Retirees claim base softball championship

  • Published
  • By Dave Castilla
  • Intramural Sports Director
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Retirees and Medical Group softball teams battled for the third straight year for the base softball championship, with the retirees taking their second victory in three years by defeating the Med Group, 29-19.

The Med Group scored three runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run homer by Mark Lomenick and a home run by Tom Ziegler.

The Retirees responded in force, scoring 10 runs in the first inning. John Karagiannes batted in Tommie Edwards and Kevin Ciesla with a three-run homer, Rex Mitchell drove in two runs, and Edwards finished scoring for the inning with a two-run swat.

The Med Group answered with seven runs in the top of the second, tying the score at 10 apiece. The big hits included a two-run homer from Reinor and a three-run homer for Fred Walker.

The Medics held the Retirees scoreless in the bottom of the second inning and reclaimed the lead in the top of the third, with Bryon Kinder hitting a two-run shot and Leo Castro batting in two runners on a single.

The Retirees fought back in the bottom of the third, with Ken Zito slamming one over the centerfield fence, Kevin Ciesla doubled for an RBI, and Mark Hartman batted one in for a single to give the Retirees a 15-14 lead.

The Med Group scored four runs in the top of the fourth off RBI singles from Russ Pollard, Ken Rojas and Reinor. But that was to be their last lead of the game, as the Retirees exploded with 13 runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 28-18 lead off runs by Tim Neuman, Ken Zito, Ciesla, Eddie Perez and Tommie Edwards.

The Med Group mustered only a single run in the top of the fifth on a single by Pollard drove in Fred Walker. Neuman scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth to invoke the 10-run rule and cinch the championship game for the Retirees.

Wade Dolbow and Mark McKenzie will coach an Air Force Academy squad that will compete at Peterson Air Force Base Sept. 12 for the 2010 Rocky Mountain Softball Championship.