Marty Tyson's Corona Angels have never won a PGF 18U Premier national title, but Tyson did ride Megan Faraimo to a PGF 14U national championship in 2014.



Guess who is all grown up and one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation right now? That's right, Megan Faraimo. The 6-foot 2018 right-hander committed to UCLA helped Cathedral Catholic of San Diego win the CIF-San Diego Section Open Division title in the spring and she has continued to lay waste to the top club teams in the nation this summer.



Faraimo tossed a two-hitter with no walks and seven strikeouts and Emme Martinez drove in the lone run as the Corona Angels knocked off OC Batbusters-Stith in the fourth round of the winner's bracket on Wednesday morning. She came back to toss another shutout to beat So Cal Breakers-Beddlow at night to send the Angels into the sixth round of the PGF 18U Premier Nationals at Huntington Beach Sports Complex in Irvine, California. 

"We were all really excited," Faraimo said. "We knew straight off the bat we were playing a really strong team, the OC Batbusters and then right after that we would have the Breakers, so we were all just trying to come together offensively and defensively to get those wins."

The Corona Angels would really like to bring home a PGF 18U Premier national title for Tyson. The Angels face Cal Cruisers-Sievers, who reached the finals last summer, on Thursday at 12:30 PM at Huntington Beach Sports Complex.



"It would be great," Faraimo said. "It would be awesome to get it done at this level because it is the biggest thing before college ball."

The Cruisers battled all day to reach the sixth round. They rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to pull out the 9-7 victory over the Texas Bombers in the fourth round of the winner's bracket in the morning. North Carolina State-bound Lilly Bishop went 2 for 4 with a double, a homer, two runs and three RBIs, Mississippi State-bound Brooke Cantillo went 2 for 5 with a home run, Paige Hallam homered, and BYU-bound Huntyr Ava homered to lead the Cruisers against the Bombers.

Then the Cruisers grinded out a 5-4 victory over Athletics-Mercado/TO in nine innings in the nightcap. BYU-bound Morgan Bevell's bloop two-run single in the top of the ninth gave the Cruisers a 5-3 lead and they held on to beat the Athletics in a riveting back-and-forth affair that featured a spectacular home-run-saving catch by Athletics left fielder Sam Torres in the top of the eighth.

"It's a dogfight and we know that coming in," Bevell said.

I just stayed ready, came off the bench and I knew I had to stay warm and be ready when my number was called, stay calm and do what I know I can . . . [The game-winning single] wasn't pretty, but whatever gets it done, I guess. That's what it takes, the scratching and crawling and the will to win.

Batbusters-Gomes from Northern California needed two dramatic victories to reach the sixth round of the winner's bracket. Faith Hernandez drove in Cal-bound Karlee Sparacino with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Batbusters a 5-4 win over Texas Intensity-Cain in the fourth round.

Then Kayley Rocha came through with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth and the Batbusters held on for a 4-3 win over Lil Rebels-RC in the fifth round.

"It was crazy," said Rocha, an uncommitted 2018 utility player. "I've been struggling all week and part of the season. My teammates cheered me on and told me I could do it. They just pushed me to do it."

Beverly Bandits-Conroy, who have a number of players that played on the Bandits' team that won the PGF 16U Premier national championship team last summer, looked very strong with two solid wins to advance to the sixth round of the winner's bracket.

Notre Dame-bound Alexis Holloway threw a three-hit shutout with four strikeouts and Northwestern-bound Mackenzie Dunlap connected on a two-run homer to help the Bandits knock off So Cal Athletics-Richardson 3-0 in the fourth round.



The Bandits followed that up with a 13-1 demolition of Georgia Impact Premier-Lewis in which DePaul commit Nicole Cuchran went 2 for 3 with two doubles, two runs and five RBIs, Northwestern-bound Rachel Lewis went 2 for 2 with four runs and two RBIs, and Northwestern commit Skyler Shellmyer went 2 for 5 with three runs and an RBI.

Georgia Impact Premier-Lewis, Lil Rebels-RC, Athletics-Mercado/TO, So Cal Breakers-Beddow, Birmingham Thunderbolts Premier, So Cal Athletics-Richardson, Jersey Intensity-KOD, AASA-Merrida, Texas Bombers, Texas Glory-Shelton, Firecrackers-Brashear and Explosion-Denio/Wilson remain alive in the loser's bracket.

Explosion had a bye in the first round before losing to Colorado Next Level 5-4, which sent them into the loser's bracket. The Explosion won three consecutive elimination games on Wednesday, culminating in a 5-3 upset of OC Batbusters-Stith to stay alive.

"All of our wins today were team wins," said Jessica Ross, the Explosion's 2018 right-hander committed to Ohio State. "Everyone really stepped up. I mean, it took everyone to do what we did today."

Ross pitched five scoreless innings of relief, allowing three hits and striking out five to get the win over the Batbusters. She struck out Oklahoma-bound Jocelyn Alo, who hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, in the fifth to end a Batbusters' threat.

"The at bat where she struck out, we were actually trying to walk her," Ross said. "That was kind of my bad."


Follow Carlos Arias on Twitter @SoCalSidelines.

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