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Last month, a unique format was help at the first-ever PGF Futures Organization Challenge which featured many of the top young teams in the West: 16 each at the 14U and 12U age divisions—vying not for just individual titles, but an organizational reward for most points earned collectively for both age levels.
Held in Salinas, Calif. on March 31-April 2, in Central California – just a half hour drive from the beach and near famous attractions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Fisherman’s Wharf – the format was as follows:
- Pool Play Win: 10 points
- Pool Play Tie: 5 points
- Bracket Play 1st Round Win: 20 points
- Quarterfinal Win: 40 points
- Semifinal Win: 60 points
- Championship Game Win: 100 points
The overall points winner was awarded $5,000 and the runner-up $2,500… here’s a list of who came out on top collectively and by age division (click HERE to see the final overall results):
1st Ever PGF Futures Organizational Challenge Champion – $5,000 Winners
- BSC Bengals (320 points)
1st Ever PGF Futures Organizational Challenge Runner Up – $2,500 Winners
- LTG Lions (280 points)
Age Group Champions
- 14U – LTG Lions
- 12U – BSC Bengals
Age Group Runner Ups
- 14U – Universal Fastpitch
- 12U – Firecrackers Leles
“We had an outstanding weekend of softball in Salinas,” Tournament Director Armando Barragan commented. “It was awesome to see so many younger talented players giving it their all. I would like to thank Bill Sparrey with PGF for his continued support of the Salinas Sports Complex and assisting with the selection of teams.”
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BSC Bengals Overall Champs
* The BSC Bengals won the $5k check as their 12U team took 1st place and the 14U captured third place.
Head Coach Paul Caffrey of the Bengals 12U – CKM team and his assistant coaches couldn’t have been more happy with the dominating performance of his younger team.
“We had to drive six hours up on Friday and play a late game the same night which was a tough way to start but our girls weren’t fazed and played fantastic,” he recalls. “For the weekend we went 7-0 and scored 58 runs and allowed only four, of which three of those were unearned.”
“Our pitchers threw four no-hitters out of seven games. Our girls have been playing at a very high level and with this win they have won 30 of their last 31 games! We are hoping that our strong play will continue all the way through PGF Nationals.”
Pitchers Emily Yoon and Erica Martin were all but untouchable as Yoon threw 17 innings with 28 strikeouts, just one earned run on five total hits while Martin tossed 12 innings and had 25 K’s with no earned runs and just six hits allowed.
Perhaps the most impressive state, though, may be that both of the young hurlers recorded two no-hitters each.
* The BSC Bengals 14U – Austin finished tied for 3rd, losing in the semi’s to eventual runners-up Universal Fastpitch, but the points helped the organization take home the organizational top prize.
“Our coaches are super proud of the girls and how they went about preparing for this tournament,” Head Coach Scot Austin says. “We knew that we would be going against great competition in this tournament.”
“Our 14U team did not perform so well in the pool play games which set us up for one of the hardest brackets in the tournament,” continued the 14U coach. “We had to face a really good AASA team on Saturday night to keep playing on Sunday, our girls came out and did a great job winning 10-3 to keep us in it.”
“We then had to play the defending PGF Champions Lady Magic in the quarterfinals on Sunday morning. Our team came to play in that game, beating them 7-5 and shocking the whole tournament as no one there believed that we had a shot at winning that game except for our team.”
“It proved that our girls deserve to be put in the conversation with some of the top tier teams in the 14U age division. I couldn’t have been prouder of the girls on our team—not bad for 11 players to accomplish what they did!”
The pitchers were once again the stars as Maddison Roark threw 15 innings with 14 K’s including the win against the Lady Magic, and Reese Stover tossed 18 innings with 17 K’s and allowed just five earned runs.
LTG Lions – Buck 14U Champs
* The 14U individual champs were the LTG Lions, which as an organization also took home the runners-up $2,500 check, led by Head Coach Amanda Buck. She was very pleased with the title especially as the team had several players who were injured or missing the first couple of days but noted how the rest of the team really stepped up and delivered.
“The team really played well as a whole that weekend,” she explains. “Our bats were alive and we kept defensive errors to a minimum. Then the calvary arrived on Sunday and we were able to keep the bats hot and we rode Hayden Fell in the circle. She pitched every inning of the semis and finals and shut out two excellent programs.”
After a slow start Friday, the LTG bats caught on fire as the tea scored 62 runs over the last six games.
“We battled a little adversity Sunday morning as we had two pitchers trying to fight through some injuries,” Coach Buck continues and recalls a key moment in in early game that helped LTG advance.
“The opposing team had pulled within one run and still had runners on second and third with one out. Our shortstop, Izi Castillo, caught a line drive and doubled up the runner at third to close the inning with a double play. The offense then responded with seven runs over the next few innings to close us out with a 12-6 win.”
Against the Sorcerers in the semis, it was a pitcher’s duel before Sienna Owen and Amyia Clay came up with timely hits late in the game and accounted for two RBIs each.
Against Universal in the finals, LTG jumped out to an early lead and then the defense and pitching carried the champions the rest of the way.
“I can’t say enough about how much of a beast Hayden was in the circle pitching every inning of those last two games,” concluded Coach Buck. “She is a true gamer.”
Players who had big weekends for LTG 14U included Raelyn Hulsey and Izi Castillo who each hit nearly .600 for the weekend; Miyani Marshall who had two home runs and Hayden Fell, who hit close to .500 while also pitching 27 innings with a 1.04 ERA.
Below is the list showing how each 14U and 12U team did in pool and bracket play to account for the final collective points:
