Army Takes Interservice 
Softball Championship
Two-time trophy winner,
Air Force, takes second
By Walt Johnson
Space Observer Sports Writer
Army brought out its heavy lumber to defeat Air Force 35-23 to win the women's interservice softball championship Friday at the base softball complex.
Army's victory ended the two-year victory run for the Air Force and capped off a tournament that was filled with suspense and intrigue throughout.
From the beginning of the tournament it didn't seem like this would not be the annual Army-Air Force affair with the Navy and Marines hanging around just for kicks.
The tournament began with both the Air Force (vs. the Marines) and Army (vs. Navy) winning in impressive fashion. It looked like the same old song after the first two games, but the third game actually shaped up the rest of the tournament.
The accepted wisdom was whomever won two of the three games between the Army and Air Force would win the title, but that logic considered the Army and Air Force would not lose to the Marines or Navy teams.
Air Force met a Navy team that lost to Army in its first game and no one thought the results of this game would be any thing less than an Air Force victory. No one that is but the Navy which fought Air Force for six innings and found themselves trailing by only three runs going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Navy pushed across four runs in the bottom of the seventh to stun the Air Force and change the dynamic of the tournament.
Army would go on to defeat the Marines in its next game and then prepared to meet the Air Force with the chance to put a strangle hold on the tournament championship. Air Force was determined to make up for its loss to Navy and put itself back in contention for the championship. The Air Force defeated the Army 22-9 to even up the series again with both teams sporting 2-1 records.
The next day saw both the Air Force and Army winning its early games against the Marines and Navy and this time Air Force came into the game with the chance to take a commanding lead in the tournament with a victory over Army.
Army was determined to get itself back into the title chase and jumped all over Air Force, winning the game 22-4. The victory gave the Army a 5-1 record and Air Force a 4-2 record heading into the last day of the tournament Friday.
Again, it looked like the Army had a huge advantage and would win the tournament by posting wins over the Navy and the Marines. Navy would once again prove to be the spoiler of any plan that would not have Army and Air Force settling the issue on the field. Navy beat Army 13-9 to give the Army its second loss of the tournament. Army went on to defeat the Marines and Air Force won its two games with Navy and the Marines to set up the winner-take-all title game with the Army.
Both teams were determined to win the gold medal. In the end it was Army that won the title.
Women's Softball Championships
Peterson AFB, CO
Final Standings
