Vance Varsity takes fifth place in world softball tournament Published Sept. 5, 2012 By Capt. John Stock 32nd Flying Training Squadron VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Vance Varsity Men's Softball team took fifth place in the United States Specialty Sports Association Military World Tournament held Aug. 16-19 at Panama City Beach, Fla. There were 119 teams participating in six divisions at the tournament. Players came from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, Marine Corps, Reserves and National Guard. And for the first time, the Wounded Warrior Amputee team participated in the Intramural division and won their first game. The Vance team played in the Men's Varsity B division, completing against 37 other teams. Vance lost to Fort Campbell, Ky., 16-6 in the opening round. Some costly errors and walks were key contributors to the loss. Later that evening Vance defeated Shaw AFB, S.C., 11-8, highlighted by a much better defensive performance and an in-the-park home run from Kyle Williams. The next morning, Vance met up with Little Rock AFB, Ark. By this time in the tournament, it was win or go home. Both teams started slow, but in the fifth inning Vance got a spark from Brendan Voitik and Chris Huckins with their back-to-back homeruns. The following inning Voitik hit his second homerun of the game and Ben Cochrane sealed the deal with a three-run homerun to put Vance up, 15-7. The win gave the Vance team a chance to rest up for the possible marathon they would face if the wins kept coming. That evening they squared off against the "Band of Brothers" team out of Fort Lee, Va. The game did not start well for Vance with Fort Lee putting up eight runs in the bottom of the first to take an 8-0 lead. Vance was not rattled, coming back with seven runs of their own in the top of the second inning, highlighted by a base-clearing triple by John Powers. The scoring didn't pick up again until the top of the fifth when Jon Birmingham and Phillip Bonadonna got things going with back-to-back singles. With the bases loaded, Powers hit a grand slam. Vance went on to win 14-9. In the following game Vance faced "Who Dat Military Softball" from the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, La. Like Vance, they had lost their first game of the tournament and were also riding a three-game win streak. Down 4-0 going into the third inning, Vance got another key hit from Powers when he blasted a three-run homer to cut the difference to one point. Vance scored four more runs that inning, capped off by a two-run single by Jason Perry. Vance put up eight more runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by a pinch-hit two-runs-batted-in-double by Jake Dighton. Vance was rolling after their 19-11 victory, but they had another tough task against the team from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., which had just been knocked out of the winner's bracket with their first loss. Langley started out strong taking a commanding 14-4 lead through four innings, but again Vance battled back with another key pinch-hit by Dighton to help cut Langley's lead to seven going into the sixth inning. The next two innings were the most exciting of the tournament. After holding Langley to zero runs in the top of the sixth, Vance was able to pick up two quick runs and then load the bases for Voitik, who crushed a grand slam to put Vance down by one. After two consecutive hits, Vance took a one-run lead on a two-run double. Going into the top of the seventh, Langley was able to tie the game on a homerun of their own and then scored two additional runs to go ahead by two entering the bottom of the seventh. Vance grounded out twice with their first two batters. Down to their final out, Williams got things started with a double. Powers scored Williams with a double of his own. Voitik was intentionally walked, and Huckins was able to work a walk of his own to load the bases for Russ Reynolds. Reynolds took advantage of the situation, ripping a line drive into the left-center gap. Powers scored easily and Voitik made the trek around third sliding safely into home plate, head first, to win the game. It was an amazing finish, and Vance was on its way to take on Peterson AFB, Colo. Unfortunately, Sunday's weather was not cooperative and the tournament was called. Vance finished in a tie for fifth place with the best record at 5-1. Vance's batter, Powers, hit .760 and was named to the Military All-Tournament team. Looking toward next year's tournament, Vance will hold tryouts for the 2013 varsity team in March. For more information, contact John Stock, 213-6353, john.stock@us.af.mil. Members of the 2012 Vance Men's Varsity Softball team: 2nd Lt. Ben Cochrane, 71st Student Squadron Capt. Russ Reynolds, 32nd Flying Training Squadron Tech. Sgt. Phillip Bonadonna, 71st Operations Support Squadron 2nd Lt. Jon Birmingham, 71st STURON 1st Lt. Jason Perry, 71st Communications Squadron Senior Airman Eric Klender, 71st OSS Maj. Brendan Voitik, 71st Operations Group Capt. Chris Huckins, 32nd FTS Capt. Martin "Kyle" Williams, 32nd FTS Ensign Jake Dighton, 71st STURON Capt. John Stock, 71st STURON Capt. John Powers, 32nd FTS 1st Lt. Andrew Metzger, 71st STURON 1st Lt. Carsten Hobbs, 71st STURON 2nd Lt. Steffan Guilbault, 71st STURON 1st Lt. Will Piepenbring, 71st STURON 2nd Lt. Kyle Miller, 71st STURON Airman 1st Class Andy Wilkerson, 71st Security Forces Squadron Mike Rich, 71st STURON 1st Lt. Curtis Holtman, 32nd FTS Matt Leicester