The pop Marlie Giles’ bat made as it connected with a pitch about belt-high had forecasted the inevitable. With a single swing, Giles mashed a two-run homer over the left-field wall, sealing the Birmingham Thunderbolts PGF 18U Premier national championship.

Select Fastpitch and the Birmingham Thunderbolts have emerged from the bevy of outstanding clubs in the PGF National Championships 18U Premier division.

Find the 2021 Tulsa Elite Summer Invite softball photo gallery. Photos by Rob Ferguson of USA TODAY Sports.

Every year since 2011, the weekend following the NCAA Division I Women’s College World Series marks the pilgrimage of some of the top travel softball teams in the country converging in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to compete in the Annual Tulsa Elite Summer Invite. That first year, 16 teams took to four fields, and today the event has grown to become one of the nation’s top recruiting events of the year. From Wednesday-Sunday, well over 100 college coaches attend the tournament held at Arrowhead Park, offering a single 12-field complex allowing for maximum exposure.

Aces Fastpitch photos taken at 2020 Top Club National 18U by Alonzo Adams from USA TODAY Sports.

Over the past year, NiJaree Canady came close to winning state championships in both softball and basketball. In both cases, she watched opportunity slip from her grasp due to circumstances completely beyond her control.

Select Fastpitch Jones photos taken at the 2020 Tulsa Elite Summer Invite by Brett Rojo from USA Today Sports/Imagn.

Following the announcement of the Texas Fastpitch League, the Heart of America Elite Fastpitch League (HFL) made a similar announcement that will include club softball teams from 21 states.

From Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, 2021 Top Gun Academy ace Allison Benning has all of the tools to be a fierce Division I pitcher.

Shawnee, Kan. – Top Gun Events, the national leader in premier youth fastpitch tournaments, is excited to announce that they have reached an agreement with Easton Diamond Sports to become the title sponsor of the 2020 Top Gun Invitational. As part of the agreement, Easton will provide prize packages worth $5,000 to the champions of the 12U-18U Maverick competition divisions. 

Every once in a while, DeMarini Aces 16U coach Ryan Taylor has to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t dreaming. It’s a rare luxury to have a pair of identical twins on the same team who both possess top-level talent. Since forming the Aces in 2010, Taylor has coached three sets of identical twins, with the first two going on to Division I schools.

The Top Gun Academy, based out of Kansas City, Missouri, fields players from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois. The young organization started in August 2016 and has grown into eight powerhouse teams.

Losing Nebraska, Missouri, Texas A&M, and the Big 12 Tournament in the last five years landed a big blow to the Big 12 Softball Conference. As a fan and former Longhorn, it makes me sad to see a once powerful conference dismantled into seven teams (Baylor, OU, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Iowa State). Don't get me wrong the Big 12 has heavy weight fighting teams in OU, Baylor, and Texas. But can you imagine what the conference would be like if the Big 12 still had those teams?

After a long week of competition in Reno and Tahoe, Nev., today wrapped up the TC/USA Nationals in the 18U, 16U and 14U age divisions.

It was another exciting year of high school softball across the nation going back to the fall when states like Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma competed for state championships.