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The Top Club Invitational in Kansas City has over 200 teams competing through Sunday’s finals pool play wrapped up on Saturday with bracket play kicking off.
The final 16 teams are set and will play through the championships to be held in the afternoon.
Here are some news items and highlights from Saturday’s action.
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The Game of the Day had to be the 3 pm bracket matchup of Lady Dukes – Lamar and Top Gun National in the 18U age bracket.
Both teams were led by franchise pitchers with Lady Dukes rolling Florida-bound 2023 Keagan Rothrock and Top Gun fielding Allison Benning, the 2021 Oregon signee.
Not surprisingly it was a pitching duel as the Lady Dukes scored single runs in the first and third inning and led 2-0 up to the top of the 4th inning when Benning would hit a home run over the center field fence to cut the lead in half.
But that was the only hit Top Gun was able to get off Rothrock who went recorded 12 strikeouts. Benning, for her part, held the powerful Lady Dukes offense to just three hits.
Speaking of his standout pitcher, Lady Dukes head coach James Lamar said: “Keagan is phenomenal, there’s no other way of putting it… she’s just special, a generational talent. I joke about this when I say, ‘She’s the Lebron James of softball!’ But she’s done this over and over again like it’s nothing.”
Layla Lamar, the 2024 third baseman for the Lady Dukes who is also committed to Florida, drove in one of the runs for the winner’s and Coach Lamar added: “Layla had a great game at the plate, the Gators (referring to Keagan and Rothrock) really stepped it up for us that game.”
The Lady Dukes return to action with the opening round of Sunday place as one of 16 teams still alive in bracket play (see the schedule below).
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Georgia Impact – Gusaeff/O’Neal made it through to Sunday with a 5-1 win over a good Beverly Bandits – Conroy team—to show how strong the Midwest org is, there are still five teams left in the Sweet 16’s: one at 18U and two each at 16U and 14U in the Maverick Divisions.
Impact Coach Chad O’Neal called the victory “a signature win.”
The coach said it was a “team effort with several players contributing big-time.”
- 2022 MIF Aubrey Evants, who is committed to Central Florida “made a couple of big defensive plays and had a big timely hit.”
- 2022 P Lilli Backes “was lights out and pitched the whole game.”
- 2022 OF Madison Cosgrove (uncommitted) and 2021 OF Jolie Lester (North Georgia) “both went 2-for-4 and came up with clutch hits.”
*** Scroll down to read more from Day 3 at the Top Gun Invitational!