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Impact Gold-Jackson, #18 in the Extra Elite Eighty 18U Club Rankings, battled its way out of the loser’s bracket, avenged its lone loss of the weekend and captured the Triple Crown Southwest Nationals 18U Elite Division championship on Saturday night at Old Settlers in Round Rock, TX.
“The TC Southwest Nationals did not disappoint,” Impact Gold coach KC Jackson said. “It had top-ranked teams in it and every team playing their best ball of the summer. Once again, our bats were on fire, our baserunners were fun to watch and our pitchers were spinning the ball very well.”
#54 Impact Gold DFW-Middlebrook knocked Jackson’s Impact Gold into the loser’s bracket with an 8-6 victory earlier in the day. That forced Jackson’s Impact Gold to face #45 Texas Dirt Divas 02 in the loser’s bracket where Impact Gold rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull out a 6-4 victory.
That set the stage for the rematch against Jimmy Middlebrook’s Impact Gold in the championship game.
UCLA-bound Carson Armijo blasted a solo shot to left field and Texas Tech-bound Kennedy Crites added an RBI single as Impact Gold-Middlebrook applied the pressure with a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
Impact Gold-Jackson came back with an RBI double by Texas-commit Mya Holmes and an unearned run in the bottom of the second to tie it, 2-2.
The game remained knotted into the bottom of the fifth when Impact Gold-Jackson loaded the bases on an error, a bunt single by Oklahoma-commit Turiya Coleman and a walk by McNeese State-bound Kennedy Reynolds with one out. Texas A&M-commit Koko Wooley followed with a hard grounder to second that was misplayed, allowing Coleman to score the winning run for Impact Gold-Jackson.
Coleman went 2 for 3, Holmes went 2 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI and Stephen F. Austin-commit Ryleigh Mata went 1 for 2 with a run scored for Impact Gold-Jackson in the finals.
Uncommitted 2020 P Hailey Hudson pitched one perfect inning of relief to record the victory for Impact Gold-Jackson.
“Mya Holmes led the way for us, batting .521 and Koko Wooley batted .474,” Jackson said. “We were powered by (Washington-commit) Olivia Johson with eight RBIs and four walks. Our defense was stellar with diving catches. On our way to the championship, we had three come-from-behind victories, beating the Texas Hotshots, 9-2, including a grand Slam from Ryleigh Mata to put the game out of reach. (We were) down 2-0 with the Dirt Divas before a single by Koko Wooley and a home run by Olivia Johnson that tied the game. Bottom of the last inning with the score tied, a couple of singles and a double helped us beat the Dirt Divas.
“The Championship game was a rematch with our sister team, Impact Gold-Middlebrook, which had beaten us three rounds prior in an 8-6 slugfest. Again, they went up 2-0 before some crafty running, trick base running play allowed us to tie the game. The next and final inning, tied 2-2, we worked the bases loaded, then won the game off of a hard hit ball to second base by Koko Wooley.”
Middlebrook’s Impact Gold squad beat #11 Texas Glory-Shelton, Texas Dirt Divas 02 and Impact Gold-Jackson en route to its runner-up finish.
HOTSHOTS ROLL TO TC SOUTHWEST NATIONALS 10U TITLE
Hotshots Premier HTX 09 concluded a dominant effort at the Triple Crown Southwest Nationals with a 7-1 victory over Athletics Mercado-Hill 09 in the 10U Open Division championship game at Collins Park in Spring, TX.
Hadley Lebow went 1 for 3 with a triple, a run scored and an RBI and she allowed three hits, no earned runs and struck out seven in five innings to lead the Hotshots past the Athletics in the title game.
Makena Trisdale went 2 for 3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI for the Hotshots’ offense in the finals.
Morgan Sanchez overwhelmed the Athletics earlier in the day, pitching a four-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts in six innings in a 1-0 win.
“Hotshots Premier 09 outscored their opponents 76-4 in seven games,” Hotshots coach Eddie Winn said. “In the circle, Hadley Lebow and Morgan Sanchez were flat dominant. (We) had to beat a great Athletics Mercado team in the ship. Hadley Lebow led the way at the plate going 2 for 3 with a homer and a triple. Annelise Torres made a diving catch in left and doubled a girl off at third. All-around team effort throughout the entire tournament. Girls are primed and pumped to begin the jump to 12U.”
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