SALEM, Va. – The 16-Under and 18-Under divisions brought their best to the field today as bracket play started up at the 2021 USA Softball GOLD National Championships. Teams fought to put themselves in the best position for elimination play which begins tomorrow.
Eight teams will roll through into the 16-Under winner’s bracket on Thursday morning including Finesse 16U Dreher/Lesko, Rock Gold National, Turnin2 Pezz, Georgia Impact - Janney, Carolina Elite SC - Fusetti, Atlanta Vipers 04 Palazzo, Alabama Elite, and Ohio Hawks 16U-Irwin. The other twenty teams will duke it out in the loser’s bracket in hopes of continuing their pursuit of the 16U GOLD Nationals Champion title.
Ohio Hawks 16U-Irwin secured a walk-off win over Lady Gators Jackson 16U in a thrilling eight-inning contest. Addie Kromer (Ohio Hawks 16U-Irwin) poked a single through the right side in the bottom of the eighth to lock down the win for her team.
Runners were flying around the bases in the 16-Under division today. In over eighty percent of the games the winning team scored seven or more runs. There have been over 750 hits across the division with Annalise Buncy (Lady Gators Jackson 16U), Aly VanBrandt (Turnin2 Pezz), and Brooklyn Patchen (Turnin2 Pezz) leading with 10 hits apiece.
The sixteen remaining teams in the 18-Under division winner’s bracket are NJ Gators Biasi, Louisiana VooDoo 18 Gold, Orion Hunter Elite Murphy/Inman National, Sarasota Heat, Clearwater Lady Bombers Mason - Gold, Windermere Wildfire 18U - Paulson, Delaware Cobras 18U, Florida Storm-National Shepherd, Oregon Red Heat, Lady Lightning Gold Elite Jones, Outlaws Premier 18U, Firecrackers NC 18U Wright, Virginia Unity 18U Linder, Richmond Storm, Ohio Hawks 18U National, and Rock Gold - Waye. The rest of the teams will battle their way through the loser’s bracket on Thursday to stay alive in the tournament.
The bats have remained hot in the 18U division with over one thousand total hits including 191 doubles, 17 triples, and exactly one hundred home runs. Ellie Seiler (Turnin2 - Robeson/Long) and Charli Warren (Windermere Wildfire 18U - Paulson) lead the hitters with an average over .600 and more than ten hits each in the tournament so far.
There are only three days left until Championship Saturday. Sixteen teams from 16-Under and 20 teams from 18-Under will head home tomorrow, narrowing the pool to 12 teams in 16U and 16 teams in 18U with bracket play continuing on Friday.
The participating teams earned a berth to their respective GOLD National Championship through a network of qualifying tournaments and through berths awarded by USA Softball’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Both the 16-Under and 18-Under divisions will continue bracket play on Thursday as the double-elimination games continue. The Championship duels for both divisions will take place on Saturday, July 24 at 3 p.m. ET with the “if-necessary” games at 5 p.m. ET. Live stats and video coverage will be available all week long at USASoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball (USAS) is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, USAS sanctions competition through a network of Local Associations, which includes all 50 states and select metro associations. USAS is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch. USAS annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships. The USAS umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.
As the NGB for the sport of softball, USAS is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USAS, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com. |
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