed out the last day of double-elimination play; tournament director Michael Collins ruled that the entire playoff be wiped out and that the title be decided by run differential in pool play. Casey lost out on yet another title.

-- May 27, 2002: The Pacificwide moved to Camp Casey for one year while Lombardo was being remodeled. Hochmuth’s Warriors again appeared to have the upper hand, as the champions bracket representative in the double-elimination final. But it was not to be. Coach Robert Waddle and Osan Air Base double-dipped Casey in two games and the Defenders won their second Grand Slam tournament title.

-- July 5, 2010: A 13-run Legion second inning erased any hope that Casey would end its long drought, as the Warriors lost 20-0 to Legion in three innings in the Firecracker Shootout final.

Now, all of that has been erased, thanks to the work of a lineup featuring Sonnenburg, Moore and All-Army outfield candidate Robert Mitcham.

“Once we found out that Bob had never won a Pacificwide tournament, that was a goal,” team captain Tony Hilliard said. “We got one goal out of the way.”

And they did it without command support, the lack of which kept Korea’s other Army teams, from Areas II, III and IV, home for the holidays. Traveling piecemeal, the Warriors came to Okinawa whichever way they could, via military and commercial flights. “That gave us an added purpose of winning this,” Hilliard said.

Where Legion is concerned, can there be any doubt that the Firecracker Shootout’s double-elimination playoff round resembles, in fact, a game of survival of the fittest?

When we’re talking double-elimination games starting at 7 a.m. Sunday and going all the way through the beastly hot, sunny day into sultry evening, followed by even more blistering sun on Championship Monday, you’d better stay in the championship bracket and out of the knockout bracket.

Seldom does a team come out of the lower bracket, especially one that loses in the first or second round of the playoffs, as did Legion, falling to its Okinawa island rival Club Red 12-8 after winning its round-robin pool and earning a first-round playoff bye.

The upshot: Coach John O’Brien’s charges had to play six games on Sunday, two of them back-to-back to close the evening, at around 11:30 p.m. That left them just 11½ hours to rehydrate, put their feet up and rest before facing a Casey team that played just three games on Sunday, none after 6 p.m.

In the heat. In the humidity. In the sun. Survival of the fittest.

Give Legion credit; this collection of players with pedigree, with more than 10 All-Service selections among them, showed tremendous heart in winning that first championship game. Heart, adrenaline and experience all came into play in that game. It’s what champions do.

And it’s what teams with All-Army players, backed by a gaggle of consummate role and team players, do when their backs are pressed to the wall. The Warriors quelled the panic after having surrendered 10 runs in the last two innings of the first final game. They scored nine runs in the first three innings before Legion could gather itself, but all they could manage was solo runs in the fourth and seventh innings.

“Ran out of steam,” O’Brien said.

Whatever the reason for it, I didn’t like the breakup of the Yard Busters, the Okinawa-based women’s team that won the 2009 Firecracker and the Pacificwide at Yongsan Garrison last year.

But it’s certainly nice to see more than one women’s open team on Okinawa these days. Not quite the days when there were six open teams on island, and all of them very, very good. But it’s a start.

A handful of Yard Busters, including shortstop Brooke Weeden and outfielder Wendy Dreisbach, defected to form the Okinawa Dragons, who owned the pool-play phase of the Firecracker, going 6-0 in round-robin games, before faltering twice against Yard Busters in the champion bracket final and in the title game by a score of 6-5.

One might say that Yard Busters was an “Osan team” this weekend, with four players imported from Osan Air Base to suit up for the Okinawa-based open team.

That’s all well and good, but keep in mind that of those players who wore Yard Busters uniform over the weekend, Mandy Snyder will transfer to Okinawa, where she played for the defunct Kadena base team for four seasons. She’ll be joined at Kadena Air Base by Joyce Washington of Osan, and last I talked with her, Candace Dugo of Kunsan Air Base, who’s playing for Osan this year, is considering going back to Kadena as well. If those three, All-Air Force veterans each, come to Okinawa and play for Yard Busters, it’ll at least revive them, if not make them as strong as they were at one time.

