FloSoftball is did a live blog from the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif. Here’s how it all went down:

MUSTANGS COMPLETE AMAZING RUN

TJ Goelz’s Tampa Mustangs (Fla.) and Beverly Bandits-Team DeMarini (Ill.) put together two of the most inspiring runs in Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championship history this past week in the 16U Premier Division.

Both teams got knocked into the Loser’s Bracket after first-round losses, then the Mustangs won 11 consecutive games and the DeMarini Bandits won 10 consecutive games to set up an improbable showdown between the two teams for the national title on Saturday afternoon.

The Mustangs manufactured a run in the top of the sixth and held on for a 1-0 triumph over the DeMarini Bandits.

“This was a big run,” South Florida-commit Bethaney Keen said of her Mustangs. “After losing the first bracket game, other teams would have just crumbled or stopped and not given up a fight, but not this team. We have such a good group of girls. We been in this position as runner-ups two years in a row and we were not going to go runner-up again. We wanted that championship. It’s a good feeling to come back and win 12 games in a row without losing. It was a good game and a great feeling. I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else.”

Hits were hard to come by as Mercer-commit Cassidy Davis of the Mustangs and Michigan-commit Meghan Beaubien of the DeMarini Bandits, who was the Gatorade State Player of the Year for Michigan, engaged in a classic pitching duel and both teams played flawless defense.

The DeMarini Bandits had the first big opportunity to score when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the second after Hannah File drew a one-out walk, Shannon McGee singled and Allyson Ivey was hit by a pitch with two outs. But Davis struck out Kendyl Wheeler to end the threat. Davis went on to retire the next 12 batters she faced n a row.

Beaubien was just as effective. She had a perfect game going until Hannah Pridemore’s one-out single in the top of the fifth.

Palm Beach Atlantic-commit Denali Schappacher led off the top of the sixth with a bunt single that died in front of home plate. She stole second and then scored on South Florida-commit Kinsey Goelz’s single for a 1-0 Mustangs’ lead.

The DeMarini Bandits put together a rally in the bottom of the seventh after Ashton Slone led off with a single. Tampa brought in Palm Beach Atlantic-commit Claire Feldman to relieve Davis, who allowed two hits, one walk and struck out five to get the win.

File got the sacrifice down to advance pinch runner Fran Torraca to second. McGee blooped a double to center field that gave the Bandits runners on second and third with one out.

But Feldman got a strikeout and a fly out to shut the door on the DeMarini Bandits and record the save.

---

BATBUSTERS CLAIM 14U PREMIER TITLE

Mark Campbell’s OC Batbusters (Calif.) rallied for four runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pull out a 7-4 victory over Patrick Lewis’ Georgia Impact in a wild back-and-fourth affair to claim the PGF 14U Premier National Championship on Saturday afternoon at Deanna Manning Stadium.

Campbell has led numerous 14U teams to national titles throughout the years, including a PGF title in 2013 and a third-place finish in 2014.

“This feels like the first one,” Campbell said. “They all feel great. One of the things I told the girls is getting to that game and winning it is the greatest feeling and no one can ever take it away from you. I’m just fortunate they get to experience it today.”

Haylee Kela had a two-run double and Larissa Cesena added an RBI single during the Batbusters three-run rally in the bottom of the second.

But the Batbusters never got to breath a sigh of relief because Georgia Impact came right back with four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead. Alabama-commit Skylar Wallace had an RBI single, Kassidy Krupit got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run and Madalyn Biggs had a two-run single during Impact’s comeback in the third.

Valerie Pero had a one-out double in the bottom of the fifth and scored on Jacquelines Jones‘ two-out single to help the Batbusters tie it, 4-4.

UCLA-commit Colleen Sullivan delivered a two-run double to right-center that scored Ariana Quinones and Taylor Okada with the go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth. Pero gave the Batbusters a 7-4 cushion with an RBI single in the sixth.

Vanessa Foreman, a 2018 left-hander, started for the Batbusters before running into trouble in the third. She came back in the game in the top of the sixth and retired the final six batters in order to seal the victory for the Batbusters.

Quinones went 3-for-3 with a triple, a run and two stolen bases and Pero went 3 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI for the Batbusters, who got 12 hits off Tennessee-commit Logan Caymol.

SPARKS PREMIER TAKES 16U PLATINUM CHAMPIONSHIP

Sparks Premier (Ill.) completed its udefeated run to the PGF 16U Platinum national title with a 5-3 triumph over the Kansas City Peppers (Kan.) in the championship game on Saturday night at Deanna Manning Stadium.

The KC Peppers had an early lead after Cassidy Greer led off the bottom of the second with a triple and scored on an E-8 for a 1-0 edge.

Reilly Jo Swanson singled to lead off the top of third and eventually scored from second base on an E-4 to help Sparks Premier tie it, 1-1.

Jessica Miklos gave Sparks Premier the lead with a solo homer to left-center field and Ashley Wood added an RBI single for a 3-1 cushion in the top of the fourth.

Elena Woulfe drove in Swanson with a groud out to short and Kiley Robb beat out an infield single to drive in Wood to give Sparks Premier a 5-1 advantage in the top of the sixth.

Greer got her second triple of the game in the bottom of the sixth and scored on Madison Miller’s single. Miller edned up scoring from second when Claire Anderson got caught in a pickle and Sparks Premier started throwing the ball around, which helped the KC Peppers cut the lead to 5-3.

CAL NUGGETS OUTSLUG DIRTDOGS FOR 14U PLATINUM TITLE

Ally Nodohara and Atalia Quenga had back-to-back two-run doubles in the bottom of the fifth to give the Cal Nuggets (Calif.) the lead and they held on to defeat the NorCal Dirtdogs (Calif.), 6-4, to capture the PGF 14U Platinum national championship on Saturday evening at Deanna Manning Stadium.

Adrianna Noriega went 1 for 3 with a solo homer, two runs and two RBI and Mallory McCrane went 2 for 4 with two runs to lead Cal Nuggets eight-hit attack.

Lauren Innerest went the distance, scattering nine hits, giving up four runs and seven walks, while striking out nine to get the complete game win for the Cal Nuggets, who earned a berth in next year’s PGF 14U Premier Division National Championships by winning the Platinum national title, if they choose to move up.

---

Here’s the PGF National Championhips schedule (All of the championship games will be streamed live on YouTube):

• 14U Premier Division championship: CA OC Batbusters-Campbell 7, GA Impact-Lewis 4
• 16U Premier Division championship: FL Tampa Mustangs-TJ 1, IL Beverly Bandits-Team DeMarini 0
• 14U Platinum Division championship: CA Cal Nuggets Gold 6, CA NorCal Dirtdogs-Team Mizuno 4
• 16U Platinum Division championship: IL Sparks Premier 5, KS Kansas City Peppers-Clinton 3

Follow FloSoftball on Twitter @FloSoftball.