I did a live blog from Stazio Fields in Boulder, Colo., for the 18U Boulder Bracket elimination games on Saturday, July 4, at the Boulder Independence Day Tournament. Here’s how it all went down.

ELITE 8 REVEALED

It took some dramatics and controversy to nail down the final spot in the Elite of the 18U Boulder Bracket of the Boulder IDT.

All American Sports Academy (Calif.) and Marty Tyson’s Corona Angels (Calif.) needed 9 innings with the finals three being played under ITB rules as they battled late into Saturday night.

AASA picked up a run in the top of the ninth to take a 3-2 lead. The Corona Angels appeared to be in a good spot as the loaded the bases with no outs. But then AASA ace Nerissa Long got a strikeout and a grounder to third where AASA was able to getthe runner at the plate for two outs.

Samantha Williams blooped one in front of first and second and appeared to beat out for an infield single, driving in the game-tying run in the process. The initial call was she was safe, but after a conference by the officials the call was changed. Game over.

AASA won, 3-2, and joined Chaos Gold (Pa.), Bruce Richardson’s So Cal A’s (Calif.), Texas Blaze Gold, Mike Stith and Gary Haning’s OC Batbusters (Calif.), Joey Quarles So Cal A’s (Calif.), Beverly Bandits (Ill.) and Chill Gold (Ill.) in the Elite 8.

ALEXIS MACK WILL MISS CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY

The Beverly Bandits lost on a walk-off homer in the Round of 16 of last year’s Boulder IDT to just barely miss Championship Sunday. It was heart-breaking and the Bandits used that memory as fuel for their run to the Elite 8 in this year’s Boulder IDT. South Carolina-bound Alexis Mack was a big part of the Bandits run this time around, but after the Bandits 4-1 win over the Wichita Mustangs (Kan.) in the Round of 16 she and her father had to get ready to travel to Columbia, SC, because she has orientation at South Carolina on Sunday.

“This really meant a lot to our team because we had that fire after losing on that walk-off home run last year,” Mack said. “And I have that fire too. I want to be there tomorrow to finish it off. I just really wish I could be there and play because I’m having a lot of fun.”

ANIESA MAULUPE SLAMS HER WAY OUT OF SLUMP

Apparently, So Cal A’s-Quarles third baseman Aniesa Maulupe needed the degree of difficulty turned up to unleash the full potential of her swing. Maulupe just needed some swirling winds and overcast, rainy conditions to slam her way out of her slump.

“Earlier in the tournament I was not seeing the ball as well,” the Long Beach State-commit said. “For my adjustment, what I started to do was sit longer, let the ball travel in a little more and read it out of the hand better. So when I saw the pitches I recognized them from before and I guess I just made solid contact.”

And by “I guess I made solid contact,” Maulupe means she smashed two grand slams in the So Cal A’s 13-0 third-round win over the Tampa Mustangs (Fla.).

“I hit two home runs in a game before for high school,” Maulupe said, “but that’s about it.”

SO CAL A’S ADVANCE AFTER ALL

First, the official 18U Boulder Bracket at Stazio Fields had the USA Athletics (Calif.) knocking off the So Cal A’s-Richardson (Calif.), 4-1, in a big upset. I posted the upset on Twitter and tried to make contact with USA Athletics pitcher Miranda Trinidad.

“We actually lost, but I did pitch,” Trinidad said when she got back to me on Twitter.

I went back to the official scoreboard and all traces of USA Athletics win had been erased with Wite-Out and the So Cal A’s were written in as the true winner of that Round 3 game.

CRUISERS STUN EXPLOSION

Cal Cruisers (Calif.) rallied from a 6-0 deficit to beat Explosion-Morgan (Calif.), 11-8, on Ashley Quidolit’s walk-off three-run homer to advance to the third round in the 18U Boulder Division at the Boulder IDT.

The Explosion jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Cruisers came storming back.

“It’s kind of hard when you start off in the first inning and you get slapped in the face,” Rabago said, “but we got five runs back right away.”

The slugfest was officially on after the Cruisers closed the gap to 6-5 after one inning. The Cruisers had runners on second and third when the speedy Rabago, who tripled and scored in the bottom of the third, stepped up to the plate in the final inning. Rabago laced a liner down the left-field line and turned it into an inside-the-park homer that drove in three runs to give the Cruisers the win.

“I was thinking, maybe, I should bunt it this time because they wouldn’t be expecting it after the triple and they were still trying to play me up,” Rabago said, “so I knew I’d have to try and get it through th infield and score one to tie it. I guess I was able to put a good swing on it. I got it down the line and was able to run around the bases.”

