The odds of defending their championship in the Palm Springs (Calif.) Winter Classic Softball Tournament (Jan. 13-14) were against the Chicago Cougars. Just consider:

— The team had not played together in a tournament since the Gay World Series, held last August in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

— They did not practice before the 16th annual Palm Springs tourney, held at DeMuth Park.

— They were in a higher division (B) than last year, with 14 teams.

— Most of the competing clubs were West Coast clubs, thus have had months more practice for the event as opposed to the Cougars.

— The Palm Springs evening temperatures, when the Cougars played most of their games, was surprisingly in the low-30s.

Well, the oddsmakers were wrong on the Cougars, who went undefeated to become back-to-back champions.

‘We really showed a lot of character this weekend,’ said Cougars captain Chris Vernald, who plays catcher. ‘Winning the championship was great. Quite often on B-division teams, there are players with great talent. But not so on this team; there isn’t just one great player on the team. It’s the whole team, how well we play together.’

But several Cougars certainly shined. Such as shortstop Eric Wu and left-centerfielder James Platt. And certainly Bob Shada, too, who delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning, to drive home pinch-runner Wu in the championship game. The Cougars defeated Dallas TKO 16-15 for the title.

Paul Morrissey opened the seventh with a triple, sliding into third just ahead of the tag. TKO then walked the next two batters to create a force-play. The next Cougars’ batter popped out before Shada delivered the clutch single.

‘In each game, it seemed like there was another person who did something great,’ said Vernald, 42, who lives in suburban Geneva, Ill.

The annual Palm Springs tourney featured 132 teams, the most ever, including seven others from Chicago.

‘Our goal is to go back to the World Series (later this year) in Phoenix—and win it,’ Vernald said.

The Cougars have won their division in Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA) for the past two years.

‘We didn’t come here saying that if we didn’t finish in first-place that it would be an unsuccessful tournament. We just want to play well in each game, compete and hopefully take something beneficial from every game that we can build upon for the future,’ Vernald said. ‘This team just believes in itself.’