FloSoftball did a live blog from the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships on Thursday, July 30, at Huntington Beach Sports Complex. Here’s how it all went down.

In the brief history of the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships, Mike Stith and Gary Haning’s OC Batbusters (Calif.) and Bruce Richardson’s So Cal Athletics (Calif.) have owned the competition and all the hardware in the marquee 18U Premier Division.

The So Cal A’s, which won four PGF titles from 2010-13, beat Tony Rico’s Firecrackers (Calif.), 8-3, in the semifinals to advance to the championship game for the fifth time in the six years of the event.

The OC Batbusters, who captured the PGF title last year, defeated the Birmingham Thunderbolts (Ala.), 3-2, in the other semifinal to earn their third consecutive trip to the PGF title game.

“It seems odd and it seems a bit one-sided, but it’s really not,” Stith said. “It’s very difficult to get here. We’re both very fortunate to be here. It’s a grind, but I know one thing: it just shows the work. At some point it reflects on the work that has gone into doing this. We’re familiar with each other, that’s for sure.”

The Batbusters vs. So Cal A’s for the PGF title on Friday, July 31, at 2 p.m. at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif., is a rematch of the 2013 PGF finals, which was won by the So Cal A’s.

“We’re back at it again,” Richardson said. “We’re all good friends and the kids know each other. It’s going to be good.”

The Batbusters have been the overwhelming favorites to repeat as PGF champions all summer, while the So Cal A’s entered the summer season as a question mark. The A’s pitching staff was an unknown quantity heading into the summer, but it became a strength with the arrival and emergence of Tennessee-bound Matty Moss and Arkansas-commit Autumn Storms.

“I don’t think many people gave us a chance to get here at the start of the season,” Richardson said, “but they played really well most of the summer and they deserve this. That was the first runs in bracket play we gave up all week. That was it right there, those three runs (against the Firecrackers).”

Storms started against the Firecrackers in the semifinals and struggled a bit, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks, but Moss came in and slammed the door on the Firecrackers. Moss pitched five innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and one walk with four K’s.

Michigan-bound Faith Canfield, the star of the A’s 2013 championship team, went 3 -for-3 with a double, a home run and four RBI, Tennessee-bound Brooke Vines went 4 for 4 with three runs and a solo homer and Tennessee-commit Jenna Holcomb went 2 for 4 with two runs and a two-run triple for the A’s against the Firecrackers.

The Batbusters got a solo home run from Cal-commit Jocelyn Alo in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie and they went on to defeat the Thunderbolts, who had to win three consecutive Loser’s Bracket games on Thursday to get to the semifinals against the Batbusters.

Batbusters ace Taylor McQuillin, an Arizona-bound southpaw, pitched four innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit, no walks and striking out seven to nail down the win against the T-Bolts.

“I think it’s gonna be a good game tomorrow,” McQuillin said of the matchup against the A’s. “Both teams know what it’s gonna take to win and one will come out on top again.”

PGF NATIONALS ROUNDUP

IN PGF 18U PREMIER DIVISION LOSER’S BRACKET NINTH ROUND GAMES:

AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 2, CA Corona Angels-Tyson 0: The T-Bolts scored two runs in the top of the third on an unearned run and an RBI double by Northwestern-bound Morgan Nelson and Fresno State-commit Giselle Juarez pitched a five-hitter with five strikeouts to eliminate the Angels, who reached the PGF 18U Premier finals last year.

CA Firecrackers-Rico 3, IL Beverly Bandits-Conroy 2: Oregon-bound Miranda Elish and James Madison-bound Jenny Behan came through with RBI singles for the Bandits in the bottom of the seventh, but the Firecrackers got an unearned run in the top of the eighth and held on for the win.

