Many Entered, Eight Remain at Alliance Championship Series

The Elite Eight, the final octet of teams that will vie for a championship, were officially determined on Thursday at the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series.

Bracket formatting for the final championship round at the AFCS mirrors the formatting of the Women’s College World Series, including winner’s and loser’s brackets and a bracket flip midway through.

Top-seeded Batbusters Stith shutout Athletics Mercado Cook to move on to the Elite Eight; the Batbusters allowed just three runs in the Super Regional, all of them in an earlier winner’s bracket game against the same Athletics squad.

Only one Super Regional saw a winner-take-all final game, when Epic National 18U (Smith) forced the ‘if necessary’ game against the Texas Glory. Epic’s 7-6 win was followed by the Glory rebounding for a 13-5 victory to move on to the Elite Eight.

Impact Gold-Jackson 18U picked up a tight 3-2 win over Firecrackers Brashear to move on, while Corona Angels Tyson dominated Oklahoma Athletics 18 National Madden in a 10-0 victory.

Rounding out the Elite Eight in the 18U Tier 1 division are Aces Fastpitch, who beat Tampa Mustangs Rene 3-2 in the Super Regional championship game; Fury Platinum X Higdon, who picked up their second consecutive 1-0 win over Athletics-Mercado/Smith to win the Super Regional; Iowa Premier Gold-Dickel; and Firecrackers Rico, whose bats came alive in a 13-1 win over Texas Bombers Gold in the Super Regional championship game.

UCLA-committed Addison Mettler was 3-4 at the plate in the game against the Bombers, knocking a pair of home runs and collecting four RBIs.

16U

Top-seeded Oklahoma Athletics 16U National Madden/Clemmer 2024 maintained their spot at the top of the bracket, moving on to the Elite Eight in the 16U division.

Texas Bombers Gold 16U also moved on to the Elite Eight round, picking up a dominant 10-2 win over Corona Angels FTS 16 in the Super Regional championship game.

Firecrackers Brashear won their own Super Regional with a 5-2 victory over Warrior Academy Jimenez.

Five organizations are represented in the Tier 1 Elite Eight in both the 18U and 16U divisions at the AFCS: Fury Platinum X, Iowa Premier, Corona Angels, Impact Gold, and the Texas Glory.

Fury Platinum X-Hutchins came out of the loser’s bracket, winning three straight games on Thursday to advance to the Elite Eight. The squad picked up a 10-1 win over Louisiana Bombers Gold 07 Wilmore, then beat Athletics Mercado Hovermale twice to win the Super Regional.

Only one other Super Regional went to the ‘if necessary’ winner-take-all game, when Top Gun 16U National-Slezak forced an extra game against Corona Angels Slye 16U. The Angels, though, responded with a 12-0 win to reach the Elite Eight.

Iowa Premier 16U National, Texas Glory 16U Naudin, and Impact Gold Jazz 16U round out the Super Regional champions and the Elite Eight field.