As for the Dragons, they have an excellent core group of players, six of them active duty, including left fielder Brittanie Huffman, who’s got a shotgun arm. As does Weeden at shortstop. Any good team builds strongly up the middle, and Weeden and her keystone partner Mary Beth Palos have solid gloves and excellent arms.

This could blossom into one big rivalry.

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Who should go to softball tryout camp? Ornauer has the answers

If I was writing notes to the coaches of the various All-Services softball teams, using the Firecracker Shootout as a final-audition stage, here’s what I’d be saying to them, regarding some players who deserve a first look and a return to camp:

To All-Army men’s softball coach Vic Rivera: How, oh, how in the world did Robert Mitcham of Firecracker men’s champion Camp Casey/Area I of Korea get cut from the team last September? I’m told by his Warriors teammates and by Mitcham himself that he had a “bad tournament” the final week of tryout camp. Um, hello? Anybody notice his arm? I watched him throw out a couple of baserunners who had no business being thrown out, including one in the final. The word “howitzer” comes to mind. Four words of advice: “Don’t cut him again.”

He can hit just a little, too. And his backflip and tuck when he went up to the podium to get his All-Tournament award, Ozzie Smith-esque, demonstrates his athleticism and flexibility.

Also, make sure you reel Casey All-Army veterans Brandon “Iowa” Sonnenburg and David “Tre” Moore back to camp as well. Moore should start in the outfield and Sonnenburg is a cornerstone at first base.

And give Casey shortstop George Finney a look, too. The guy runs like a scared jackrabbit. Camp will benefit him from a fielding and hitting standpoint; he’ll become more consistent with the glove and his bat speed will ramp up considerably when he sees what he has to match up with.

You know about Chris “Smoke” Stevens. He got dinged up a bit at the Firecracker, but he’ll be 100 percent in time for camp. Bring him back.

A side note: Camp also helps teach newcomers a bit about representing their service. Not from a softball playing standpoint, but learning more about service pride, being a stand-up soldier, sailor, airman and Marine.

To All-Marine Sports directors Steve Dinote and Jim Medley: If they get the go-ahead for tryout camp, you are really going to like shortstops Derrick Battle of American Legion and Taylor Smith of Brickhouse. Battle batted at the bottom of the order for Legion; he’s not a power stick, and his glove could use some polish, but he can stroke it to all fields and you talk about an ARM like a cannon! So, too, does Smith, who, coach Robert Stoecker says, has range, can “hit the hell” out of the ball and can play all positions, but would be best served at shortstop.

Infielders Frank Poo and Tommy Macias of third-place Bovino’s, who went to camp last year, should get the nod to go again. If you’re looking for new blood, give Bovino’s outfielder Philip Eskew a look. Another guy who can fly, he would benefit from some hands-on instruction about hitting to the gaps and to the opposite field to move up runners, said his coach, Don DeLatte.

On the women’s side, give Yard Busters shortstop Erica Chapman a look. She won the tournament’s MVP award for a reason.

To All-Navy sports director Donald Golden and the All-Navy camp organizers at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.: Just wait until you see the cannon-arm on Club Red outfielder Trenton McKibben. Watched him throw out a runner or three when they tried to test that rocket-firer, and can stroke the ball pretty good. Then, there’s workmanlike third baseman Steven Jurgensen. If they put in their applications for camp, you’ll get a couple of starters out of them.

To All-Air Force men’s coach Steve “Pup” Shortland: I really liked what I saw out of a couple of guys from Misawa Air Base, left-infielders Josh Mueller and Ross Burns. Torry Oliver can just murder the ball and is a non-stop chatterbox behind home plate. Second baseman Jose Otero, stationed at Osan Air Base but who played for Kunsan Air Base at the Firecracker, is a solid fielder who can get on base; his stroke and bat speed could benefit from a look at camp.

You’d also like versatile Brian Denman. Can play first base or the outfield and can stroke the ball to all fields. Give him a look.

You know about Tony Rivera, who’s new to Okinawa, plus longtime Air Force slugger Chadd Malin and third baseman Michael Charvat. If you have room, and if they want to go, they need to go back to camp.

