Article/Photos By Manny Alvarez

Iowa Premier scored two runs with its first three batters of the game and that was more than enough for Kate Menz, who shut out USA Athletics Gold, 2-0, to give Iowa Premier the 18U Platinum National Title at the PGF Nationals on Friday morning at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif.



Mary Johnson and Brooke Sandstoe drove in the only runs of the game and Menz threw a five-hitter with five strikeouts for Iowa Premier.

"It was defense and pitching," Iowa Premier coach Greg Dickel said. "That was our theme this week. We had to have good pitching and defense. We had to keep the games close. We knew we could score runs, but to be able to make a stretch run in this tournament, you have to have the great pitching and the great defense. We made one error all week leading up to this game. We had one error in this game. That was the theme. We knew we had the bats. We had senior leadership too."

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/FloSoftball/status/759063399930007557" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

Hannah Johnson threw 5.1 innings of relief to shut down Iowa Premier on two hits for the remainder of the game. USA Athletics Gold threaten in the third inning with two on and two out, but a 6-3 double play ended the threat. They also had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh, but a line drive catch and a tag at second by third baseman Allison Yoder ended the game. USA Athletics Gold left eight runners on base.

"We didn't execute," USA Athletics Gold coach Rose Rogers said. "We left eight base runners. We had a couple of base running errors that cost us. We didn't get through the ball. We had five hits to their seven. We didn't execute. We weren't able to push a run."

Iowa Premier made an error in the third inning, but it also had two double plays in both innings where USA Athletics Gold were threatening. Menz kept them at bay and only walked one batter.

"The defense was so good," Menz said. "It makes you feel good that I can pitch my game and the defense can back me up."

Miranda Trinidad took the loss for USA Athletics Gold, which made a great run to the finals.

"I'm super proud of them," Rogers said. "I know they had to execute. I'm 100 percent sure they will do great in college. It's a great program. They have battled. They took fifth place in (the) Boulder (IDT) and fifth place in the Champions Cup. They have been ready to push it through and I think they have learned how to be champions. We are very proud of them."

After losing in last year's Platinum championship game, Iowa Premier captured the Platinum national title to earn a berth in next year's PGF 18U Premier national championships.

"It feels awesome," Dickel said. "We came out to this event last year and made it to the title game and lucked short in extra innings in a International Tiebreaker on a suicide squeeze play to the Firecrackers. Our number one goal is to get back to this event and make a run and try to finish it. It is very vindicating and it feels great. We really appreciate PGF to allow us to come out here and compete in this type of event."