The Alliance Nationals are being held this week in Oklahoma City and the action on Wednesday in Elite Eight play at the USA Softball Hall of Fame complex saw some games come down to the wire.
The Elite Eight play is like the College World Series where it’s double elimination and some big names were knocked out earlier today.
Here’s a look at where things stack up heading into Thursday….
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* FINAL 4’s… and FINAL 2’s:
As of Wednesday evening in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the four teams left in the Winner’s Bracket in the 18U and 16U brackets were these:
— in 18U the Final 4 in the winner’s bracket were the Athletics- Mercado, Corona Angels – Tyson, OC Batbusters – Stith and Texas Bombers – Smith teams.
The Athletics – Mercado beat the Angels and the Texas Bombers defeated OC Batbusters to reach the Top 2 finale.
— in 16U the West Bay Warriors defeated Corona Angels – Slye and Firecrackers – Brashear defeated Texas Bombers National – Cuyos to make it to the Final 2 undefeated.
Click HERE to see the chart of who made the Elite 8 in each age division.
* TWO POWERHOUSES ELIMINATED ON WEDNESDAY:
The biggest news for the day is that several top programs were knocked out for the tournament after being favorites to go far.
At the 18U Tier 1 level, the Texas Bombers coached by Scott Smith knocked off the Firecrackers – Rico team and then the Firecrackers lost to the Impact Gold – Jackson team in the loser’s bracket so Tony Rico’s talented squad is out.
Similarly, the talented Aces – Taylor team coached by Ryan Taylor lost a heartbreaker to the Angels – Tyson 18U team after leading 3-0 going into the bottom of the 9th (more on that in a minute) and then lost to Firecrackers – Brashear in the loser’s bracket to end their quest for a run to the championship in the first-ever Alliance Nationals Championship.
*** Scroll down to read more about action on Wednesday in OKC…
