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. Friday championships will be decided at the 18U, 16U and 14U levels; you can read more on the event by clicking here.

FloSoftball will be at the TC/USA Nationals all week where games are being streamed at the Golden Eagle Complex (Fields 10-14). I’ll be sharing news and notes and you can check out the scores by clicking on the links below too…

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

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ELITE 8 LINING UP

Here are the results from the 5 pm match-ups held today…

• #2 Firecrackers-Rico 3, Georgia Force-Pealor 2
  
• #10 Wichita Mustangs 11, #28 Arizona AZ 2
  
• #9 TX Impact Gold-Jackson vs. #38 Oklahoma Diamond Girls (Field 3)
• #64 NW Bullets 8, #16 Lady Lightning 4
  
• #7 EC Bullets-Schnute 7, #81 Firecrackers Blanco 3
• #12 Sorcerer 4, #21 Sudden Impact 3
• #17 Texas Bombers 8, #45 Finesse-Dreher 7
• #5 Texas Glory 5, #95 TX Glory-Adkins 3
  

 

FINAL 16 SET… NOW WAITING ON MATCH-UPS

The TC/USA Nationals polling gurus are finalizing what eight games will take place at 5 pm PST, but we do know that the 18U Champions will come from one of those teams (numbers in parentheses are the US Club Ranking, which is used in setting up the seeding):

**** Click here to see the official TC/USA Nationals 18U Platinum bracket….

Winner’s bracket:

• #2 Firecrackers-Rico
  
• #5 Texas Glory
• #7 EC Bullets-Schnute
• #9 TX Impact Gold-Jackson
• #10 Wichita Mustangs
• #12 Sorcerer
• #45 Finesse-Dreher
• #64 NW Bullets

Loser’s bracket:

• #16 Lady Lightning
• #17 Texas Bombers
• #28 Arizona AZ
  
• #21 Sudden Impact
• #38 Oklahoma Diamond Girls
• #81 Firecrackers Blanco
• #95 TX Glory-Adkins
  
• NR Georgia Force-Pealer

The way it’s set up is the highest ranked team from the Winner’s Bracket will play the lowest rated team from the Loser’s Bracket so you can figure out who will play whom… we’ll have the official match-ups and locations when announced!

 

PLATINUM 18U BRACKET GETTING MORE CLEAR…

Yesterday, I wrote, was the day things got serious here at the TC/USA Nationals. If that’s the case then today things get “serious-er.”

The march to the Friday championship games really heat up today as the morning and 12:30 pm games will determine who are the 16 teams that will be seeded top to bottom about 3 pm.

The seedings, I was told this morning by Event Director Krista Crawford, will be based on three things:

1. US Club Rankings (highest coming into the events, such as the #2 Firecrackers-Rico and #5 Texas Glory, get the edge over lower ranked team on the theory they have earned the higher seeding based on previous event finishes)
2. record in bracket
3. run differential

Then, the 5 pm games will have these 16 teams – which have finished 1^st and 2^nd place in the 8 brackets–determine the eight winners who go“right” on the bracket while the losers go “left.”

I’m here at Golden Eagle where the 18U’s are playing on the 12 fields and here’s the games this morning which I’ll update throughout the day:

PLATINUM 18U BRACKET:

these teams advance to the final field of 16…

• Bracket AA:
  • Winner’s bracket: #2 Firecrackers-Rico 12, #81 Firecrackers-Blanco 4
  • Loser’s bracket: #81 Firecrackers Blanco 8, #24 Miami Stingrays 4
• Bracket BB:
  • Winner’s bracket: #5 Texas Glory 9, #84 Tennessee Fury 0
    
  • Loser’s bracket: #28 Arizona AZ 5, #84 Tennessee Fury 3
    
• Bracket CC:
  • Winner’s bracket: #7 EC Bullets-Schnute 2, #21 Texas Sudden Impact-Dutton 1
    
  • Loser’s bracket: #21 Sudden Impact 8, #67 USA Athletics 6
    
• Bracket DD:
  • Winner’s bracket: #45 Finesse-Dreher 8, Georgia Force 97-Pealor 1
    
  • Loser’s bracket: Georgia Force-Pealer 7, Diamond Sports Hotshots 3
    
• Bracket EE:
  • Winner’s bracket: #9 TX Impact Gold-Jackson 10, #31 TX Aces Express Gold 2
    
  • Loser’s bracket: #95 TX Glory-Adkins 6, #31 Texas Aces Express 3
    
• Bracket FF:
  • Winner’s bracket: #10 Wichita Mustangs 2, #71 Lady Magic 0
    
  • Loser’s bracket: 17 Texas Bombers 12, #71 Lady Magic 5
    
• Bracket GG:
  • Winner’s bracket: #12 Sorcerer 10, #16 NC Lady Lightning 3
    
  • Loser’s bracket: #16 Lady Lightning 11, #39 Oklahoma Exclusive 0
    
• Bracket HH:
  • Winner’s bracket: #64 NW Bullets 2, #15 Bownet-Ashley/Creamer 1
  • Loser’s bracket: #38 Oklahoma Diamond Girls 1, #15 Bownet-Creamer/Ashley 0
    

The 12:30 pm games will see the winners of the above games play the winner’s of the loser’s bracket.

