Event Recap: PGF Fall Futures Showcases Top Young Talent at 12’s and 10’s

The PGF Fall Futures, an inaugural event held last weekend in Arizona, featured top teams from Texas to Southern and Northern California along with the best that the host Desert State has on the field.

A younger travel ball-focused tournament, the even fielded three divisions of fierce competition with 12U Premier, 12U Platinum (primarily made up of first year 12s) and 10U.

Ramsey Harkness, a longtime event director, said the purpose of the Fall showcase was to be a barometer of where teams were coming into the latter half of the year—and where they need to be heading into next Summer’s competitive nationals competition.

“The idea in developing the PGF Fall Futures,” Harkness explained, “was to create a national-level environment in the Fall so that teams have an opportunity to have that measuring stick to see what adjustments need to be focused on the most.”

“In Year 1, we were able to do just that as we saw some highlight reel plays but also saw some defensive miscues and baserunning errors that will surely be ironed out by next summer!”

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Here are highlights from last weekend’s finals competition:

12U Premier

The finals at 12U Premier the championship game featured two of the Top 10 12s in the country: Hotshots National – Nelson and Power Surge 09 Mujica.

The Hotshots bats and prowess on the base paths ended up on top to give Nate Nelson’s program the trophy which won 9-2 in the finals. The Texas-based team also scored 69 games in the weekend’s seven games.

“It was a good event, there were several teams that were competitive and the weather was great,” Coach Nelson said. “I also thought Ramsey did a good job keeping the games on time and everyone happy.”

Standouts for the champs included:

• Skylar Knight a utility player who batted .684 with a triple and scored 12 runs and went 8-for-10 in steals;
• pitcher/DP Hadley Lebow hit .625 for the weekend with 10 RBIs and was 3-0 on the mound with 16 K’s;
• shortstop Mia Harrison hit .529 and went 4-for-5 in steals with seven RBIs.

Coach Nelson commented: “Mia made Ozzie Smith-type plays all weekend and saved several runs to keep the momentum out of the other team’s dugout.”

12U Platinum

The 12U Platinum title game featured two fast-rising newcomers on the scene, Sling Softball and Firecrackers Brashear/Flowers.

Sling came to the tournament from Corona, California as an underdog as few knew who they were while the Firecrackers program is known as a national powerhouse.

However, Eric Sherman’s Sling team slid under the radar and took down Goliath to set the tone for what looks to be a promising season for the So Cal program.

The Firecrackers, despite the loss, found some great things to build on.

“It was an amazing experience for our team,” said Ashlee Flowers. “We would do it again in a heartbeat.  My outstanding player for the tournament was our catcher Roselyn Salmeron who caught all six games in the heat and threw out six base runners who were attempting to steal.”

10U

The 10U championship featured teams from two of the nation’s most well-respected programs, Athletics Mercado/Lorenzo and Cal Cruisers – Jacobo.

The Mercado/Lorenzo team came in prepared and looked like the clear favorite,but, as the tournament progressed. it was “easy to notice the Cal Cruisers were jelling more and more during the weekend,” according to one coach and in the championship game, the Cruisers came out on top.

It was, according to Harkness, a great first step in what looks to be a long-lasting run for the event.

“Overall,” he concluded, “it was a great weekend in the Valley and we are excited as we are building the 2022 Power 48 which we will feature the best 08s and 09s from all over the country next February.”