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***image1***Kaiserslautern’s Lady Panthers won the Army-Europe community-level softball championship Aug. 22 at Patton Barracks, slipping past Heidelberg, 9-8 in their final at-bat.
Kaiserslautern had defeated Heidelberg twice in regular-season play, but the Lady Generals had ruled K-town in tournaments, winning four times.
In the early going of the Installation Management Agency-Europe tournament final, Heidelberg errors helped Kaiserslautern to the lead.
The Lady Generals came back in the top of the seventh and final inning, loading the bases. Then Doris Morgan hit a blooper over the shortstop’s head, which the left centerfielder appeared to scoop up on the run. The ball came free when her glove hit the ground, however, and Heidelberg scored two runs to lead 8-6.
Kaiserslautern scored once in its final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh, and with runners on base Heidelberg committed a throwing error while trying for a double play to end the game. Two K-town runners scored, and the game was over.
“I think we had the better defense today,” said Kaiserslautern coach David Griffin. “We’ve had solid defense all year, it’s just that our sticks have broken down. Today we brought the defense and our bats.”
Lady Panther pitcher Kathy Dowling was named tournament most valuable player.
Kaiserslautern was undefeated in regular-season games, said Griffin, and 34 to 6 in tournament play, for a 48 to 6 record coming into the IMA-E tournament, held at Heidelberg’s Tompkins and Patton fields.
The tournament was held Aug. 19 to 22, with the men and women playing two days of round-robin play before heading into single-elimination games on the weekend. Kaiserslautern entered weekend play seeded first among the women, and Heidelberg second. En route to the title game, Kaiserslautern defeated Bamberg and Mannheim.
