The first major National Championship in club softball is upon us as the TC/USA Nationals takes place this week in Reno and Tahoe, Nev.

Pool play for the 18’s, 16’s and 14’s starts on Tuesday, July 14 and runs through Friday, July 17 with the championships that day being held at the Univ. of Nevada-Reno.

There will be 184 teams competing this year from 28 states representing every major region of the country.

Here’s how the breakdown goes by age division:

• 18U teams: 80 competing in eight 10-team double elimination brackets
• 16U teams: 64 competing in eight 8-team double elimination brackets
• 14U teams: 40 competing in four 10-team double elimination brackets

CLICK HERE for the schedule of all age divisions at TC/USA Nationals

All told, there will be 774 games which, obviously, is a major production for Triple Crown Sports following on other large successful tournaments this summer including Zoom into June (Calif.) and the Colorado Fireworks, Sparkler and Jr. Sparkler events.

One of the major draws to the TC/USA Nationals is that it rotates to different areas of the country allowing athletes and their families to enjoy various areas of the country.

CLICK HERE to sign up/login to see the 18U games at Golden Eagle FIELDS 10-14!

“The goal is to go from the East Coast to the West Coast and get a true representation of the country,” explains Krista Crawford, the Event Director.

“The coolest thing about the TC/USA Nationals—and the most challenging thing—is we move to a different city every year. It’s exciting to build relationships with various softball communities and to go to different locations. We loved New York in 2012, the first year we did the Nationals and last year we had a great time in Atlanta.”

“This year is the first time we’re going back to a location—we were in Reno and Tahoe in 2013—and it’s because it’s a good community that takes care of us and the participating teams.”

Crawford saws that despite having so many teams in various locations, the TC/USA Nationals run smoothly.

“The logistics are not too difficult because we keep the age groups separate. It’s like the teams are in their own championships independent of each other.”

“There are advantages to each location too,” Crawford continues, “like the lodging in Reno is very affordable while Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place to be and vacation.The younger teams in Tahoe two years ago had an amazing experience and if we had enough fields we’d put the 18’s there too.”

“What it comes down to are the communities and facilities, both of which combine to give a great softball experience for everyone.”

The top 18U teams will participate at the 12 fields at Golden Eagle in Sparks, Nev. FloSoftball will be there to stream those games which will include many elite teams from around the nation.

Here are the Triple Crown-produced US Club Rankings of the teams in its Top 25 scheduled to play next week at the 18U level along with their preseason rating:

• 2 – Firecrackers-Rico (Calif.)
• 5 – Texas Glory – Shelton
• 7 – East Cobb Bullets – Schnute (Ga.)
• 8 – Gold Coast Hurricanes – Cooper (Fla.)
• 9 – Texas Impact Gold – Jackson (Texas)
• 10 – Wichita Mustangs – Griggs (Kan.)
• 14 – So Cal Choppers – Fausett (Calif.)
• 15 – Bownet – Creamer (Calif.)
• 16 – Lady Lightning Gold Team Miken (N.C.)
• 17 – Texas Bombers Gold – Smith
• 18 – Washington Ladyhawks Gold – Miller
• 19 – TC Stars Gold (Col.)
• 21 – Texas Sudden Impact Gold – Dutton
• 23 – Atlanta Vipers – Loveless (Ga.)
• 24 – Miami Stingrays – Rebhan (Fla.)
• 25 – Louisville Lady Sluggers – Dobina (Ky.)

Last week in the Colorado Fireworks tournament the No. 21 ranked Texas Sudden Impact Gold team, lead by 1^st Team FloSoftball All-American Aubrey Leach, defeated the No. 2 rated Firecrackers-Rico team in the championship so a lot of teams will be gunning for the team from the Lone Star State.

One of those will be Krista herself, as her she’s coaching the No. 19 TC Stars Gold team as well as running the massive tournament.

“I’ve coached the Stars 16U’s the last five years and now that I’m with the 18U team I’m humbled to be in a room or on the fields with these coaches who are the best of the club coaches and have so much knowledge.”

“I’m a coach (TC Stars 18U and was 16U’s the last five years) and I’m humbled in a a room with coaches who are the best in club coaches. The communities are very welcoming and in a room with so much knowledge.”

She also feels that the TC/USA Nationals has become so successful in just its fourth year because of the format that allows for competitive brackets here teams are playing similarly talented teams.

“The reason teams come to our Nationals is the completion and the set-up where we use the rankings to put teams in brackets with teams like them. We actually seed out the brackets putting the highest ranked team in the first bracket, the second higest in the second and snake it throughout.”

The “Platinum” brackets are the top ones and to win a championship a team would have to win seven games after playing two pool games. The minimum amount of games any given team will play is six with the average number of games played being nine.

The finals will take place on Friday, July 17 with the 14U Platinum scheduled to start at noon PST, the 16U game at 3 pm PST and the 18U at 5:30 pm with all games at Nevada-Reno.

The 18U and 16U games will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.

With the ASA and PGF Nationals coming up in the next month as well, Crawford says she loves that teams from around the country can play at their event, have a great experience and then play at other major events to get as much experience and competition in as possible.

“We try to focus on what we’re doing, that’s enough to keep us busy,” she laughs. “The others have good tournaments and we don’t want to compete with them. It’s definitely not an ‘Us versus Them’ situation.”

“Our goal is to provide a great softball experience on and off the field and, from what coaches, players and parents are telling us, I believe we’re doing a good job of doing that.”