sports
74 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 24, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Mets host 3rd annual Military Softball Classic
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard
agiudice@qns.com
and Navy all competed in the round-robin
@A_GiudiceReport
style soft ball tournament to see which
branch would reign supreme.
Th e New York Mets invited members
With their family and friends cheering
of the fi ve United States military branches
them on from the stands at Citi Field, the
to Citi Field in Flushing to participate
teams took the fi eld for warmups before
in the third annual Mets Military Soft ball
the games began.
Classic on Monday, Aug. 21.
Kicking off Round 1 of the tournament
Aft er a meet-and-greet with Mets
was the Air Force taking on the Marines/
General Manager — and retired Marine
Coast Guard; and the Navy/Coast Guard
— Sandy Alderson, members from the
team versus the Army. Air Force and
Marines/Coast Guard tied 1-1, while
Navy/Coast Guard doubled up Army 6-3.
Th e second round featured Navy/Coast
Guard sailing past Air Force 17-6, and
Army beating Marines/Coast Guard 7-6.
Th e fi nal round saw Navy/Coast Guard
and Marines/Coast Guard fi nish in a tie
8-8, and Army march by Air Force 8-6.
Aft er the tournament, players and
their families enjoyed a ballpark buff et
in the Bullpen Plaza. All participants also
received an offi cial team T-shirt and tickets
to Monday night’s game against the
Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I’m really happy that the Mets are actively
involved with active duty military, as well
as veterans’ organizations. So this is one of
our really outstanding events,” Alderson
said of the tournament. “I think people
love to come to the ballpark, play on a
real, professional Major League surface and
enjoy the camaraderie of their fellow service
members, fellow services and their families.
We’re very happy we’re able to host this.”
