The All-Army Men's Softball Team was undefeated in 2023, beating the Marine Corps in the Armed Forces championship game — and among its team members from Fort Liberty are two soldiers and the coach.
Sgt. 1st Class Cody Deese, a culinary specialist from Fairmont who’s been in the Army since 2006, and Staff Sgt. Rayne Hulce, an intelligence analyst who hails from Colorado, played in the August championship, defeating the Corps 23-13.
“These guys knew they had the bullseye on them,” head coach, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Elmer Mason said of the team.“The Air Force, the Marines and the Navy wanted to beat them, and these guys got everyone’s best.”
Mason, originally from Daytona Beach, Florida, is a Criminal Investigation Division special agent at Fort Liberty.
In the Army since 1989, he was an All-Army Men’s Softball player for 13 years before he started coaching the Army team in 2019.
“I love pouring my heart into these phenomenal players,” Mason said. “I do not take it lightly. I respect it, and I respect these guys. I know what work they put in.”
Making the team
Mason said he started out the 2023 season with more than 100 applicants serving at Army installations worldwide and narrowed down the top 23 to take part in trials at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in July. The field was then further narrowed to 15 players.
Mason said he not only looks for athletic ability in a player but what they bring to the team.
“He has to be a servant teammate. He has to be a good player. He has to put others in front of himself and also play the game at the elite level,” he said.
If a candidate doesn't make it the first time, they should try again.
“A player who was released in 2022 went back to his duty station in Korea, worked hard for a year and made it to the 2023 team,” Mason said. "These guys supported him and like, just because you got released doesn't mean you're not part of the family and brotherhood.”
Putting in the work
Mason said the All-Army Team won history this year by making it through round-robin tournaments “with a perfect 10-0 record.”
The top players from the Armed Forces Championship were picked to be on the U.S. Armed Forces Men’s Softball Team by a selection committee.
Hulce was the Army team’s primary first baseman, while Deese was the starting second baseman.
Hulce, who has been in the Army for 15 years, said he was a pitcher and catcher in college, but before being selected for the team this year, had been unable to try out because he was always deployed.
He made it on his first try.
“Just making the team was amazing for me, but then being able to perform at a high level with the Armed Forces team meant a lot because it was my first opportunity to go,” he said. “My goal was to make the All-Armed Forces team and compete at the highest level against people that get paid to play. That’s a great privilege for me to go and compete against those guys.”
Deese, who was a shortstop and pitcher in high school, has previously played for the team but said it was likely his last time because he will be retiring in a couple of years.
“To be the first team to go 10-0, this speaks volumes on the brotherhood and the amount of work that we put in together as a team to go and accomplish that was just awesome,” Deese said.
'These guys know they’re ambassadors'
Applications, which start being accepted in April, are open to all regular Army, National Guard and Reserve soldiers, Mason said.
Commands teams approve temporary duty assignments for soldiers picked for the team, he said. The temporary duty is two months under the Department of the Army.
Each year, a new roster of players is selected. Those who were on the team last year will have to try out again, he said
Mason said that once the weather warms up, potential players fine-tune their skills.
“They travel around and play in tournaments. They have civilian teams they play for, and the culminating event for these outstanding ball players is going to All Army camp in July," he said.
Players usually get up early and head to the ballfield.
“At 8:30, when the whistle blows, we’re going,” Mason said.
Their days are filled with practice and games.
“They get off the field, probably at 10:30 at night, get something to eat and do it all over again the next day,” Mason said. “That’s every day, seven days a week.”
Mason said players work hard during training in camp in July to make them ready for the August tournaments.
Drills are intentionally difficult, he said, but players who trust the process often find themselves eventually mastering something they struggled with.
“I expect the best out of them,” he said. “They expect the best out of me.”
He said the players are taught in practice to handle stress and keep pushing so that on game days they’re able to focus and “slow the game down.”
“That's how we play this game,” he said. “We play it one pitch at a time.”
Weekends are spent playing tournaments and exhibitions.
“The local team knows we’re coming, and they come out. They want to come out and see the Army team,” Mason said. “These guys know they’re ambassadors of the United States Army 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mason said the soldiers are considered “soldier-athletes,” and not "athlete-soldiers,” meaning they still focus on military training and represent the Army.
“They're still senior (noncommissioned officers)," he said. "That's doesn't go away. They’re phenomenal soldiers who, the rest of the time, when they’re back here in garrison or when they deploy, they are absolutely the best of the best of soldiers. And that’s what affords them the opportunity to go compete for the Army.”
During the off-season, Mason said, players often join intermural teams, or coach, teach and train their own military unit teams.
Deese said he often fields questions from other soldiers asking how he made the team or how they can apply.
“We help build the organization for generations or the next generation because nobody gets to play forever,” he said.
Mason said players from a prior season will also tell him about other good players, even if it means they compete against the player for a position that year.
“That means these guys want what’s best for the team,” he said. “That’s the culture of this program.” They’re servant teammates. Our motto is, ‘We before me.’”
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: How Fort Liberty has ties to Army softball team
