Championship Recap: 2022 PGF Nationals 14U Premier… Birmingham Thunderbolts-Kemp Never Trails in 11-2 Win (Aug. 7, 2022)

The finale of the three 2022 Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals Championships on Sunday at Deanna Manning Stadium located at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif. matched two top 14U national club softball organizations as Beverly Bandits – Moran faced Birmingham Thunderbolts – Kemp to close out Week 2 of the summer nationals.

And for the third straight game, one team jumped out to a big lead and forced the other team to play catch up. It looked like it could be a close one before the Bolts scored in every inning thereafter to pull away and win 11-2.

Earlier today, in the PGF 10U Premier Championship, the Hustle scored five in the first on its way to winning 6-1 and, in the 12U title match, Lady Magic put four on the board to start the game enroute to a 11-0 victory.

In the closing contest, it was Thunderbolts team that exploded for four runs—and, impressively, all after there were two outs—but unlike the previous games, the contest didn’t get out of hand.

Instead, the Bandits made it a game within two after scoring a pair in the bottom of the 2^nd inning to half the lead to 4-2. The Bolts, however, never blinked and added single runs in the top of the third, fourth and fifth innings before exploding for another four runs in the top of the 7^th to put the game out of reach.

Here’s how the game played out…

With two outs in the top of the 1^st inning, Kaileigh Byars got the Bolts offense started with a double to centerfield and crossed the plate when catcher Ava Hodo, the clean-up hitter, singled to left to make it 1-0.

Mackenzie Yates came in to run for Hodo and advanced to second base on a passed ball. DP Bryanna Kemp walked to put runners on first and second before Yates came home on a single by shortstop Haley Hart to put the Bandits lead at 2-0.

After left fielder Kaylee Goodpaster walked, infielder Charlee Bennett singled to bring home Kemp and Hart making the score 4-0 and forcing the Bandits to play comeback from a big deficit even before they stepped to the plate for the first time.

In the bottom of the 2^nd, the Midwestern-based Bandits cut the lead in half as first baseman Sydney Herrmann doubled to left field, DP Addie Poe singled her home followed and Adriana Callahan produced an infield single. Poe would eventually score on an error when the catcher’s throw down to second on a steal was errant and went into centerfield.

The Bolts responded by scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings—a fielder’s choice RBI in the third by Charlee Bennett, an RBI single in the fourth by Hodo and an RBI single in the fifth by third baseman Madelin Flammia, which would extend the lead to 7-2 after four and a half innings.

In the top of the 6^th, the Bolts loaded the bases on singles by Favors and Hart and a walk to Goodpasture before Bennett hit a long flyout to right field allowing Favors to score on the sacrifice fly and then—on the throw home—Hart scored when the ball skipped past the catcher to make the score 10-2.

The offensive attack continued when Flammia singled home Goodpasture to set the score at 11-2, which is how the game would end but not before one key change.

Madilyn Byrd started the championship for the Thunderbolts and, although she hadn’t pitched in several days as Favors continued to win game after game, ended up pitching 5 and 2/3rds innings giving up five hits, two runs (though none were earned) and striking out six.

The Bolts staff took out Byrd to a warm round of applause and inserted Favors so she could close the game and get one bit of action after a tremendous week.

For the winning team, Ava Hodo once again shined as she went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Haley Hart finished 2-for-3 and scored three runs with a walk and RBI, Charlee Bennett also went 2-for-3 with five runs driven in and Madeline Flammia went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Here’s how KG Favors and her teammates closed out the game:

And here’s what Coach Kemp thought of his team’s performance and how it played out over the last few days:

Finally, the Bolts players show how excited they are to take home a nice souvenir from their trip to Orange County!

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball