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Here’s our TLI for Friday, Jan. 29, 2021 …
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PACIFIC COAST FASTPITCH LEAGUE 18U WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS: THE PRIMER
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, Jan. 29-31, 2021
WHERE: Lake Havasu City, AZ
WHAT’S AT STAKE: Many of the top teams in California and surrounding states will be battling for Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) berths at the PCFL 18U Winter Championships. The PCFL will be awarding the 1st-8th place finishers a Tier 1 berth to the AFCS and the 9th-16th place finishers an automatic spot to the Tier 2 AFCS.
WHO’S COMING? ADC Athletics; American Pastime-Roman; Athletics Jendro Premier; Athletics Mercado-Banister; Athletics Mercado-Carroll; Athletics Mercado/Smith; AZ Bombers-Williams; AZ Hotshots Gold-Davis; Breakers Labs Blue-Bobby; CA Bombers-Cordero; California Cruisers-Watson; Cal Nuggets-Woods; Central Cal Dirtdogs Gold-Kubo/Pickering; Corona Angels-Howard; Corona Angels-Slye; Corona Angels-Tyson; Corona Angels-Zavala; Firecrackers Brashear; Firecrackers Brashear/Hicks; Firecrackers Brashear/Smith; Firecrackers Central California-Wallace; Firecrackers-Leles; Firecrackers Rico; Foothil Gold-Stinson; IE Outbreak; Lil Rebels Gordie; OC Batbusters-Alvarez J; OC Batbusters-Bennett; OC Batbusters-Bracamonte/Maroon; OC Batbusters-Greshman; OC Batbusters-Lara/Portesi; OC Batbusters-Stith; OC Batbusters-Stith/Maroon; Ohana Tigers Gold; Ohana Tigers-Sanchez/Younger; Oro Valley Suncats-Judge; Oro Valley Suncats-Holland/Judge; Panthers Gold; Power Surge-Fox; Power Surge-Walling/Perez; Semper Fi Bulldogs-Lucero; So Cal Breakers-Beadow/Wright; Softball 101-Pagan; Teamsmith-Ken; USA Athletics Gold-Rogers; Utah Freakz; and West Bay Warriors.
TOP CONTENDERS:
Athletics Mercado/Smith: The Athletics are the reigning 2019 PGF 18U Premier national champions, but obviously they didn’t get to defend their title in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Athletics did win the Top Club National championship last summer, but other than that they saw very little action on the national stage. The new-look Athletics, who have 14 newcomers (many from Athletics Mercado-Greg’s highly-regarded 16U team), won the PGF Arizona Winter Invitational earlier this month. The A’s are led by Oklahoma-bound IF Quincee Lilio, #5 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, P Cambria Salmon, #11 in the 2024 Extra Elite 100, UT Danica Acosta, #16 in the 2024 Extra Elite 100, Boise State-bound OF Mykenzie Hanna, #46 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Minnesota-bound P Emily Leavitt, #21 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, UCLA-committed OF Jordan Woolery, #2 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, and UCLA-bound UT Savanna Pola, #6 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100.
Corona Angels-Tyson: Marty Tyson’s Corona Angels reached the PGF 18U Premier title game in 2017 and took third place in 2018 and placed third at the USA Softball GOLD Nationals this past summer. The Corona Angels are led by Arizona State-bound 3B/OF Cydney Sanders, #8 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Oregon-bound MIF/UT Paige Sinicki, #15 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Tennessee-bound SS Lair Beautae, #19 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Nebraska-bound P Kendall Mangel, #25 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Louisville-bound P Korbe Otis, #34 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Utah-bound C Kendall Lundberg, #79 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Cal-committed SS Elon Butler, #25 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, and Arizona State-committed P Kylee Magee, #92 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100.
OC Batbusters-Stith: Mike Stith’s Batbusters, which won back-to-back PGF 18U Premier national championships in 2014 and 2015 and reached the finals in 2018, are always in the hunt for major titles and this year’s team is no different. The Batbusters roster features Oklahoma-bound OF Hannah Coor, #14 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Arizona-bound P/1B Madi Elish, #21 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Florida-bound SS Reagan Walsh, #35 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Oklahoma-committed C Jocelyn Erickson, #17 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, OF Abby Dayton, #27 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, BYU-committed 2B/SS/OF Ailani Agbayani, #31 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, C/1B Alexis Ramirez, #72 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, and P/OF Ryan Maddox, #5 in the 2023 Extra Elite 100.
Firecrackers Rico: Tony Rico’s Firecrackers are a perennial contender at all national events and once again he has another very good squad. The Firecrackers are led by Oklahoma-bound C/3B Sophia Nugent, #2 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, South Carolina-bound SS Emma Sellers, #30 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, 2B/OF Bella Espinoza, #61 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, and Stanford-bound P/1B Kylie Chung, #72 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100.
Firecrackers Brashear: Sean Brashear’s Firecrackers have three top 10 finishes at PGF Nationals in the past five years. The Firecrackers went 18-5-1 in the fall with notable wins over OC Batbusters-Stith (twice), So Cal Athletics-Richardson and Arizona Storm-Mathis. The Firecrackers lineup features Maryland-bound C/1B Amelia Lech, #67 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Oregon State-bound OF Erin Mendoza, #73 in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Texas A&M-committed SS/OF Amari Harper, #12 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, Washington-committed MIF/OF Brooklyn Carter, #46 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, and Texas A&M-committed SS/OF Kaiah Altmeyer, #49 in the 2022 Extra Elite 100
NEWS & NOTES
***PA Outlaws 1B/3B Mia Galella, #17 in the 2025 Extra Elite 100 and a USSSA Select 30 All-American, will be guest playing for Virginia Unity 14U-Johnson at the PGF Florida Fastpitch Classic Feb. 13-14 in Newberry, F:. “I’m so pumped,” she said.
***Sean Brashear‘s 18U Firecrackers team has some rich softball tradition. Amari Harper’s mom played at Oklahoma under Patty Gasso and Long Beach State-commit Corissa Sweet’s cousins played at Michigan and Utah.
*** Scroll down to see more summer News & Notes, Commits & Workout Warriors!
