Peterson women’s softball team places fifth in world tournament Published Sept. 5, 2008 By Walt Johnson Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group Sports Reporter COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- When the Peterson Air Force Base women's softball team began practicing in early April, no one knew what to expect from this year's team. It had been nine years since the base fielded a women's softball team, and there was no chemistry among the players trying out for the team. For many, it was the first time they had played together. Fast forward to Aug. 21, when the Military World's Women's softball tournament was held in Orlando, Fla., and the Peterson team finished in fifth place among military teams in the tournament. Before the season and the military world's tournament began, Peterson had just three players that had varsity softball experience. And, competing in the Colorado Springs softball league, the team finished in last place. There wasn't much reason to think the team could be competitive in the high-stakes military world tournament - but that's only if you just look at the team's record and not the way it has grown over the past season. Angela Young was the coach for the 2008 team, and it's been said you can measure the leadership of a group by how well the team acts when the leader is absent. Coach Young was the architect of this year's team, as she slowly built a team of strangers into a cohesive unit during the regular season. Duty commitments did not allow her to accompany the team to Florida for the tournament, but her assistant coach, Mike Wardingley, and some of the acknowledged team leaders helped the team get through the tournament. One of the leaders, Tammy Davis, said she was confident the team had the talent to play well but didn't know if other factors would allow the team to be successful. Mrs. Davis has played in this tournament in the past, and she said her goal was to win the tournament going in. But realistically, because of the level of competition and the fact many of her teammates were not battle tested, she had a more reasonable goal she wanted the team to accomplish. "I've played in this tournament before, and I thought we could realistically expect to play three games," Mrs Davis said. "The tournament is in a double elimination format, and I thought we could get a least three games in. I thought we would only play three games because, when we left Colorado for Florida, we only had three players that had ever played at this level before. I thought the best thing that would come out of the tournament for us would be the players that had not been here before would get the experience of playing at this level of competition." "I tried to convey to the new players that they didn't need to be in awe of the other teams because we deserved to be here," Davis added. "I told them we wouldn't be here if we weren't capable of playing at this level. There were probably going to be some teams that played better than us because they have played together for years. But I reminded them that we haven't been together for a full season yet, so just play our game and not be intimidated by the other teams. After all, we looked just as good in our uniforms as they did." Coach Wardingley was even more convinced that this would be a tournament for the ladies to learn what this level of competition is about and use it as a spring board for success in the coming years. In fact, the assistant coach was so convinced the ladies would have to take some lumps this year, he put a very valuable part of his anatomy on the line. "I thought if we won two games I would be happy," Coach Wardingley said. "In fact, I made a deal with the ladies that, if we won two games, I would allow them to shave my head. They haven't done that yet, but I'm sure they will. We didn't play many tournaments here (they played in two) and in league, we didn't play as well as we wanted to this year. My attitude was, if we won the two games, I'd be happy. We won three games, and I was elated. It's one thing to read this and say, 'They won three games and lost two games,' but if you had been there and seen how well these ladies played, you would understand the accomplishment and what they did." Coach Wardingley said the difference between the team that played in Colorado all year and the team that played in Florida was clear. He said the team had a couple of players who it could count on all year to consistently hit the ball and carry the offense. He said when the team got to Florida everyone on the team contributed offensively. "The players that weren't as strong during the season really came through for us hitting the ball and playing outstanding defense," he said. "We had four, maybe five ladies that usually were role players this year that put this team on their back and really played well during the tournament. They stepped up, bottom line." Mrs. Davis said the benefit of having a varsity women's team at Peterson came to light a little sooner than should have been expected, given the relative inexperience of the team. But if anyone had any doubt this team will not be a team to take seriously now, they should only look at the whole season and not the pieces of the year. "We beat the defending champions from Fort Belvoir in our third game (and put them out of the tournament) and then people started looking at us and saying we need to pay attention to these guys," Mrs. Davis said. "You could see that do a lot for our confidence. We had to find our core players and that took us some time. Then, about mid-way through the season, you could see the players that were dedicated and ready to accept the role of being one of the core players. Peterson hasn't had a female team here for the past nine years. This is ground breaking. We have gotten to know each other and the Peterson women's softball team is now being established as something you want to be a part of. I think it will be a team that people will look at in the future and say, 'Look out for Peterson'."