Enid league win fuels coach's goal of military softball championship

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VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  When John Stock was reassigned from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., to Vance Air Force Base this past February, he wanted to put together and coach a varsity softball team that could compete in the United States Specialty Sports Association Military World Tournament in Panama City Beach, Fla.

He moved closer to that goal when the newly formed Vance Men's Varsity Softball team placed first in this year's Enid Northwest District Amateur Softball Association Fall Open League.

Stock, now a member of the 71st Operations Support Squadron at Vance, had been a member of MacDill's varsity softball team, the Tampa Thunder, for the past four seasons.

In 2008, the Thunder won the Military World Tournament. Unfortunately for Stock, that was the only year he wasn't able to attend the tournament due to a deployment.

This year's World Tournament was the final opportunity Stock will have to play with MacDill now that Vance is going to field a team. MacDill placed fifth in the 2011 tournament.

"It was really good to see the competition down in Panama City again this year," said Stock. "It gave me a good gage for the type of players I was looking for at Vance."

After seeing the competition at the 2011 Military World Tournament and playing a season of intramurals, Stock felt there was potential for Vance to have a competitive men's varsity softball team.

The biggest challenge Stock envisioned with getting a team together this late in the season was just getting the word out about the team starting up. It had been almost two years since Vance last fielded a varsity softball team. There wasn't much talk of a team until the tryout flyer was sent to all the squadrons on base in early August.

"All I wanted was at least 20 to 25 guys to show up for tryouts," said Stock. "That way I could make some cuts and get the team to a competitive roster of 15 to 17 guys."

After four tryout sessions and a total of 26 players, the 2011 Vance varsity softball team was set at 16 guys to play in Enid's Northwest District ASA Fall Open League.

Entering the season, Stock felt he had a pretty good team. It was the first time a lot of the guys had played together so he didn't expect too much.

However, the first night of games seemed to be a pretty good indicator that Vance had a solid team. They won the first game in three innings by a score of 15-0. The second game of their doubleheader was a bigger challenge.

They were going up against the champs from Enid's summer league. The game was really close. But Team Vance being able to hold on for an 8-5 victory.

Starting the season with two wins was very encouraging. The following week Team Vance played another doubleheader. The second game was against the team that placed second in the summer league.

Team Vance won the first game, 15-5, in four innings.

The second game was much tougher. Team Vance trailed the first five innings but rallied in bottom of the sixth to take the lead and hold on for a 15-11 victory.

The final four games of the season, Team Vance cruised to victories of 18-4, 27-11, 26-1 and 16-1 to capture the title of Enid's NWDASA 2011 Fall League champions.

Looking back on the season, Stock felt it was a total success. He was proud of his players and their accountability to each other and the base.

"We played and won with class," Stock said. "We played hard on every play and we never let our success get to our heads. We were great ambassadors for Vance Air Force Base with the local community and we hope to continue on that path of friendly competition in the seasons to come."

Stock's goal for the Vance varsity men's softball team is to compete annually in the Military World Softball Tournament.

The Military World Softball Tournament consists of teams from Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine, Navy, Reserve and National Guard bases worldwide.

Members of the 2011 Vance team were: Jon Birmingham, student pilot; Phillip Bonadonna, 71st Operations Support Squadron; Carsten Hobbs, student pilot; Curtis Holtman, student pilot; Chris Huckins, 32nd Flying Training Squadron; Matt Leicester; Andrew Metzger, student pilot; Kyle Miller, student pilot; Todd Osborne, 71st Flying Training Wing; Jason Perry, 71st Communications Squadron; John Powers, 32nd FTS; Mike Rich, 71st Operations Group; Colin Shepherd, student pilot; John Stock, 71st OSS; Brendan Voitik, 32nd FTS; and Kyle Williams, 71st Security Forces Squadron.

Final stats for Team Vance's 2011 season:
  • Outscored their opponents a total of 140-40.
  • Mercy-ruled six of their eight opponents - game called due to insurmountable lead in scoring.
  • The team batted .605; eight players batted over .600.
  • John Powers earned the Silver Slugger award with the top batting average of .759.
  • As a team hit a total of 18 home runs
  • Andrew Metzger led the team with six home runs.
  • Last week, Vance Varsity won the Vance Combined Federal Campaign softball tournament.
For information about the 2012 Vance Varsity softball team, contact Stock at 213-6353 or at john.stock@vance.af.mil.