Diamond doozie

WASILLA — Things were looking grim for the Sons of the American Legion.

After leading for the entire championship game of the 12th-annual Wayne Gore Memorial Softball Tournament, the Mat-Su co-ed softball team had seen its lead over the Great Alaska Bush Company slowly slip away.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bush Company’s James Winfield had launched a monster two-run homer to left center to give his team a 13-12 lead going into the final inning.

Being behind was not a position Sons of the American Legion Post 35 (also known as SAL’s) was used to. They’d rolled through the Class C/D bracket with ease, racking up a perfect record, which meant that the Bush Company would have to win back-to-back games to claim the title.

But none of the SAL’s players wanted to play another game. After a long, tiring weekend of softball, team members were starting to wear down. Jeremy Cox could barely walk, the burly second baseman reduced to a comic hobble after aggravating a lower leg injury when he legged out one of the most painful-looking triples in sports history earlier in the game. And Cox wasn’t alone in his agony, with just about every team member complaining to whoever would listen of some kind of nagging soreness.

“We were down to our last body part,” was how catcher Steff Hays described the team’s physical condition.

If they wanted to avoid another game, however, SAL’s were going to have to find a way to score some runs. But it wasn’t happening.

In the top of the seventh, the first two SAL’s hitters went down quickly, leaving it to first baseman Julie Corbin to try to spark a rally.

She did.

“I knew if I didn’t get on, that’s it,” Corbin said after the game.

Corbin’s shallow fly ball into right field was too much for the Bush Company’s right fielder to handle, which meant the tying run was on first base for shortstop Robert Ramilo.

SAL’s coach Mark Corbin gave his shortstop just one piece of advice before heading to the plate.

“He said, ‘Hit it hard, hit it deep,’” Ramilo said.

Tournament rules only allow for a single home run by each team in any given game, and Corbin said he told Ramilo it was time to go for broke.

“It came up in the right spot,” Corbin said.

With the wind blowing out at the Bumpus Sports Complex Field No. 1, Ramilo took a mammoth cut and drove the ball high into the chilly afternoon air. It didn’t come down until nearly striking a motorhome parked a good 10 feet behind the center field fence to put SALs up 14-13.

While the championship trophy was now within reach, the team still had to hold off the Bush Company for one final inning.

The first Bush hitter made an out, but the second hitter reached base on a single, bringing up Tyson Potter, one of the team’s best hitters. But rather than ripping a line drive to extend the inning, Potter hit a textbook double play ball up the middle.

Ramilo stepped on second base and threw toward first, but his throw was wild, allowing Potter to reach safely. But he got greedy. After seeing Ramilo’s throw sail into foul territory, Potter made the turn toward second base. And fell down.

Now hung out to dry, Potter leaped to his feet and tried to scramble back to first, but by that time Julie Corbin had retrieved the ball and alertly threw to pitcher John Dampier covering the bag. Dampier made the tag, finishing off a wild double play and setting off an even wilder celebration by the SALs team.

“It was just fantastic,” Julie Corbin said of the game.

The win was made more special by the fact that the team has been playing softball together for six years, but had never won the Wayne Gore, one of the biggest tournaments of the year, with teams from Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Kenai all taking part this year.

“It’s just really great to finally win Wayne Gore,” Corbin added.

Julie Corbin and Ramilo were both named to the all-tournament team for their efforts, while SAL’s third baseman Jacque Sielaff and regular shortstop Doug Lampton — who had to sit out the championship with a bum hamstring — were named tournament MVP’s. Also getting all-tourney nods were outfielders Clarence Olinger and Jonna Dampier.

In other action at the two-day tournament, the Boatel team from Fairbanks claimed first place in the coed A/B division, beating Anchorage’s Brown’s Electric in the final. Alaska Softball (Anchorage) was third in the C/D division, while Classic Coffee (Anchorage) claimed third in the A/B bracket.

Wayne Gore Memorial Softball Tournament

Saturday-Sunday

Bumpus Softball Complex

Coed A/B

1st — Boatel (Fairbanks); 2nd — Brown’s Electric (Anchorage); 3rd — Classic Coffee (Anchorage).

MVPs — Jared Fedderson and Coinger Fedderson, Boatel; Gold Gloves — Ellis Alston and Courtney Steffans, Classic Coffee; Big Hitters — Dawn Welton and Keoni Kotch, Brown’s Electric

All-Tournament team — Jake Therrich, Justin Miller, Angelia Kline, Sylvia Holiday (Boatel); Claire Armstrong, Jessica Watkins, Preston Roberts, Patrick Dolan (Brown’s); Bobby Roe, Karol Mills, Ricky Bostick, Michelle Strange (Classic Coffee)

Coed C/D

1st — Sons of the American Legion Post 35 (Mat-Su); 2nd — Bush Company (Anchorage); 3rd — AK Softball (Anchorage).

MVPs — Doug Lampton and Jacque Sielaff, SAL’s

Gold Gloves — James Winfield and Christina Johnson, Bush Company

Big Hitters — Tiffany and Ron, AK Softball

All-Tournament team — Aric, Jody, Vicki, Carla (AK Softball); Donna Goode, April Juliussen, Michael Crannick, Jeremy Johnson (Bush Company); Clarence Olinger, Julie Corbin, Rob Ramilo, Jonna Dampier (SAL’s)