It’s been a long week and when you’re battling at such a high level of competition there’s one thing that is helping teams advance at the PGF Nationals in Southern California: depth.

Let’s talk about that in a second… first, here are the undefeated teams left in each bracket of the 18U Premier division:

• Birmingham Thunderbolts vs. Corona Angels (Bracket A; 10:15 am PST, Field 2)
• EC Bullets vs. OC Batbusters (Bracket B; 10:15 am PST, Field 4)

 

Last Four Standing in the Winner’s Bracket

The Final 4 has been set in the winner’s bracket and the two favorites, the Corona Angels and the OC Batbusters-Haning team are so deep they can roll out several players at any position and not miss a beat.

Take the Batbusters, for example.

Thursday they beat two quality teams, the Cruisers-Harman and the Explosion by a combined score of 21-0. The Explosion is an excellent top 10-caliber team but the Batbusters have the luxury of rolling out Kaylee Carlson (2014, North Carolina) and Mariah Lopez (2016, Oklahoma) in the first game and Taylor McQuillin (2015, Arizona) against Explosion and keeping all three pitchers fresh but still finely-tuned.

 

Bracket A

The Angels are the same although their scores today were much closer: 1-0 over the So Cal Choppers and 4-2 over the Washington Ladyhawks.

Still, Marty Tyson’s team has great depth and talent at pretty much every position and when one player has a sub-par game there are others to step up and rise to the challenge.

The Angels opponent in Bracket A will be the Birmingham Thunderbolts.

The Bolts, led by Richard Shea, have been a pleasant surprise as they knocked off the Rhode Island Thunder 7-5 and the Firecrackers-Rico squad, which I though was really peaking behind outstanding pitcher Kourtney Shaw (2015, Cal), but give credit where it’s due: the Thunderbolts have an underrated pitcher in Alexis Reid (2015, Kansas) despite her being a Hot 100 player and Madi Moore (2015, Alabama) was the star in the first game as she came in and righted the ship after the Rhode Island Thunder scored five in the top of the inning.

Moore pitched over five innings and allowed only three hits and Reid pitched a scoreless inning to close it while the pushed three across in the bottom of the sixth to save the day.

Reid pitched a complete seven-inning game against the Firecrackers allowing only four hits and one walk in the second game of the day.

The Angels have a standout of their own in pitcher Alexis Osorio (2014, Alabama) who pitched a strong complete game giving up five hits and two earned runs over seven innings.

She is now 2-0 and in 15 innings pitched has allowed only six runs and has a 0.00 ERA.

That type of pitching will get you pretty far but if there’s one concern for the Angels it may be their team batting average is only .288 through four games.

 

Bracket B

The matchup of the Batbusters vs. the Bullets in Bracket B is fascinating. The Batbusters are peaking at the right time and they can beat you with pitching, hitting and defense.

But the Bullets have perhaps the most dominating pitcher of the tournament in Kelly Barnhill (2015, Stanford or Florida) who struck out 15 of 15 batters last night and played a great team this afternoon in the Lady Lightning who is led by a top pitcher of its own in Regan Green (2015, Mississippi States).

Green had a great game with nine K’s until the eighth when she tired and gave up five runs but later admitted her drop ball wasn’t working to her satisfaction and was practicing on it between innings.

Barnhill, however, is playing at an unbelievable level.

In her eight innings of work she only gave up two hits, two walks and one earned run while striking out 14.

She was measuring 66-68 mph on two different radars and had her rise ball going and a drop ball working well.

One respected pitching coach said, “She’s obviously got heat but what impressed me tonight is her craftiness. She’s mixing up her pitches and her riseball has hitters swinging six inches underneath it.”

This will be a fun game: can Barnhill dominate like this against a line-up of the best players in the country? How will the Batbusters pitchers, most likely Taylor McQuillin (2015, Arizona), do on the other side?

Will definitely be at this one!

 

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Other odds and ends…

— Might be an oversimplication but look at the final four teams: two from the South (Bolts from Alabama; Bullets from Georgia) versus two from Calif.

Kind of looks like the state of college softball with the SEC and Pac-12 being the dominant conferences. Things that make you say “hmmmm.”

 

— Just because I’m covering the winner’s bracket, it doesn’t mean the loser’s bracket can’t produce a champion. Last year Team Mizuno, led by Kaylee Carson, won five games in the loser’s bracket the day before the championship and lost 3-2 in the title game to the So Cal A’s.

A good game tomorrow at 8 am will be Firecrackers-Rico vs. So Cal Choppers. Either of these teams could make it to the finals by winning two against a winner’s bracket team.

The So Cal A’s fell into the loser’s bracket today with a 6-0 loss to the Firecrackers, but they have the ability to make it to the championship.

I was talking with an SEC coach today who said, “I think many of us knew the A’s pitching was questionable, but I’m surprised at how the offense has done. I’m sure (Coach) Bruce Richardson is disappointed with his hitting.”

Don’t sleep on the Beverly Bandits, either… they lost to the Batbusters in their first bracket game but are making their way through their way through the Bracket B loser’s bracket and will face the NC Lady Lightning who I also like.

The Lightning, like Explosion, have an ace who can win any game. The Lightning have Regan Green and the Explosion have Brittany Finney (2015, Oklahoma).

These two are good enough they can beat even the Angels and Batbusters on a great day (and that’s what it’d take).

The only question is… depth. How’s that for going full circle?

 

— Let me give some love to the 18U Platinum division where another Batbuster team, the OC Batbusters-Briggs team will face the Dirt Dogs on Friday at 2:15 pm in the Bracket A winner’s bracket.

Paige Von Sprecken (2014, San Diego) pitched a great game in the 2-0 win over the Batbusters-Stith team. She went seven innings with no runs allowed and only one walk.

In Bracket B the USA Athletics will face the Illinois Stars at 10:15 am tomorrow.