Wow, was the softball play fun Thursday night in the Winner’s Brackets of the PGF 18U Premier National Championship!
The four games played in Huntington Beach featured eight of the best teams and individual talent in the country and you had it all: great pitching in some (including a 17-strikout performance in one and a one-hitter in another), stellar defense and in one notable game a shootout that ended in a football-type score.
Here are quick blurbs on each of the games:
WINNER’S BRACKET A:
SoCal A’s 3, NC Lady Lightning Team Miken 1
If you wanted pitching dominance, this game had it. Florida-bound Delanie Gourley scattered two hits over seven innings for the So Cal Athletics, but the impressive part was her strikeout total—she had 17!
Leadoff hitter Brook Vines (Stanford, 2015) was an unstoppable catalyst for Bruce Richardson’s team, going 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. She simply knows how to put the ball on the ground via the slap hit and has the speed to beat out almost everything.
Vine knocked in the first run of the game in the bottom of the third and that was all Gourley needed against a strong Lady Lightning team that played well, but couldn’t get the offense going like they did in their four previous wins.
Beverly Bandits 3, Gold Coast Hurricanes 0
Bandits pitcher Taran Alvero (Washington, 2015) was also dominant against a top level team, allowing only one hit over seven innings while striking out seven.
The Chicago team has arguably the top trio of pitchers in Alvero, Megan Betsa (Michigan, 2013) and Carly Hoover (Stanford, 2013), but Alvero had it working by herself Wednesday evening.
“Yea, I felt like I was in a groove,” Alvero said, “especially after I walked that girl and Brooke [Wyderski] (Loyola, 2014) came up with a double play. That really helped. I was relaxing a little too much and that walk woke me up and I thought, ‘I can’t back down now.’ We were going with whatever pitched was working in each situation: riseball, screwball, curveball, change.”
Betsa put the Bandits on the board in the top of the third with a two-out RBI single and the next inning Bill Conroy’s team put a pair of insurance runs up when infielder Jenna Lilley (Oregon, 2014) hit a home run over the right center fence followed by a bloop single by Alvero and a run-scoring squeeze by Ellie Cooper (Florida State, 2013).
“If you only give up one run in elimination ball, then I’m pretty happy with that,” Conroy said after the game.
“Our pitching and defense have been solid but our offense has yet to reach our ‘A’ game. Yes, a lot of that is due to the good competition we’re playing, but we’ll have to get better to win it all.”
WINNER’S BRACKET B:
OC Batbusters-Haning 4, Jersey Intensity KOD 1
The Gary Haning-led Batbusters continued their run to the championship game by knocking off Jersey Intensity behind pitcher Taylor McQuillin’s 10 Ks and five hits allowed.
Outfielder Syndey Broderick (BYU, 2013) had an RBI single in the top of the second to put Intensity ahead, but the Batbusters answered right back in their half of the inning.
Centerfielder McKenna Arriola cleared the bases with a triple and give McQuillin the cushion she needed to cruise to a win .
Interestingly, 11 players in the game had one hit with none having a multiple-hit game.
Texas Glory-Shelton 11, Team Mizuno-Stith 9
Yes, you read that right… a 11-9 game with Team Mizuno driving for the potential game winning field goal. Not quite, but the score was like a football game as both teams had explosive offensive and put points up in bunches.
Texas Glory jumped out to a normally insurmountable lead, scoring four runs in the first and in the second innings to grab an 8-2 lead.
But Team Mizuno battled back to tie it in the fifth and looked to have the momentum until Glory showed how good of a hitting machine they are.
In the top of the sixth, Glory’s Taylor Lynch (Oklahoma State, 2015) singled home a run as did Ariel Ortiz (Texas State, 2014) and Daniella Chavez (Kansas, 2014) to up the score to 11-8.
Shortstop Delaney Spaulding (UCLA, 2013) hit her second home run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, but that would end the scoring and put Mizuno in a tough loser’s bracket must-win Friday morning at 8 am versus Firecrackers-Rico, which won four games Thursday in the Loser’s Bracket to stay alive.
But the story of the game was the impressive hitting of Texas Glory, which constantly made contact, putting the ball in play and keeping the defense on its toes.
“I’m really excited with how we played,” stated Head Coach Kevin Shelton in the dugout after the win. “We’ve had a great couple of games against excellent competition and have come ready to play. Our coaches teach our players to take the fight to the opponent and be aggressive and that’s our strength—putting pressure on the opposing team and using our power and speed to score runs.”
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And now it gets really interesting…
Tomorrow at 12:30 pm PST the winner’s of each bracket will be decided as the So Cal A’s take on the Beverly Bandits in Bracket A and the OC Batbusters meet Texas Glory-Shelton in Bracket B
We will be there, so stay tuned…