For the most part, the top seeds in 18U are still alive in the Platinum bracket with the most notable except being #8 Gold Coast Hurricanes which lost a great game to the Diamond Sports Hotshots 3-1 (see below) and then to The Next Level Gold-Delamater 8-5.

This means the Hurricanes are no longer playing for the 18U title, a tough road for a team loaded with great players.

STANDOUT PERFORMANCES

In the push to the Field of 16 to be announced this afternoon, here are a few standout performances in earlier games:

*** The Finesse out of Michigan advanced with a home run and two runs scored by catcher Hannah Carson (check out our profile of her here) and a 4-for-4 day by third baseman Alex Sobczak.  Both are headed to Michigan.

*** The Wichita Mustangs blanked the Lady Magic behind strong pitching from Sydney Smith (LSU).  Elise Lebeouf hit a home run and catcher Julia Cottrill had an RBI single.

*** The EC Bullets squeaked by TX Sudden Impact thanks to a bottom of the 7th RBI single from Hayleigh Galvan (Oklahoma State) who is guesting.  She normally plays with the Tulsa Elite.

TOP TALENT

One of the very best players I’ve seen this week is someone who I have to admit I’m partial to: Nicole Mendes, the 2016 Hot 100 player on the Diamond Sports Hotshots coached by Tammie Davis.

Nicole is interning with FloSoftball and has written some outstanding articles for us including pieces on what it’s like to be homeschooled, her mission trip this spring to England and her last feature where she interviewed two college freshman on the transition to college from high school/club ball.

The pitcher/infielder is headed to Oklahoma and her Sooner-bound teammate Alissa Dalton looks strong too, although her mom says she’s only about 90 percent back from an injury.

But Nicole pitched very well yesterday and also had two hits including a double where she showed great speed around the bases.

There’s also one of the top 2019’s I’ve seen this year on that team: Taylor Pleasants who is a 5-foot-11 middle infielder who played right field when I saw her.

At the Hurricanes/Hotshots game Patti Gasso of Oklahoma was watching her two future players and no doubt Taylor. Coach Davis also said Florida and LSU were there watching her too and it’s not a surprise why.

Taylor is a lefty hitter who crunched a no-doubt home run over the right field fence and also showed a strong arm in the outfield.

“Taylor has incredible hands and plays like she’s five foot instead of nearly six foot,” says Coach Davis.

Expect her to have her choice of major programs by the end of the summer.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM

The Firecrackers-AZ team played and a player who made a nice contribution is Lauryn Henderson, a 2017 catcher/infielder who just joined the team.

She’s been to all of three practices, but this morning cracked a grand slam.

We did a piece on her in August where she created a unique way to get recruiting attention. Check out the story here: The benefits of a Macaroni Party

Her teammate, 2017 catcher Shay Bowden who is headed to Oregon, also hit a home run but it wasn’t enough as the Firecrackers lost by a field goal, 13-10, to New Lenox Lightningt.

MAGIC (MUSTANGS) BUS

The Wichita Mustangs are still undefeated in Bracket FF which is impressive when you consider how the team got here.

The 16U team played at the DeMarini Invitational Showcase in Chicago last weekend and then the 16 players hopped on the bus for what ended up being a 29 hour trip to the Reno area for the TC/USA Nationals.

Nine of the 18U team came up from Wichita and met the bus in Nebraska and all was going smoothly until a flat tire near Evanston, Wy. cost the team three hours.

Still, the #10 ranked team is looking good and star 2019 catcher Julia Cottrill said, “It was long and tiring, but fun to be with the girls on the team. We got a lot of sleep in and had a lot of laughs.”

And that isn’t the furthest they’ll be going: the 18U team will be playing in the USA Softball JO Cup in Southern California later this month.

UPDATED SCORES:

• Click here to check out the latest scores at the 18U level
• Click here to check out the latest scores at the 16U level
• Click here to check out the latest scores at the 14U level