The summer club season for 16U and 14U teams culminated at the PGF Nationals in Huntington Beach, California earlier this month, but fall competition is already ramping up. To kick off the fall season, Total Control Sports is powering the PGF Labor Day Showcase from September 4-7 in Crown Point, Indiana.

As if the month-long hiatus from club softball isn’t reason enough for you to tune in this Labor Day weekend, we’re giving you five more reasons to watch over the holiday.

 Join Now to watch our live stream of the PGF Labor Day Showcase!

1. The Beverly Bandits Club
Bill Conroy, head of the Beverly Bandits program and host of the tournament, has compiled quite an arsenal of talent among his teams.

At the 14U level, both the Beverly Bandits Team DeMarini and Beverly Bandits Premier had stellar summers, with the Premier team finishing in the top 20 teams at PGF Nationals and the Demarini team finishing third.

The 16U level boasts even more impressive results. The Beverly Bandits Tyrrell team finished third and seventh at the Boulder IDT and PGF Nationals tournaments, respectively. Their sister Premier team won the Boulder IDT tournament and the Beverly Bandits Team DeMarini took second at PGF Nationals.

The Beverly Bandits Tyrrell and Beverly Bandits Team DeMarini had a friendly sisterly rivalry at PGF nationals with Tyrrell beating DeMarini in the first round and DeMarini coming back to knock-out Tyrrell and advance to the championship game.

With a combined six Beverly Bandits teams between the 16U and 14U brackets, expect to see some compelling club rivalries develop over the weekend!

2. Two Premier Showcase Clinics
This year’s event features two showcase clinics, one for 2019-2020 graduates and one for 2017-2018 graduates. The events are capped at 100 girls each and sold out early, likely due to the fact that some of the best collegiate coaches from 17 universities will be running the clinic instruction.

Nearly every major conference is represented by the coaching staff with SEC schools Missouri and Kentucky; Big 10 powers Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, and Wisconsin; Big 12 Champion Oklahoma; Pac 12 Washington; ACC Louisville; and many more.

Mickey Dean of James Madison University will be overseeing the camps, with the 2019-2020 camp kicking off the weekend Friday, September 4 from 6:30 PM-10:00 PM CST. Saturday morning the 2017-2018 grads camp will run from 8:30 AM- Noon CST, with pool play starting at 2:00 PM CST. Besides expert-level instruction from college coaches, players attending the clinic will also be evaluated on drills such as home-to-first and home-to-home times, front toss, defense, and live pitching.

Both the clinics and the weekend competition will prove valuable for players as these preeminent coaches and the schools they represent will use this weekend to scout this pool of up-and-coming talent.

3. All-Star Pitching
Michigan recruit and FloSoftball All-American Meghan Beaubien will likely see plenty of action over the holiday weekend. The Michigan Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year led her Beverly Bandits DeMarini 16U team to a second place finish at the PGF Nationals earlier this month.

Another Beverly Bandits pitcher Sydney Supple will also be on display Labor Day weekend. The tall southpaw is one of the best 2019 players in the country and committed to Northwestern when she was just 13. Supple is coming off a solid performance at PGF nationals where she pitched all six games for her Beverly Bandits Premier 14U, allowing just two earned runs in 39 innings.

Southern Force also boasts solid pitching from Louisville commit Taylor Roby and newcomber Olivia Suski.

4. Bracket Play and Champion Crowned
With the summer nationals in the books, the softball community is primed for fall showcases that have the sole purpose of highlighting players and don’t necessarily crown a winner.

This showcase is different. Pool play runs Saturday, September 5 starting at 2:00 PM CST and runs through Sunday afternoon. The elimination round kicks off Sunday evening at 6:00 PM with winners crowned after the Noon games Labor Day Monday.

Certainly being scouted by top schools in the country provides enough motivation for these young athletes to shine, but unlike other showcases, the possibility of being crowned a champion certainly gives an added incentive to pull the very best softball out of these girls for the tournament.

Expect to see a higher level of play than what is commonplace for your average showcase.

Pool play and brackets available here >

5. These are the best Midwest clubs!
Some of the very best Midwestern clubs are represented at this tournament. Nationally competitive clubs showcasing their 16U and 14U talent Labor Day weekend include the Beverly Bandits Premier, Beverly Bandits Demarini, Southern Force, NJ Intensity, Ohio Outlaws Premier, Illinois Chill Gold, and Sparks Premier.

These nationally competitive Midwestern clubs are the future of Big 10 softball. An often overlooked softball conference, the Big 10 had two teams in the final Top 20 NCAA softball rankings, with Michigan finishing at No. 4.

In a few short years, the names of Meghan Beaubien, Sydney Supple, and Megan McMenemy will be familiar names for For Big 10 softball fans.

Don’t miss this exciting showcase Labor Day weekend!