RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
It was a revealing day at the PGF Nationals in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, California as the Winner’s Brackets were pared down and some strong teams flexed their muscles.
Some familiar names made it to the Sweet 16 heading into Friday’s action.
Here’s a look at how it went in the 14U and 12U Premier divisions
*****
14U RECAP
The most anticipated game of the day in the 14U division took place at 5 pm PST on Field 6 in the Huntington Beach Sports Complex as TN Mojo – Fisher faced Diamond Sports Hotshots – Nelson.
The game had the energy and feel of a championship game and was attended by several college coaches including Tim Walton of Florida, Patty Gasso from Oklahoma and Jo Evans of Texas A&M, just to name a few.
It was the third time the teams met this summer with Mojo having taken the two previous contests and, with everything coming together Thursday night, Josh Fisher’s team pulled away after leading just 2-0 at the end of six innings for an explosive 12-0 win thanks to nine runs in the top of the 7th.
Keagan Rothrock (2023, Florida) is widely considered as the top pitcher in her class and she showed why with a three-hit, eight strikeout performance. Rothrock was hitting her spots and, as one observer noted: “The more pressure there is in the game, the more she buckles down and pitches better.”
Seven batters got hits for the Mojo including a 3-for-5 night for Taylor Pannell (2022, Auburn) that included one home run that got in the jet stream and kept drifting and drifting until the centerfielder ran out of run and crashed through the portable fence trying to haul it in.
Pannell hit another shot to almost the exact same spot, but the outfielder was able to knock it back into play for a double.
Even the defense was stellar, led by catcher Macy Bergeron (2022, LSU) who gunned down two baserunners trying to steal second and a third looked like it was too close to call. Bergeron played for the Hotshots last year and admitted the games against her former team helped her elevate her play.
“I’m surprised they tried to run on me,” she said confidently after the win.
The Mojo showed Thursday that they are the team to beat in 14U if they can continue to operate on all cylinders like they did Thursday night.
*****
The Birmingham Thunderbolts came into the week as one of the teams to watch, but came one strike away from losing to a very competitive Firecrackers-Venegas team that most didn’t know a lot about previously.
The Bolts were stymied by pitcher Lily Arana (2023, uncommitted) who had a breakout night and had college coaches showing up to watch her after word spread about her excellent performance.
She was ranked in the Top 40 in the 2023 Extra Elite 100 and had the Bolts swinging and missing a lot with her riseball and good velocity, which has been clocked in the low-to-mid 60’s before.
The pitcher from Ventura County gave up a double and then, with two outs, got Neely Taylor (2022, uncommitted) down to two strikes as the lefty hitter fouled off several pitches before hitting a fly-ball single into center that rolled past the outfielder and allowed outfielder from Arkansas to run all around to third.
A wild-pitch gave the Bolts the lead 2-1 when just minutes before they were hanging on every pitch.
Madison Inscoe (2022, uncommitted) closed out the seventh to give her the complete game win as she scattered four hits and had six strikeouts with no walks, but most importantly, stayed focused and kept the Bolts in the game after the Firecrackers scored in the first inning and had the 1-0 lead all the way through the 7th inning.
“All I wanted to do was keep my team in the game,” a relieved Inscoe said after the win. “My team always has my back and it was my turn to do it for them. I was fired up and willing to do anything I could to hold the other team off until our bats got going.”
Inscoe is one of the fastest-rising pitchers in the 2022 class and has pitched in pressure spots before, including throwing a shutout in the Virginia state championship game this year.
On the other side, Arana struck out 12 and gave up five hits and no walks, but even in the loss showed she is going to be one of the top pitchers in her class and one to watch for a long time.
*****
Of the remaining 16 teams in the Winner’s Bracket, three are Texas Bombers and the trio of teams in Scott Smith’s organization came up big offensively on Thursday.
