By Manny Alvarez
Photos by Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY

Tennessee Mojo kicked the door down in the first inning and never let up on Jersey Intensity South in a 11-3 run-rule victory to win the 10U Premier championship at the PGF Nationals on Friday afternoon at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif.



Boo Greenwood led the way for the Mojo, going 3 for 3 with two RBI and five other Mojo players had at least one RBI apiece.

"We're very close when we play softball together," Greenwood said. "We've only been together as a team since January. We got the job done. It feels great. It feels very satisfying."


Intensity South made a small comeback, but couldn't stay consistent on defense as they lost several pop ups in the infield. Despite the defensive struggles, their offense kept them in the game before a six-run rally in the fifth inning from the Mojo ended the game. Sidne Peters went 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI for Intensity South.

"We didn't come out ready to play," Intensity South coach Greg Smith said. "I think there were about six balls that hit the infield on pop ups. It looked like the girls were really nervous out there today. That hurt us. That's a good team over there. You're going to spot them four or five runs, it's going to be tough to come back."

Intensity South added two runs in the fifth inning to make it 5-3. But Mojo answered with six runs in the bottom of the fifth to seal Intensity South's fate. Ariel Kowoloski, who went 2 for 3 with two RBI, Ashtyn Danley, who went 3 for 3, Rose Davis, who went 1 for 3 with two RBI, and Kaelyn Zusi, who went 2 for with an RBI, and pitcher Mack Huddleston threw 4.2 innings to get the win for the Mojo.



"We jumped on EC Bullets yesterday 4-0," Mojo coach Michael Danley said. "We kind of just went flat after that and we let them come back. It took two tiebreakers to win it."

Today, I told them to not let up. This is it. Don't be satisfied. That's been our motto all year long. Own the plate and swing it. We look to make things happen, put the ball in play.

Despite the tough loss, Intensity South made a great run to the finals.

"We have a lot of heart here," Smith said. "We have a great team. I wish we would have came out to play the whole game. We came down and scored four in the last inning of the first game against So Cal A's in the seventh inning to win it. We have done it in another game where we went to extra innings and won that too. It just didn't look like we were ready to play today."

The Mojo offense got off to a big start and finished just the same, tallying 15 hits total on the game.

"This is better than anything I have played for in my entire life, college and after," Danley said. "It's much more pleasurable watching my daughter and her teammates accomplish a goal more than anything I have ever done in life."

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