The PGF Ultimate Challenge got underway Friday afternoon at the Salinas Sports Complex and featured a bevy of talented softball teams matched up against each other.

In a game featuring the SoCal Athletics and Beverly Bandits from Illinois it was the battery mates from Orange Lutheran High (Orange, Califorania) that proved key in a big victory.

Pitcher Maddy Dwyer (Stanford commit) threw 4 1/3 innings of one-hit softball and catcher Lauren Espalin (Cal) delivered a three-run double to lead the Athletics to a 5-1 victory over the Bandits.

SoCal Athletics was able to get the win over University of Michigan-bound pitcher Meghan Beaubien, who was the winning pitcher this summer for her Bandits team which won the PGF 16U National Championship.

After striking out twice in her previous two plate appearances against Beaubien, Espalin knew that if she got one more chance she was going to make the most of it.

"I needed to figure out a way to get the ball in play," Espalin said. "(Beaubien) is a great pitcher and I just knew where she was going to throw the ball. I was able square it up and get a piece of it and score some runs for us."

Runs were hard to come by in the first three innings as Dwyer and Beaubien gave up a combined four hits, all of which were singles.

But after getting one in the fourth the SoCal Athletics broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning.

Toni Camarillo (Bryant Univ.) reached after striking out and the ball getting past the catcher and Kelli Godin (UCLA) reached on an error. Ciara Briggs (LSU) followed with an infield sing before Espalin delivered the three-run double to center field.

"Just getting a great start is essential," the catcher, who recently committed to Cal, said. "You just build off it and hopefully we can take it into tomorrow's games and just keep winning."

In the circle Dwyer threw a gem as she compiled four strikeouts against only one walk.

"It's really nice to have someone that knows me so well," Dwyer said of Esplanin. "We work every week together and she's been my catcher since we were little so we have such great chemistry."

In other 18U action Arizona State commit Terra McGowan went 3-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBI to lead the OC Batbusters-Stith 18U team to a 7-4 victory over the Birmingham Thunderbolts.

With the Batbusters trailing by a run, McGowan came to the plate with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning and took the 2-2 pitch deep to left center field.

The Batbusters scored runs in all four innings of the game.

Elsewhere, Oregon State commit Frankie Hammoude accomplished something that had previously been done only once at the Salinas Sports Complex: she smashed a mammoth home run that went up and into the Rabobank Stadium, a football stadium that has a back side estimated to be four stories tall.

Hammoude's home run helped All American Sports Academy tie the Salinas Storm in a matchup that ultimately finished 6-5 in AASA's favor.

In 14U action, the OC Batbusters-Campbell team, one of the top-ranked 14U teams in the country, flexed its offensive muscles in a 8-1 victory over Sorcerer 14U.

Zaida Puni, ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the FloSoftball 2020 Hot 100, went 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Oklahoma-bound Tiare Jennings, ranked No., 17 in the 2020 Hot 100, went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and scored three times for the Batbusters.

--- Ryan Silapan

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Here's a list of all the scores from the opening round of games live streamed by FloSoftball on Fields 1-4.

FloSoftball will continue streaming all the pool play action on these fields Saturday heading into single-elimination bracket play Saturday night.

