The first of the three club softball National Championships is taking place this week in Reno and Tahoe, Nev. as the TC/USA Nationals kicked off Tuesday. Championships at the 18U, 16U and 14U levels are being decided you can read more on the event by clicking here.

FloSoftball has been at the TC/USA Nationals all week where games have been streamed at the Golden Eagle Complex (Fields 10-14)

If you have any info or questions, e-mail brentt.eads@flosports.tv

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NOTE: you can read about the TC/USA National Championship games here!

The quarterfinals are done, but one team is already in the finals… how is that?

Because the Wichita Mustangs, after winning over the top-ranked team here according to the US Club Rankings—the #2 Firecrackers-Rico team— had to leave as all the travel plans were previously set.

So the NW Bullets are in the championship game that starts at 5:30 pm at the Univ. of Nevada-Reno and is televised on the CBS Sports Network. I was there when Coach Tony Campos told his players and, yes, there was quite the cheer!

So only one game is being played at 10:30 am in the semis, Sorcerer Gold vs. the Texas Bombers.

Here are recaps of each semi and quarterfinal game Friday morning:

18U PLATINUM SEMIFINALS

#64 NW Bullets Gold 7, #10 Wichita Mustangs 0 (forfeit)*

The Mustangs knew early this week that travel arrangements were set up Friday afternoon and if the team advanced deep into the championship it would have to forfeit.  The brackets were reportedly misread by the person setting up travel which is too bad because the Mustangs seemed to get better in each game.  “I think we had a great tournament and I’m proud we were able to finish fourth,” said head coach Mark Griggs.

The NW Bullets, admittedly, weren’t one of the favorites by most before this week, but Coach Tony Campos’s team has Big Ten and Pac-12 talent and is peaking at the right time.  The lefty slappers set the table and 2016 catcher Teaghan Cowles (Stanford) and 2016 pitcher/infielder Bradie Fillmore (Cal) provide the power bats.

#17 Texas Bombers 2, #7 EC Bullets-Schnute 0

As 2015 pitcher Sam Show (Texas A&M) goes, so goes the Bombers and Show was on her game in the game leading into the championship.

The Bombers played four games yesterday and Coach Scott Smith wondered how his depleted pitching staff would do with 2018 Hot 100 No. 1 rated player Brooke Vestal at home resting with a strained rib muscle.

However, Show-who led her East Bernard to the Texas 3A State Championship this spring–knows how to pitch in big games and she shut down the Bullets who had scored 15 runs just moments before in the thrilling 15-13 win over Sorcerer Gold.

Show allowed only three hits while striking out seven.

The offense got all the runs it would need in the top of the fourth as Rylee Rodriguez (Texas-San Antonio) walked and would come around on a wild pitch.  Catcher Jo Rivera (Tyler JC) singled home another run and that was all the offense the Bombers would need.

“I don’t think three weeks ago many would put us in this positions,” an emotional Scott Smith said after the win. “But this team has been overachieving and is playing nine versus one, meaning all the players are playing together as a team and they’re getting it done.”

Mustangs had to leave because of prearranged travel plans

18U PLATINUM QUARTERFINALS

#7 EC Bullets-Schnute 15, #12 Sorcerer 13

The game of the week—heck, maybe the whole summer so far—was the amazing comeback win by the East Cobb Bullets.

The talented Sorcerer team jumped out to a 7-0 lead but the Bullets roared back to take an 8-7 lead only to fall behind 9-8 and then 13-8 highlighted by a Rachel Cid three-run home run for the Nor Cal power.

However, Greg Schnute’s squad kept pecking away and entered the bottom of the 7^th trailing 13-10. The Bullets worked the bases loaded and came down to its last strike when Grace Sanderson took ball four on a full count to force home a run to make it 13-11.

Junior Sydney Pennington (Oklahoma State), who has been having a great week, came up next and on the first pitch hit a rainbow to left center that kept drifting and drifting until it cleared the fence for a walk-off grand slam and an improbable 15-13 win for the Bullets who advanced to face the Bombers.

“It was a fastball outside,” Pennington said in the dugout after the win. “I was nervous the first two at-bats for some reason but felt I had nothing to lose this time and didn’t feel any pressure.

In the celebration, Coach Schnute jumped so high he said half-kidding, “I think I tore my calf muscle.” He told the team, “This one is one for the record books, it was an absolute team victory. Both teams never gave up and kept battling, it was one of the best games I’ve ever been part of.”

#10 Wichita Mustangs 6, #2 Firecrackers-Rico 2

Pitcher Sydney Smith limited the Firecrackers to two runs while the offense was sparked by Elise LeBeouf (Houston), who had an RBI double in the second and a two-run double in the third. The Mustangs, however, couldn’t play in the semi-finals as Coach Mark Grigg had said earlier this week that his team had made plans to leave by Friday afternoon and after the semi win the team was on the road.

#64 NW Bullets Gold 10, #38 Oklahoma Diamond Girls 1

The Bullets jumped out to a huge lead early and never looked back and advance to the 5:30 pm televised game on CBS Sports Network. The final is at the Univ. of Reno and the Bullets make it because of the Mustangs departure.

Said Head Coach Tony Campos after the win: “We’ve been very successful all week in getting leads in the early innings. The girls have been aggressive in their at-bats and the pitching and defense have been clean. Bradie Fillmore (Cal) and Teaghan Cowles (Stanford) have been hot—all our hitters have been very tough—and our line-up has been led by our lefty slappers.”

#17 Texas Bombers 5, #5 Texas Glory 3

Sam Show (Texas A&M) was a star in the circle and mound as she hit a two-run homer in the first inning and went seven innings for the complete game win. She scattered four hits with six K’s and allowed only one earned run. Makinzy Herzog (Florida State) was strong as well going 3-for-3 with two RBI.

“We’re short-handed in pitching with Brooke (Vestal) out and that’s forced us to be creative with our pitching rotation. What’s led us is our great defense. We’ve also had some big bats like Rylee Rodriquez (Texas-San Antonio) and Haydn Parker (Campbell). We’ve had a lot of rain in Texas so our innings have been limited; Colorado was our first extended tournament so to go far here has really helped us gain much-needed experience.”

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