To All-Air Force women’s coach Cheryl Trapnell (if she’s coaching again this year): You’ve seen Mandy Snyder and Jessica Meadows of Osan; get them back into camp. Meadows has improved by light years, especially. You also have All-Air Force veteran Candace Dugo stashed down at Kunsan. If she can get to camp, you’ll especially like Osan’s Rozilynn Breedlove. Good glove, good range, good arm, can hit to all fields and can play a variety of positions. New to Kadena is Kristy Robinson, who played second base for Air Force, but is playing outfield for Yard Busters. Bring her back, too.

Neither are servicemembers, but if former Yard Busters shortstop Brooke Weeden, now of the Okinawa Dragons, and Yard Busters slugger Kimberly Johnson-Olton (a former North Carolina basketball player) were active duty, they’d start for the All-Air Force team for years to come.

Hey, Sports Blog Nation, did Ornauer leave out anybody?

See you at Regionals next month.

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Spectators: For safety's sake, stay out of the dugouts

Whenever I cover softball tournaments at Field 1 of Camp Foster’s Gunner’s Fitness & Sports Complex on Okinawa, I cringe from time to time. Cringe when I see children, unregulated by parents, some of whom are on the field playing, dashing into and out of the dugouts, be it to get some shade from the ever-present sun or to take drinks of water from coolers that rightfully belong to the teams, or seating themselves on top of the concrete dugout roofs. The danger is ever clear and present. At least it should be to folks who should recognize just how dangerous one misstep could be.

To the individuals who railed on Marine Corps Community Services Semper Fit officials for chasing children and spouses out of the dugouts for seeking shade and a cup of water: There’s a reason why it states clearly in the tournament by-laws, no visitors allowed in the dugout.  Concrete can be extremely unforgiving should somebody fall and crack their head on the surface. It’s a 10-foot fall from dugout roof to the concrete floor. The steps inside the dugout can become quite slippery when water from the coolers makes its way onto them. MCCS, last I checked, isn’t responsible for providing shade and water for spectators, although they did have three water buckets with paper cups available behind the press-box area of Field 1. Spectators are best served by bringing umbrellas or small tents and a cooler for beverages. For safety’s sake, please keep out of the dugouts, OK? J

Then, there was the group of children who could be seen running through the bleachers on the third-base side of Field 1, and I mean running hard and fast, oblivious, apparently, to the danger one of those concrete steps and steel bleachers could cause should one trip and fall. These are also extremely unforgiving surfaces. The grass surfaces behind Field 1 and behind the fences down the first- and third-base lines are much softer and far more forgiving.

And to MCCS Semper Fit officials who kept stopping one step short of forfeiting a game or five because of the presence of unauthorized guests in the dugouts: Make an example of one of those teams. Too many times, organizers would remind coaches of the by-law at game’s beginning, only to have children sneak a cup of water out of the dugout, then get chased out, only to reappear again once the organizers’ backs were turned. Once word gets out at a tournament that its organizers are good to their word and WILL call a forfeit, I guarantee the number of those visitors will diminish greatly.

Just looking out for your children’s safety. Not to mention your team’s ability to stay on a winning track.

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Things learned, observed on Day 4.0 of 2011 Firecracker Shootout

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer finds the heat and sun over on Field 3 of the Gunners Fitness & Sports Complex to be utterly unbearable:

To view complete Day 4 results, playoff progression, score, schedule and photos, click here.

Given their travel itinerary and having lost their first three games of the Firecracker Shootout Pacificwide interservice softball tournament by forfeit, Kunsan Air Base’s Wolf Pack men’s team probably advanced much further than anybody could have reasonably expected.

Somehow, they managed to grab the third seed out of their round-robin pool – they won both games they played after they arrived just after midnight Friday – and blasted through their first two opponents, 13-5 over Hit Squad of Okinawa and 12-6 over Misawa Air Base, Japan, before falling 13-6 to Bovino’s softball club of Okinawa.

All that after spending the better part of five days trying to get to Camp Foster for the Firecracker, the team in pieces taking a round-about route through Osan Air Base about 120 miles north of Kunsan, and through Yokota Air Base, Japan, where most of the 10 players – two of whom, infielders Jose Otero and Andy Mumpower, play for Osan – remained until late Friday before the last flight of the day took them from Yokota to Kadena Air Base, just north of Foster.