FRIDAY	Time	Field		FINAL			FINAL
9/30	5:00 PM	1	Sorcerer	2	vs	CA Grapettes - Kapp	2
9/30	5:00 PM	2	AASA	6	vs	Salinas Storm	5
9/30	5:00 PM	3	OCBB Campbell	8	vs	Sorcerer 14U	1
9/30	5:00 PM	4	CA Breeze Warren	5	vs	SJ Sting Perales 16U	4
9/30	6:30 PM	1	So Cal Choppers Fausett 14U	4	vs	CA Grapettes Guevara	0
9/30	6:30 PM	2	So Cal Choppers Fausett	1	vs	NW Bullets	2
9/30	6:30 PM	3	Birmingham Thunderbolts	4	vs	OC Batbusters Stith	7
9/30	6:30 PM	4	CA Grapettes Cat	4	vs	Salinas Storm	0
9/30	8:00 PM	1	So Cal A's McNee	0	vs	Sorcerer 16U	4
9/30	8:00 PM	2	Explosion Denio	4	vs	NC Firecrackers Baisdon	2
9/30	8:00 PM	3	So Cal A's Richardson	5	vs	Beverly Bandits	1
9/30	8:00 PM	4	So Cal Choppers Ziese	2	vs	LTG Lions	6
SATURDAY	Time	Field		FINAL			FINAL
10/1	9:30 AM	1	OCBB Campbell		vs	CA Breeze
10/1	9:30 AM	2	AASA 18U		vs	NW Bullets
10/1	9:30 AM	3	So Cal Choppers Fausett 18U		vs	salinas Storm
10/1	9:30 AM	4	Cal Nuggets Woods		vs	AASA 16U
10/1	11:00 AM	1	So Cal Choppers Fausett 14U		vs	CA Suncats
10/1	11:00 AM	2	OCBB Stith		vs	NC Firecrackers Baisdon
10/1	11:00 AM	3	Birmingham Thunderbolts		vs	Explosion Denio
10/1	11:00 AM	4	Beverly Bandits		vs	CA Grapettes Kapp
10/1	12:30 PM	1	So Cal Choppers Fausett 14U		vs	SJ Sting
10/1	12:30 PM	2	OCBB Stith		vs	Explosion Denio
10/1	12:30 PM	3	Birmingham Thunderbolts		vs	NC Firecrackers Baisdon
10/1	12:30 PM	4	Sorcerer 18U		vs	CA Grapettes Kapp
10/1	2:00 PM	1	Universal Fastpitch Garcia		vs	So Cal A's Briggs
10/1	2:00 PM	2	LTG Lions 16U		vs	Salinas Storm 16U
10/1	2:00 PM	3	So Cal Choppers Ziese		vs	CA Grapettes Cat
10/1	2:00 PM	4	So Cal A's McNee		vs	SJ Sting Perales
10/1	3:30 PM	1	So Cal Choppers Ziese		vs	Salinas Storm 16U
10/1	3:30 PM	2	LTG Lions 16U		vs	CA Grapettes Cat
10/1	3:30 PM	3	Cal Nuggets		vs	So Cal A's Briggs
10/1	3:30 PM	4	So Cal A's McNee		vs	CA Breeze Warren
10/1	6:00 PM	1	14U A #3 Seed		vs	14U B #4 Seed
10/1	6:00 PM	2	18U A #3 Seed		vs	18U B #4 Seed
10/1	6:00 PM	3	18U B #2 Seed		vs	18U C #2 Seed
10/1	6:00 PM	4	18U C #3 Seed		vs	18U A #4 Seed
10/1	8:00 PM	1	14U C #3 Seed		vs	14U A #4 Seed
10/1	8:00 PM	2	16U A #3 Seed		vs	16U B #4 Seed
10/1	8:00 PM	3	16U B #2 Seed		vs	16U C #2 Seed
10/1	8:00 PM	4	16U C #3 Seed		vs	16U A #4 Seed
SUNDAY	Time	Field		FINAL			FINAL
10/1	8:00 AM	1	14U A #1 Seed		vs	Winner B3/C4
10/1	8:00 AM	2	16U A #1 Seed		vs	Winner B3/C4
10/1	8:00 AM	3	18U A #1 Seed		vs	Winner B3/C4
10/1	8:00 AM	4	18U B #1 Seed		vs	Winner A3/B4
10/1	10:00 AM	1	14U Quarterfinal		vs
10/1	10:00 AM	2	16U Quarterfinal		vs
10/1	10:00 AM	3	18U Quarterfinal		vs
10/1	10:00 AM	4	18U Quarterfinal		vs
10/1	12:00 PM	1	14U Semifinal #2		vs
10/1	12:00 PM	2	16U Semifinal #2		vs
10/1	12:00 PM	3	18U Semifinal #2		vs
10/1	12:00 PM	4	18U Semifinal #1		vs
10/1	2:00 PM	1	14U Championship		vs
10/1	2:00 PM	2	16U Championship		vs
10/1	2:00 PM	3	18U Championship		vs