PGF 12U National Championship: Beverly Bandits-Norwood Lost on Saturday to So Cal Choppers-Franco… How Would the Rematch Go In Sunday’s Title Game?

The middle game of three at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, California, on Sunday in the PGF Premier National Championships was a rematch of two 12U Premier powerhouses that met just yesterday in bracket game that ended up a 1-0 win by the Choppers.

The loss knocked the Bandits out of the Winner’s Bracket (and having to switch brackets and win two games against the So Cal A-‘s – Fitzpatrick team to advance to the finals) while the Choppers went out to win out from their bracket.

Previously this summer, the two teams met and in three ITBs at the Tennessee Mojo tournament the Choppers also came out on top.

This time the stakes were for a national title and questions remain: Who would win this title game when the stakes were highest?

Here’s how it played out under beautiful blue skies on Sunday in the OC…

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Perhaps it was nerves being under the championship spotlight as the Choppers put their first two hitters on courtesy of Bandit errors—a dropped ball at first and a bobble by Bandits pitcher Maggie Krause­.

However, after cleanup hitter Sophia Debs singled to left field to load the bases, Krause was able to get third baseman Mikayla Sta.Ana to bounce the ball back to the mound before the hurler came home for the second out and catcher Kendall Brown fired to first to complete the double play, ending the top of the 1^st inning with no damage done.

The Bandits came out aggressive offensively in the bottom of the 1^st as second baseman Jaylee Vanmeter singled to center with one out followed by Payton Dye hitting a hard ground ball that bounced off the second baseman’s glove into center field.

With two runners on, DP Reagan Kearns grounded back to pitcher Juju Franco who caught Vanmeter between third and home and, after tagging her out, caught Dye between second and third and got her in a run down before the runner was tagged out to complete the double play and end the first.

Krause settled down and had a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 2^nd but in the bottom of the inning Bandits’ catcher Kendall Brown hit a one-out flair to right field off the Choppers’ Juju Franco and moved to second when the pitcher couldn’t cleanly field a dribble back to the circle off the bat of Bandits’ first baseman Courtney Norwood.

With two outs, right fielder Addye Norman hit a dribbler just right of the second base bag, but the shortstop wasn’t able to field it cleanly, allowing runner Adelle Metz to put the first run on the board. Leadoff hitter Molly Southall hit a soft flare to center plating two more runs as Norwood and Norman crossed home to make the score 3-0 Bandits after two innings.

Krause had another three up, three down inning in the third aided by shortstop Emma Bruggenshmidt who made the third out after a line shot went off Krause’s glove and rolled to the infielder who fired to first to closet out the top of the inning.

The Bandits added to the lead in the bottom of the inning when Dye beat out an infield single and on a sacrifice bunt by Reagan Kearns, the throw to first was awry and rolled into right field allowing Dye to score all the way from first to make the score 4-1 and Kearns to advance to second base on third error for the Choppers in just the first three innings.

Kendall Brown singled to right leading to a pitching change for the Choppers which brought in Sophia Debs with one out and Kearns on third and Brown on first. Courtney Norwood continued the scoring with a soft fly into center that brought home Kearns to make the score 5-0.

A fielder’s choice to second by Brynley Erb allowed Adell Metz to scoot home and make the score 6-0 at the end of three innings.

The Choppers showed some life in the top of the 4^th as Mikayla Sta.Ana and KK Hinojus singled and advanced to third and second bases on the throws, but Krause settled in and was able to get a strikeout to end the threat and keep the score at 7-0 through the middle of four.

The Bandits didn’t take their foot off the pedal in their half of the 4^th as speedy leadoff Molly Southall lined a shot down the right field line that she turned into a triple. Jaylee Vanmeter laid down a bunt and beat it out on a fielder’s choice but Southall wasn’t able to score and Debs was able to get a flyout and strikeout to keep the score at 6-0.

The Choppers started the 5^th with an infield single by McKenna Weller who moved to second on a sac bunt and third on a wild pitch but a groundout from shortstop Emma Bruggenshmidt  to first turned into a double play on a great throw by first baseman Courtney Norwood to catcher Kendall Brown to keep the Choppers off the board.

The top of the 6^th saw Krause continue to dominate as she induced a flyout, an infield groundout on a nice play by Bruggenschmidt crossing behind the circle to field the ball and fire to first and a third-out strikeout.

The Bandits kept on the offensive attack and with one out in the top of the 6^th inning, with runners on second and third, Javylee Vanmeter singled to center to knock in Brynley Erb and Molly Southall to make the score 8-0 and end the game on another run-rule finish—the fourth in the four championship games this weekend at PGF (12U and 14U Platinum and 10U and 12U Premier).

Krause would go the distance and in six innings in the circle would give up just four hits while striking out five and giving up no walks.

The top of the order was strong for the Bandits today as leadoff hitter Molly Southall went 2-for-3 with two RBIs; Jaylee Vanmeter was 2-for-4 in the second spot with two RBIs and Payton Dye was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Here is an interview with Coach Norwood right after the title win about what makes this team a championship winner…