IN PGF 18U PREMIER DIVISION WINNER’S BRACKET FIFTH ROUND GAMES:

CA So Cal A’s-Richardson 1, CA Corona Angels-Tyson 0: Michigan-bound Faith Canfield singled to right to drive in Tennessee-commit Jenna Holcomb, who scored from second on a bang-bang play at the plate that could have gone either way, in the top of the sixth and Tennessee-bound Matty Moss shut out the Angels on two hits to get the win for the A’s.

CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 5, IL Beverly Bandits-Conroy 0: Arizona-bound Taylor McQuillin threw a two-hitter with no walks and 14 strikeouts as the Batbusters avenged their loss to the Bandits in the Boulder IDT semifinals.

Florida-bound Amanda Lorenz and Sophia Reynoso had two hits apiece, Cal-commit Jocelyn Alo had two hits and Arizona-commit Dejah Mulipola drove in two runs to lead the Batbuster offense.

IN PGF PREMIER DIVISION LOSER’S BRACKET EIGHTH ROUND GAMES:

CA Firecrackers-Rico 4, CA All American Sports Academy 0: Oklahoma-commit Melanie Olmos tossed a one-hitter with three walks and five Ks and Michigan-commit Alexis Allan went 2 for 4 with two RBI as the Firecrackers eliminated AASA.

AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 7, TN Fury ’97 2: BYU-bound Libby Sugg belted a three-run homer and Northwestern-bound Morgan Nelson went 3 for 4 with a homer and two RBI as the T-Bolts knocked out Fury.

IN PGF 18U PREMIER DIVISION LOSER’S BRACKET SEVENTH ROUND GAMES:

CA All American Spors Academy 6, CA So Cal A’s-Quarles 3: Melissa Eisen had a two-run double during AASA’s four-run rally in the top of the 10th and AASA held on for the victory.

AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 3, CA Cal Cruisers-Sievers 2: Arizona-bound Tamara Statman drove in Northwestern-bound Morgan Nelson with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth for the go-ahead run and Statman put the finishing touches on a complete game in the bottom half of the inning to give the T-Bolts the victory.

Utah-bound Maddie Roth belted a two-run homer for the Cruisers in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.

CA Firecrackers-Rico 2, CA OC Batbusters-Briggs 1: Cal-bound Kourtney Shaw scattered five hits, allowed one run, one walk and struck out seven to lift the Firecrackers.

TN Fury ’97 6, CA Firecrackers-Brashear 0: Belmont-bound Jordan Spiver went 2 for 2 with a hoemr and three RBI, Kennesaw State-commit Olivia Tamewitz went 3 for 3 with a run and Belmont-bound Baylee Cook went 3 for 3 with a double, two runs and an RBI to lead Fury.

PGF NATIONALS SCOREBOARD

AT HUNTINGTON BEACH SPORTS COMPLEX

18U PREMIER DIVISION

SEMIFINALS

• OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 3, AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 2
• CA So Cal A’s-Richardson 8, CA Firecrackers-Rico 3

FIFTH ROUND

WINNER’S BRACKET A

• CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 5, IL Beverly Bandits-Conroy 0

WINNER’S BRACKET B

• CA So Cal A’s-Richardson 1, CA Corona Angels-Tyson 0

NINTH ROUND

LOSER’S BRACKET A

• CA Firecrackers-Rico 3, IL Beverly Bandits 2 (8 innings)

LOSER’S BRACKET B

• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 2, CA Corona Angels-Tyson 0

EIGHTH ROUND

LOSER’S BRACKET A

• CA Firecrackers-Rico 4, CA All American Sports Academy 0

LOSER’S BRACKET B

• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 7, TN Fury ’97 2

SEVENTH ROUND

LOSER’S BRACKET A

• CA Firecrackers-Rico 2, CA OC Batbusters-Briggs 1
• CA All American Sports Academy 6, CA So Cal A’s-Quarles 3 (10 innings)

LOSER’S BRACKET B

• TN Fury ’97 6, CA Firecrackers-Brashear 0
• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 3, CA Cal Cruisers 2 (8 innings)

Follow FloSoftball on Twitter @FloSoftball.