“We do what we have to do, play through all the adversity,” said Wolf Pack coach Larry McEntire, on his third tour to Kunsan – he’d played for the Wolf Pack in 1996 and 2003. “To come out third in our pool with just 10 players, the transportation issues, losing the first three games by forfeit; I’d say we did well.”

Kunsan was eliminated 7-5 Sunday afternoon by defending champion American Legion.
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It’s generally not hard to spot Brent Fisher, the pitcher for Bovino’s; he’s the one sporting diamond wear that harkens back to the days of Cap Anson, Connie Mack and Wee Willie Keeler of ye olde skool Major League Baseball fame. A bright yellow beanie cap, a Bovino’s jersey, knickers and knee socks.

This year, the 40-year-old retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant from Atlanta has some company on the bench. Bovino’s third-base coach Brit Beck also sports a black beanie of his own and have become what Fisher calls “partners in purism.”

“I wear this to remind folks of a bygone era” when salaries were low, players stayed with their teams throughout their careers “and had much more fun” with the game, Fisher said.

As for Beck, Fisher says he’s wanting to recruit as many olde skool types to adorn the dugout as he possibly can. “I’m trying,” he said.

Beck, 46, is a Marine Corps major from Highland, Wis., assigned to Marine Wing Support Group 17 at Camp Foster. Fisher works for Marine Corps Community Services.
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One last award to be bestowed by Ornauer – tournament’s Best Face Paint, belonging to Steven Broida of Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 533 of Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C. Mike Tyson has nothing on this guy, and his face paint changes day by day, game by game.

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Things learned, observed on Day 3.0 of 2011 Firecracker Shootout

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer longs for the days when 12 to 15 teams climbed all over each other in their bid to be the July 4^th weekend’s best softball team, instead of the dearth that we have today:

To view complete Day 3 results, final pool-play standings and the double-elimination playoff pairings and schedule, click here.

As Chadd Malin walked off the field, his American Legion open squad having thrashed Provost Marshal Office Camp Foster 41-1 in three innings, he gazed my way and said with a shrug, “See you tomorrow, when hopefully, we’ll play more competitive games.”

At least where the round-robin portion of this year’s Firecracker Shootout Pacificwide interservice softball tournament goes, he had a point:

Defending tournament champion Legion pounded its first five opponents by an average of 22.6 runs per game en route to snagging the top seed out of Pool B entering the double-elimination playoffs that begin Sunday.

The other two pool leaders didn’t dominate as much as Legion did, but Camp Casey/Area I of Korea won its first four games by 9.75 runs and Misawa Air Base, Japan, won its pool with a 5.6 average margin of victory.

The team most felt to be odds on to win Misawa's pool, Club Red of Okinawa, had a 13.4 average victory margin before blowing a 7-2 lead in an 8-7 walk-off loss to Misawa.

“We emptied the bench in the first inning,” Legion coach John O’Brien said after Saturday’s thrashing of PMO. “I mean, what are you going to do?”

It’s been like this on the men’s side throughout the Pacific interservice softball Grand Slam circuit this year.

It was painfully clear who would reach the championship of the Memorial Day weekend Pacificwide open tournament at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea.

Stacked with talent imported from the States, Scrapalators and Legion powered their way to the finals, where Scrapalators double-dipped Legion to capture its first Grand Slam tournament title.

Now, this. Unless, say, Kunsan Air Base, a late arrival to the tournament playing decent ball back in Korea, can really dig deep and give those big four a run, you’ll very likely see Legion, Club Red, Misawa and Camp Casey/Area I jockeying for the top spots.

“Hardly any drama any more,” O’Brien said.

It wasn’t always like this in the Firecracker’s salad days of the 1990s. Time was when the Thunderball Classic in late June and the Firecracker in early July would serve as warm-up tournaments for the Marine Corps Far East Regionals and the old Pacific Air Forces tournaments.

Teams participating in those regional All-Service tryout camp qualifiers would arrive days early, play in one or even both of those warm-up tournaments and hone their games to a razor-sharp edge.

Even after PACAFs were canceled in 1992 and the Marine Far East Regionals moved to mid-August, the Firecracker routinely attracted fields that included a good 15 off-island teams. This year? Just six, including just two from Korea – Camp Casey/Area I’s women and men.

