Exciting championship game wraps up intramural softball season Published Sept. 9, 2008 By Walt Johnson Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group Sports Reporter PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- In two of the best championship games you could ever ask for, the silver and bronze softball championships were won by the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron and 21st Space Wing/21st Operations Group teams, respectively, Sept. 4 at Freedom Fields here. In the silver league game between the Engineers and the 21st Medical Group, it took a dramatic swing of the bat to decide the championship in the "if necessary game" before a winner was declared. In the bronze league game, the 21st SW/OPS team used a late rally and then some great defense to capture the title against a very good Contracting team. The Engineers came into the tournament as the fifth seeded team and showed right away it meant business, as it defeated the fourth seeded 76th Space Control Squadron/544th Inspector General team. Showing that victory was not a fluke, the Engineers came back in its next game and knocked off the top seeded 21st Force Support Squadron team to advance to the winners bracket championship game. In that game, the Engineers defeated the second seeded 302nd Maintenance team to advance to the championship round undefeated. The victory also meant the fifth seeded Engineers owned victories over the number one and two seeded teams in the playoffs, a rare feat in playoff softball. Who the Engineers would face for the title was a story book ride for the Medical Group. After losing its first game of the tournament to Headquarters Air Force Space Command, the 21st MDG was looking at the toughest road any team would have to get back to the championship round and the odds were not in its favor. The first team the Medical Group had to face was the top seeded Force Support team that was upset by the Engineers. Having to win in the loser's bracket is bad enough but having to defeat the top seeded team was a daunting task. The 21st MDG did defeat the Force Support team to knock the top seeded team out of the playoffs. The Medical Group then rode that momentum to victories over the 76th SPCS and the 302nd Maintenance in the losers bracket championship game to earn a ticket to the championship round against the Engineers. The 21st MDG win meant for the first time in anyone's recent memory, the fifth and sixth seeded teams would meet for the base championship. The bronze league was just as exciting a playoff series, and it too saw its top two seeded teams fall before reaching the championship game. The 21st SW/OPS team started its road to the championship by defeating the same 21st Contracting Squadron team it would meet for the championship. After beating Contracting, the 21st SW/OPS team met and defeated the second seeded 721st Security Forces Squadron team to advance to the winners bracket championship game against the top seeded Team Colorado squad. The 21st SW/OPS team defeated the top seeded team to advance to the championship round where it looked across the field and saw the same Contracting team that had battled its way out of the losers bracket. The game turned out to be a classic matchup after it looked like it would be a laugher for the Contracting team. Contracting jumped out to a 10-0 lead after two innings and it looked like the "if necessary" game was going to be very necessary. Then the 21st SW/OPS team bats came to life and after six and a half innings the wing team took a three run lead. With two outs and two runners on base, a Contracting batter hit a long fly ball to left field that the wing team left fielder got a glove on but dropped. With all the Contracting runners running at field steam each of them scored to tie the game at 16 apiece and send it into extra innings. Neither team scored in the eighth inning but the fireworks continued in the ninth inning. The wing team scored six runs to take a 22-16 lead. Contracting plated three runs in its half of the ninth inning and had two runners on base when one of its batters lined a pitch to the left center field alley that looked like it would drop in and tie the game again as the three runners would have certainly scored. But the wing's centerfielder raced to the ball and made a spectacular diving grab to record the last out of the game and give the wing the championship. The silver league had an even more dramatic finish. After the 21st MDG destroyed the Engineers in the first game of the championship match the two teams needed the "if necessary" game to determine the champion. The 21st MDG team jumped out to a great start and it looked like it would pull off the double header sweep early in the game. But then the Engineers showed the heart of a champion. The 'Engineers rallied back from its deficit to eventually trail the Medical Group by two runs, 16-14, with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gary Bowen stepped to the plate for the Engineers and a base hit would have tied the game. But fate had a different idea in mind for Big-hitter Bowen and with one swing he hit a dramatic walk off grand slam home run that delivered a title to the Engineers.