MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Regulators proved their namesake, leveling all-comers and eliminating the Longballs 23-5 to take first place in the 2009 Chili Slip-N-Slide Softball Tournament at Penny Lake here Saturday.
The Longballs were defeated by the Regulators early in the double-elimination tournament and wrangled back from the losers’ bracket for a chance at revenge and the title.
The championship action started out as expected with both teams performing like well-oiled machines.
After the second inning, the score was just 6-3 with victory up for grabs.
Unfortunately for the Longballs, the Regulators went on a ferocious tear in the top of the third, chalking up 17 runs and putting the score at 23-3.
Nothing seemed to go quite right for the Longballs as the Regulators dropped hit after hit into the outfield gaps or blasted frozen ropes past the Longballs’ first and third basemen.
The Longballs managed to bring in two more runs in the bottom of the third, but the game was called once the side was retired, and the game ended 23-5.
The Regulators had indeed regulated.
“Our strategy was just come out here and have fun,” Rodney Buentello, Regulators’ coach and player, said. “It’s the last tournament of the season, and we just played team ball.”
The Longballs had no shortage of talent demonstrated by their climb from the losers’ bracket, but the Regulators seemed to have the all-around package crucial for success.
“Softball is 80 percent mental, 50 percent physical, 60 percent of the time,” said Buentello.
Whatever that means, it seems important.
After trophy presentations for first and second place, there was a home run derby, fastest base run and a throwing contest.
Carlton K. Kohler, Longballs player, won the home-run derby, posting three home-runs out of five attempts.
“The only person I want to thank is Gunny B,” said Kohler.
Longballs’ James K. Hayes easily took the fastest base runner with a time of 11.87 seconds.
Seth Hershberger of the IYOYAS won the throwing competition.
But the day of fun in the sun wasn’t just about softball; the event just wouldn’t make sense without chili.
The five chili entries varied from straight out of the can to wild homemade selections incorporating bacon or one number that was a conglomeration of five different chili recipes.
“I brought an 18-quart crock-pot, it’s all gone and I didn’t win,” Cynthia Wichner, creator of the five recipe combination chili, said.
“The whole point is to feed all of the guys of an awesome tournament,” she added. “I did it to feed.”
Longballs’ right fielder Denean Massengale defended her title and won best chili for the second year in a row when the judges selected her meat and bean concoction in a 2-1 decision.
Cody Massengale, son of Clinton and Denean Massengale, said his mother’s chili was the only one out of the five entries he could eat.
He may have been slightly biased.
“Don’t let the hubby do it, and we’re from Texas,” Denean Massengale said when asked about her secret for success.
Fortunately for other chili creators, the Massengales won’t be around for next year’s event to defend their title.