“Every year, we’d get four or five teams from Korea who would give it a good run,” O’Brien recalled.

What’s the solution? Just as there was plenty of command involvement in this year’s Firecracker opening ceremony, so should commands get behind their teams and fully sponsor them into such events, O’Brien said.

“If you get command sponsorship, put in a 3^rd Marine Logistics Group team – and we’re not that far from Regionals – then we’d get some competition.”

Surely better than a painful 41-1 verdict.
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By the way, the record for most runs in a single Pacific interservice Grand Slam tournament game is 61, scored by now-defunct Pacific Force, the all-time leader with 39 Grand Slam tournament titles, in the 1994 Yokosuka Open. Host Yokosuka lost to Pac Force 61-16 in that final.
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About halfway through the Firecracker, we have a pretty well fair and clear winner of the Eatery Award. For about the fifth or sixth straight year, that would be Club Red’s hospitality tent, which once more purveyed delicacies with a decidedly Filipino flavor, with priority going to off-island teams, said Club Red’s longtime coach and general manager Larry Borum.

“It’s to say that we appreciate everybody’s support, coming to the Firecracker,” he said. While off-island teams got first pick of the goodies, including steak, Pancit, Lumpia, hamburgers, hot dogs and pasta salads, “there was enough that anybody and everybody could come get something,” Borum said.
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Things learned, observed on Day 2.0 of 2011 Firecracker Shootout

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer shakes his head in wonder over seeing a gen-yoo-wyne women’s roller-derby club making an appearance at the Firecracker Shootout Pacificwide interservice softball tournament on Friday:

To view complete Day 2 results, schedule and photos, click here.

Knowing there would be a dearth of Korea teams in attendance at the Firecracker didn’t deter Camp Casey/Area I’s men’s and women’s teams from pressing ahead to make their appearance.

Last year’s women’s champions and men’s runner-up didn’t cry about things when they learned Yongsan Garrison, Camp Humphreys, Daegu/Area IV and Osan Air Base wouldn’t be in attendance.

They did things.

Like, a series of fund raisers, selling hot dogs and hamburgers at the front gate of Camp Casey on two occasions and selling more of the ballpark goodies during a game against Camp Red Cloud. The Warriors raised $3,600, most of which went to the lower-ranked enlisted players on the teams “and we’re still using the money” for other things, men’s captain Darwyn Hilliard said.

“We weren’t going to miss this,” he said.

He and his men’s and the women’s teams have good reason, given their records thus far in the 2011 Pacific interservice softball season.

Currently, Casey’s men’s team is 36-5 overall and leads the Korea Traveling League with a 22-2 record. The women’s mark isn’t as gaudy, 10-10 entering the Firecracker, but at 5-3 in league play, they’re two games behind 9-3 Osan and feel as if they’re on just as much of a mission as the men’s team.

Casey’s men’s team began tryouts in April with 60 players, which Hilliard and coach “Casey Bob” Hochmuth trimmed down to 18, and their selections were based more on chemistry than talent.

“Nobody gripes about playing time,” Hilliard said. “We came with 12, but we’re 18 deep and anybody can come in and play any position and we’d not lose anything.”

They did have quite a bit of help getting from Korea to Okinawa. Flying almost exclusively Space A, some passed through Osan Air Base, Kunsan Air Base and even Misawa Air Base in northern Japan.

“They were all very instrumental in getting us here,” Hilliard said.

“It was crazy, but we made it,” women’s player Charita Burney said.

That men’s team includes a pair of All-Army veterans, Brandon “Iowa” Sonnenburg and David “Tre” Moore. Left-center fielder Russ Mitchum went to All-Army tryout camp last year, but didn’t make the cut.

While they may hope for another shot at camp, all as a collective are hoping to end what has been a long, frustrating run of near-misses in Pacific Grand Slam tournament play. In addition to finishing second last year, the Warriors men took second in the 1992 and 2002 Pacificwide Open tournaments at Yongsan Garrison.

“It would be great, yes,” Hilliard said.

A Firecracker title would be the third for Casey’s women’s team; it won the Pacificwide Open in 2004 in addition to the Firecracker last year. “We’re in it to win it,” Burney said.
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