Luke teams play in softball tournament

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Owsianka
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Three teams from Luke Air Force Base took to the fields to compete in the Goodyear Guns vs. Hoses softball tournament Saturday at the Goodyear City Park baseball fields. The teams that stepped up to the plate were Luke's varsity softball team, 56th Medical Group and 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Munitions Flight.

The tournament began with the teams playing a preliminary round robin where the teams played two games to be placed in one of two tournaments; the primary tournament, which consisted of the top 10 teams, and the undercard tournament where the bottom six teams went.

After competing in the round robin play, Luke's teams placed in the four through six seeds; the varsity team (Falcons) had the No. 4 seed, AMMO had the No. 5 seed and MDG had the No. 6 seed.

MDG faced a tough opponent their first game as they lost to the Mesa Police Department 19-8.

AMMO came out firing away as they took on the Falcons during the first round of the primary tournament taking a 7-3 lead after the second inning. The Falcons stormed back in the third scoring six runs taking a 9-7 lead, and held off AMMO to win 10-9, sending AMMO to the loser bracket to face MDG.

The Falcons moved on and faced the West Valley Elite (Goodyear Police Department Team 1) in the quarterfinals. After a hard-fought game, the Falcons found themselves in the loser's bracket, against Avondale PD, following a 16-13 loss.

Unable to hold it together, the Falcons saw their tournament come to an end by the hand of Avondale PD 19-5.

"I enjoyed playing in the tournament because it supported our surrounding communities," said Scott Harris, 56th Operations Group. "The only thing we could have done differently prior to the tournament is be more prepared."

The players came out swinging as MDG and AMMO faced off, fighting to stay alive in the tournament. The two teams fought back-and-forth during the game, but AMMO came out on top 15-13 sending MDG home early.

AMMO continued to shoot their way through the loser's bracket by defeating the Lunchbox Crew (Goodyear PD Team 2) and the Mesa Police Department in the second and third rounds before running out of rounds against the Avondale PD in the quarter finals, losing 9-5.

"It was a very competitive tournament and our team played great the whole day," said Gregory Savage, 56th EMS. "We played seven games in twelve hours on a very hot day, and it caught up to us at the end."