It was a rough day for the Explosion organization, which also saw the Explosion Gold (Calif.) fall to the Tampa Mustangs (Fla.), 9-8, on a tiebreaker in a second round game.

UNSIGNED DEVIN KENNEDY DELIVERS THIS SUMMER

All the big-time college softball coaches have been floating from field to field all week at the Boulder IDT, checking in on their signed and committed players and looking for uncommitted talent.

It’s a perfect place for an uncommitted/unsigned player like Devin Kennedy to show off her skills and land a ride to a major college.

There were 33 students in Kennedy’s senior class and 302 total students from K-12 at Macon East Academy in Montgomery, Ala., where she led her high school to four consecutive state championships.

“Everybody knows everybody,” Kennedy said of her high school, but college coaches were unaware of her talents.

“It’s just been a struggle with different travel ball teams,” Kennedy said. “I just wasn’t getting shown as much.”

One of Kennedy’s 12U travel ball coaches called and said he had arranged a tryout in Mobile, Ala., with Jersey Intensity (NJ) head coach Kevin O’Donnell in Mobile, Ala.

“I went down to Mobile to try out and he (O’Donnell) loved me,” said Kennedy, a 2015 outfielder. “Oh my gosh, when I first met him, he went up and hugged me. I did not expect that at all.”

O’Donnell said he knew Kennedy had next-level talent from the first time he saw her in Mobile.

“A really good friend of ours recommended a strong player that was not committed and was a great talent,” O’Donnell said. “I went down and evaluated her and I agreed she was one of those next-level players. We always compare her to Corrin Genovese of the University of Missouri. She carries herself like that, hits like that and plays like that.”

O’Donnell said Kennedy has “killed it” the last four weeks with the Jersey Intensity, playing brilliantly in the Diamond 9 Classic, the So Cal A’s Invitational, the Team NJ Summer Classic and all this week at the Boulder IDT. She’s gone against the best pitchers in the country during that span and she’s hitting close to .650 with four home runs and eight doubles as the Intensity’s leadoff hitter.

“I want to prove to them that I can play at the collegiate level,” Kennedy said. “I love playing all the good teams. I don’t like playing the OK teams, the bad teams. I want to play the best, because it brings out your best.”

“It’s exciting, but also stressful at the same time, because the deadline is basically gone. But I’m still willing to do anything to get it.”

O’Donnell believes Kennedy’s hard work and belief in herself will pay off.

“It’s a good story, because she could’ve run and hid and accepted something, just to say, ‘Yes, I’m goingto college,'” O’Donnell said. “But she believed in us and what we’re trying to do in the whole process for her. Good things are coming like next week for her. She is a top caliber top-20 program player. We’ve got a lot of interest in her right now.”

ONE CORONA ANGELS TEAM SOARS TO VICTORY

The Corona Angels (Calif.) organization had two 18U teams playing at the Boulder IDT before Kim Howard’s Corona Angels were overhelmed by the Northwest Bullets (Ore.), 10-0, in a second round game. Marty Tyson’s Corona Angels had the opposite outcome when they pounded the Vienna Stars (Va.), 10-0, in a second round game.

UCLA-committed outfielder Aaliyah Jordan and Oklahoma-bound infielder Shay Knighten have been hitting well all summer for Tyson’s Corona Angels, but they have turned it up a notch at Boulder. Knighten had a pair of doubles and Jordan had a par of hits against the Vienna Stars.

“We have been working hard these past couple of weeks and days to really perfect our swings and drive the ball hrd,” said Knighten, who received her official invite to the Louisville Slugger Hit Club earlier this week. “Not doing too much is just enough, because it makes you keep things simple and stay with your mechanics.”

ESPRIT POWER SURGE

Esprit Gold (MO) exploded for five homers in an 11-2 second round win over Lil’ Saints (Ariz.). Loyola-bound Katie Kasubke hit a solo homer, St. Louis-bound Mack Lawson belted a three-run homer, Drake-bound Taryn Pena hit a solo homer and McNeese State-commit Kimie Fozzard added a two-run blast in the fifth for Esprit.

BOULDER IDT

SATURDAY, JULY 4, RESULTS

18U BOULDER BRACKET

AT STAZIO FIELDS, BOULDER, COLO.

