Day of the TC/USA Nationals continued today in Cumming and Alpharetta, Ga. as elite club teams continue on their march to the national championship game Thursday evening. Semis will be shown on the CBS Sports Network as will be the final at 7 pm EST.

The 18 Open Division is stacked with talent, including the Firecrackers-Rico squad which has won the event each of the last two years and is looking to defend its title.

Here’s a quick look at how the Top 10-ranked teams in the tournament (according to the Triple Crown-sponsored site, USClubRankings.com) are sitting after Wednesday’s action:

 

Firecrackers-Rico (2)
The Firecrackers went 3-0 in the third day of the TC/USA Nationals. In the first game, they beat Georgia Force 15-0, in the second game they defeated #30 Texas Storm 9-5 and in the third beat Tennessee Fury-Lewis 4-3 to stay on track for a three-peat championship. The Firecrackers scored a total of 36 runs on the day and only gave up eight and are 7-1 after tonight’s game.

Corona Angels- Tyson (4)
The Corona Angels are continuing to dominate and look like the team to beat based on their offensive and pitching performances not just today, but all summer. This morning they took on a good Nemesis Elite team and prevailed 8-0. In the evening they blanked another good team in the Texas Firecrackers Gold-May squad and shut them out 9-0.

Texas Glory- Shelton (5)
Another team who has the firepower to make the finals is the Texas Glory which won four games today and finished with a flurry. In the first game of the day, Kevin Shelton’s team beat FL Team Mizuno 10-3. Later in the afternoon they defeated the Kansas Renegades 12-8, then played the Indiana Magic Gold and prevailed 9-1. They completed their four-win day with a 10-1 victory over Florida Storm to give them 41 runs for the day while allowing only 13. Their record is an impressive 8-1 on the tournament and their run differential plus the fact Florida Storm was 6-0-1 heading into tonight’s match-up makes the day’s showings that more impressive.

East Cobb Bullets-Schnute (7)
The EC Bullets began their day taking on the Rock Gold (Pa.) and escaped with a 9-7 finish. They had a total of nine runs. The Bullets then defeated Houston Power, which was 4-2 going into tonight’s game, 9-0. Ace Kelly Barnhill will take the ball Thursday morning and is a workhorse who could easily carry the Bullets on her back in the three games needed to take the crown.

Wichita Mustangs-Griggs (8)
The Mustangs took a tough loss to the GA Impact at Sharon Springs this morning, losing 4-3. The Mustangs played the Williamsburg Starz (Va.) in their second game of the day and were defeated 8-0. The Mustangs, who are struggling to find consistency this summer, head into Thursday 1-5 on the tournament but have the talent to play head-to-head with most everybody. The Kansas team’s next game will be Thursday at 2 pm against the Team Mizuno (Fla.), which is currently 4-3 in the tournament.

Gold Coast Hurricanes-Cooper (10)
The Hurricanes played a strong Texas Bombers-Smith team in the first game of the day and came out on top 7-3 and followed that win up with a 10-1 victory over the Louisville Lady Sluggers to give the Florida team a 5-0 record after tonight.

 

Here are the scheduled match-ups for the 18U Platinum quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday morning at 11:15 am EST.

Corona Angels (4) vs. Atlanta Vipers-Jennings (16)
Impact Gold-Jackson (11) vs. Firecrackers-Rico (2)
Gold Coast Hurricanes (10) vs. Miami Stingrays (19)
Texas Glory (5) vs. East Cobb Bullets-Schnute (7)

Note: the winners of the semifinals will play on CBS Sports Network Thursday 7 pm EST.

 

***

Here are quarterfinalists in the 16U Platinum division with their games scheduled for Thursday at 11:15 am EST.

Firecrackers-Blanco or Louisville Lady Slugger-Ridolfi vs. Florida Power Black-Lantz
East Cobb Bullets-Bass vs. Tulsa Elite-Galvan*
Georgia Elite-Hoover vs. Williamsburg Starz-Trull
Atlanta Vipers-Palazzo or Suncats-Judge vs. NC Lady Lightning-Corn

 

Note: three weeks ago we profiled the Tulsa Elite-Galvan team which you can read about here. The ’98 team finished in 3rd place at Colorado Fireworks last week and are undefeated in this event.  The team has only lost one bracket game all summer and that was to the Colorado Fireworks eventual champs, the Ohio Lasers, who went on to run-rule its opponent 12-0 in the title game.

—Marissa Beasley of Triple Crown Sports contributed to this post