Wednesday, Jul. 04, 2012

2-69 closes out regular season with win over WTB

If it was the final game of the season for D Company, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, coach Shane Jones said his team went out on a high note.

2-69 defeated the Warrior Transition Battalion 11-7 Thursday at Engineer Field to finish the season 5-3. Both teams have records good enough to get into the Commander’s Cup Postseason Softball Tournament, but it may be unfortunate timing for 2-69.

Jones said his unit, which falls under the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, is scheduled to go on block leave during the playoffs.

Jones said he wants to play, but is not sure if he will have enough players who feel the same way.

“We’d be a contender,” he said. “I strongly believe that 2-69 would be a contender in the playoffs.”

Matt Stewart, who batted leadoff, led the offensive charge for 2-69. He went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and an inside-the-park homer.

Both teams exchanged runs in the first two innings and WTB (4-4) held a 4-3 lead going into the third. But 2-69 scored five runs in the inning to jump ahead 8-3, and WTB started to fall flat.

“We didn’t field the ball cleanly,” WTB coach Jackie Jenkins. “There were some throwing errors on our part. We’ll work on that.”

Stewart led off the fourth with an inside-the-park home run, and 2-69 added two more runs in the fifth to prevent any chance of a comeback.

Spencer Folds, intramurals coordinator for Fort Benning Sports, Fitness & Aquatics, said there are no games this week due to Independence Day celebrations. The postseason tournament begins Monday.

Jones said his team will at least play the first week of the playoffs before 2-69’s block leave begins July 14. He said he is unsure if he will be able to field a team after that.