F Co., 5-158 'Phantoms' crowned 2014 Ansbach softball champions

By Mr. Stephen Baack (IMCOM)August 4, 2014

2014 Unit Softball Championship
1 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
2 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
3 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
4 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
5 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
6 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
7 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
8 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
9 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
10 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
11 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
12 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
13 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Unit Softball Championship
14 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
15 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
2014 Unit Softball Championship
16 / 16 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" during the hard-fought 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield, with a final score of 10-5. The teams are both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (Gen... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ANSBACH, Germany (Aug. 4, 2014) -- The F Company "Phantoms" defeated the D Company "Dragons" with a final score of 10-5 during the 2014 Unit Softball Championship held July 24 at Katterbach Army Airfield.

The teams, both from 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support), have since also competed in the 2014 Installation Management Command-Europe Unit Softball Championship, held Aug. 1 through 3 at USAG Bavaria. The Phantoms took second place.

First at bat in the top of the first inning, the Dragons started off strong with a string of base hits that resulted in two RBIs and quickly placed the score at 2-0. The Dragons' success, however, would be short-lived.

It was the bottom of the first when the Phantoms took their solid lead.

With one out and one on base in the bottom of the first, the Phantoms' Nicholas Conway drove a ball to deep left field, resulting in an inside-the-park homerun and an RBI -- quickly tying up the game. Before the end of the inning, the Phantoms brought in four more runs, leading the game 6-2. This meant that even before the start of the second inning, the Phantoms had scored more runs than the Dragons would score for the rest of the game.

It wasn't totally smooth sailing for the Phantoms, however. After one out for the Dragons in the top of the second, a ground ball from Kathleen Curtis slipped through the Phantoms' in-field defenses and earned the Dragons an RBI. Two more base hits later -- including an RBI double from the Dragons' Brian Cash -- and the gap almost closed with a score of 6-4 as the game entered the bottom of the second.

With the Phantoms up to bat, the Dragons' defenses crushed any hopes a repeat of the first inning as the Dragons tagged out three Phantoms in a minute flat. This included an unconventional double play after Ryan Barquist's base hit and a quick out on Conway after his ground ball to shortstop.

Entering the top of the third inning, and with the score of 6-4 in favor of the Phantoms, the Dragons got dangerously close as John Breedlove rocketed the ball over the centerfield fence for a homerun -- bringing the score to 6-5.

Despite the excitement over Breedlove's homerun and a subsequent triple from Kyle Miner that brought the Dragons close to tying up the game, the Dragons' five runs would be it for the rest of the game after Ryan Pennington's pop-fly was caught in leftfield for the third out.

Neither team scored a run in the fourth inning, but by the tail-end of the bottom of the fifth, the Phantoms had brought in two more runs -- moving the score to 8-5. Moving into the top of the sixth, Miner found himself on third base again, but was kept from stepping across home as the Phantoms' defenses prevented another base hit.

With two out and two on in the bottom of the sixth, Conway smashed a line-drive up the middle to bring home two Phantoms for a score of 10-5. Not finished quite yet, Conway managed to steal second after a wild pitch. With a grounder to shortstop, three outs closed up the sixth.

The Dragons had one last chance at the top of the seventh, but they were shut down as the Phantoms ushered in a quick series of outs to clinch the title.

"My guys came together," said Scott Custer, team captain for the Phantoms. "We played a hard-fought game. We got down a little bit, but we persevered through it. We've been down before in other games, but we stuck together as a team. They brought everything that we pulled together in practices, and we just went out there and had fun."

"They came out and hit the ball better than we did," said Deejay Norby, member of the Dragons. "I could talk about the fielding, but they just hit the ball better than we did. … Maybe next year."

Custer said "it's always a battle between Fox and Delta," but this time the Phantoms came through with a win.

"That team -- that is a good group of guys and gals out there," Custer said of the Dragons. "They fought hard all season. They practiced and we had a couple of scrimmages. We razz each other from time to time. First Sergeant Cash, he's a good guy and he's got a good organization. He pulled them together and they played a hard-fought game."

Related Links:

2014 Unit Softball Championship Photo Album