SINGLE-ELIMINATION BRACKET PLAY

ROUND 1

• IL New Lenox Lightning 9, CA Irvine Sting 3
• CA So Cal Breakers 8, IL Sparks 0
• VA Vienna Stars 4, TX Houston Power-Jeff 3
• AZ Firecrackers 8, NJ Pride 2
• AZ Desert Thunder 10, TX Magic 9
• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 19, CA Pure Fastpitch 0
• CA Firecrackers-Snyder 3, MI Finesse 2
• VA Legends 5, KS Peppers 0
• NJ Inferno 10, MO Demarini Aces 7
• PA Newtown Rock 3, CA So Cal Diamonds 0
• Sc Carolina Elite 7, FL Gators Gold 3
• FL Tampa Mustangs 12, MN Irish 1
• MO Originals Gold 11, FL Team Florida 1
• CA Explosion-CM 4, CO Stars-Sakamoto 2
• NE Nebraska Gold 8, Ok Tulsa Elite 6
• CA So Cal Filly’s 4, TX Storm Gold 3

ROUND 2

• CA So Cal Choppers 8, LA Voodoo 3
• PA Chaos Gold 3, IL New Lenox Lightning 2
• AZ Hotshots 6, CA So Cal Breakers 2
• RI Thunder 7, NM Sundancers 6
• MO Esprit Gold 11, AZ Lil’ Saints 2
• CA Corona Angels-Tyson 10, VA Vienna Stars 0
• CA AASA 3, AZ Firecrackers 1
• OR NW Bullets 10, CA Corona Angels-Howard 0
• CA USA Athletics 9, CA Strike Zone 1
• So Cal A’s-Richardson 4, AZ Desert Thunder 2
• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 9, GA Atlanta Vipers 7
• CA San Jose Sting 3, CA Grapettes 1
• NJ Intensity-KOD 7, NC Cardinals 1
• TX Blaze Gold 13, CA Firecrackers-Snyder 0
• CA OC Batbusters-White 6, NY team Long Island Gold 2
• TX Houston Power-John 7, IN Magic Gold 0
• CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 19, NJ Inferno 2
• PA Newtown Rock 13, AZ Killer Bees 6
• WA Ladyhawks 10, WA Absolute Blast 3
• GA Southern Force 4, GA East Cobb Bullets 0
• SC Carolina Elite 11, VA Richmond Diamonds 1
• FL Tampa Mustangs 9, CA Explosion Gold 8
• CA So Cal A’s-Joey 8, CO Stars Gold 0
• OK Tulsa Shootout 3, CA Bownet 1
• IL Beverly Bandits 7, MO Originals Gold 2
• CA Cruisers 11, CA Explosion-CM 8
• KS Wichita Mustangs 7, CA The Next Level 0
• IL Chill Gold 4, CA Fresno Force 1
• NE Nebraska Gold 5, NC Lady Lightning 4
• CA So Cal Filly’s 5, CA Batbusters Fox 2
• MS St. Louis Chaos 7, GA Impact 5

ROUND 3

• PA Chaos Gold 6, CA So Cal Choppers 3
• RI Thunder 6, AZ Hotshots 1
• CA Corona Angels-Tyson 7, MO Esprit Gold 0
• CA AASA 3, OR NW Bullets 2
• CA So Cal A’s-Richardson 4, CA USA Athletics 1
• AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 6, CA San Jose Sting 4
• TX Blaze Gold 10, NJ Intensity-KOD 3
• CA Sorcerer 4, CA OC Batbusters White 3
• CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 9, TX Houston Power-John 4
• WA Ladyhawks 4, PA Newtown Rock 3
• SC Carolina Elite 7, GA Southern Force 0
• So Cal A’s-Joey 13, Fl Tampa Mustangs 0
• IL Beverly Bandits 4, OK Tulsa Shootout 1
• KS Wichita Mustangs 2, CA Cruisers 1
• IL Chill 5, NE Nebraska Gold 4
• CA So Cal Filly’s 8, MS St. Louis Chaos 3

ROUND OF 16

• PA Chaos Gold 6, RI Thunder 1
• CA AASA 3, CA Corona Angels-Tyson 2 (9 innings)
• CA So Cal A’s-Richardson 5, AL Birmingham Thunderbolts 3
• TX Blaze Gold 4, CA Sorcerer 1
• CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning 5, WA Ladyhawks 1
• So Cal A’s-Joey 10, SC Carolina Elite 0
• IL Beverly Bandits 4, KS Wichita Mustangs 1
• IL Chill 5, CA So Cal Filly’s 2

SUNDAY, JULY 5, SCHEDULE

18U BOULDER BRACKET

AT STAZIO FIELDS, BOULDER, COLO.

ELITE 8

• PA Chaos God vs. CA AASA at S1, 8:30 a.m.
• CA So Cal A’s-Richardson vs. TX Blaze Gold at S3, 8:30 a.m.
• CA OC Batbusters-Stith/Haning vs. So Cal A’s-Joey at S2, 8:30 a.m.
• IL Beverly Bandits v. IL Chill at S4, 8:30 a.m.

SEMIFINALS

• at S1 and S2 at 10:30 a.m.

FINALS

• at S1 at 1 p.m.

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