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July 18, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Orange County will be the place to be for the next week as the 14th annual Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championships takes place at Colonel Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park in Irvine, Fountain Valley Sports Park (FVSP), Harvard Park in Irvine, Huntington Beach Sports Complex (HBSC), Irvine’s Great Park (GP) and Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim.
The PGF National Championships for the 18-Under and 16-Under teams begin on Saturday with pool play action ahead of the double elimination playoffs, which commence on Monday. The Platinum Division championship games will be held at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine on July 26 with the Premier Division championship games the next day along with the PGF High School Futures and PGF High School Senior All-American Games.
At the same time, the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) will take place at Championship Park in Kokomo, IN, Grand Park in Westfield, IN and Noblesville Youth Baseball Field (NYB) in Noblesville, IN from July 21-28. All games will be in bracket format beginning on Monday.
Listed below are the area players, their respective travel teams and their pool play games.
Note: the players and their teams are based on information obtained from their high school coaches in May and from team rosters and/or profiles obtained throughout the summer. The HMG-Community News apologizes for any player(s) that were left out of the preview.
18-Under Premier Division (72 teams)
(Riverside) BSC Bengals Briggs
Natalia Hill (Gahr High/University of Nebraska), Rio Mendez (Gahr/University of Utah)
Pool I games @ HBSC, Field 1
Saturday @ 3:00 p.m. vs. (Surprise, AZ) Firecrackers AZ-Brashear/Holland
Saturday @ 4:45 p.m. vs. (Rockvale, TN) Sparks Elite-Ross/Stewart
Sunday @ 12:00 p.m. vs. (Farmingdale, NJ) Intensity KOD Premier
In 31 games played since June 1, Hill has batted .318 with 21 hits, 14 runs scored and seven runs batted in. She has also drawn 13 walks. Mendez has played two fewer games since June 1 and has 10 hits, six RBI and four runs scored. The Bengals have gone 20-8-4 this summer.
(Torrance) California Cruisers-Smith
Luna Cruz (La Mirada High)
Pool H games @ HBSC, Field 8
Saturday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Pickens, SC) Tennessee Mojo-Ramsey/Fisher
Saturday @ 9:45 a.m. vs. (The Woodlands, TX) Texas Sudden Impact-Leach
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Portland, OR) NW Bullets-Campos
(Downey) Nemesis Elite Gold
Zoee Barrett, Choyce Chambers (Valley Christian High)
Pool N games @ HBSC, Field 6
Saturday @ 4:45 p.m. vs. (Fresno) Firecrackers-Wallace
Saturday @ 8:15 p.m. vs. (Puyallup) WA Ladyhawks Gold-Miller/Simpson
Sunday @ 2:00 p.m. vs. (Northbrook, IL) Illinois Chill Gold
The Nemesis have gone 13-18 this summer.
(Cerritos) Ohana Tigers Gold-Quarles
Kayla Martin (Valley Christian/Colgate University)
Pool K games @ HBSC, Field 3
Saturday @ 3:00 p.m. vs. Corona Angels Gold-Howard
Saturday @ 6:30 p.m. vs. (Texarkana, TX) Unity National-Betsa/Hebert
Sunday @ 2:00 p.m. vs. (Woodland, CA) All American Sports Academy (AASA)-Merrida
In 20 games played since June 1, Martin has batted .375 with 15 hits, including five doubles, seven RBI and five runs scored. The Ohana Tigers have a summer record of 8-14-1.
(Garden Grove) West Coast Lady Dukes-Blanco
Alyssa Avila, Angelyna Conde (La Mirada)
Pool Q games @ FVSP, Field 1
Saturday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (San Antonio, TX) Athletics Mercado-Bonola/Frausto
Saturday @ 9:45 a.m. vs. (San Jose, CA) NorCal Legends Gold-Espinoza/Escarcega
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Harvest, AL) Southern Force National-Palmer
The West Coast Lady Dukes enter the PGF National Championships with a summer mark of 23-11-1.
(Los Alamitos) Wildcats-Weil
Marley Cortez (Gahr)
Pool A games @ HBSC, Field 1
Saturday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Fort Myers, FL) Rock Gold-Manetta
Saturday @ 9:45 a.m. vs. (Kansas City, MO) Top Gun National
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Loganville) GA Impact Premier-Sampson/Gusaeff
In 16 games played since June 1, Cortez has seven RBI, five hits and three runs scored. The Wildcats have gone 17-13-1 this summer.
18-Under Platinum Division (80 teams)
(Garden Grove) 5 Star Playmakers-Siofele/Mulipola
Larissa Flores (Gahr), Kaleyse Foster (Artesia High)
Pool S games @ Harvard Park, Field 7
Saturday @ 3:10 p.m. vs. (Romeoville, IL) GenuWin Reign-KW
Saturday @ 4:50 p.m. vs. (Sandy, UT) Utah Freakz-Ricci
Sunday @ 12:15 p.m. vs. (Las Vegas, NV) Rebels-Gordie/TC
(Whittier) USA Athletics-Garcia
Audrey Anyama (Whitney High), Nuella Anyama (Whitney)
Pool N games @ GP, Field 5
Saturday @ 5:05 p.m. vs. (Fremont, CA) Lady Wolf Pack Gold-Alkire
Saturday @ 8:40 p.m. vs. (Castro Valley, CA) Extreme-Cortez/Orta
Sunday @ 2:30 p.m. vs. (Temecula, CA) Southern California Athletics-Marinakis 24 National
(La Palma) Wildcats-Hunter
Kylie Manibusan (Cerritos/George Fox University), Kendall Nakano (Norwalk High/Biola University)
Pool M games @ GP, Field 4
Saturday @ 3:25 p.m. vs. (Sacramento) All American Mizuno-Casas
Saturday @ 5:05 p.m. vs. (Phoenix) Arizona Storm-Walding
Sunday @ 12:30 p.m. vs. (Eagle, ID) Team Idaho Dirtdogs
The Wildcats have a summer record of 19-12-2.
16-Under Premier Division (80 teams)
(Riverside) BSC Bengals Briggs-RB
Peyton Kingery (Valley Christian)
Pool E games @ FVSP, Field 6
Saturday @ 11:30 a.m. vs. (Louisville, KY) Fusion National-Unruh/Hunt
Saturday @ 1:15 p.m. vs. (Lewisburg, TN) Lady Dukes-Perkins/Lamar
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Mount Pleasant, SC) Impact-Caymol
In 11 games played this summer, Kingery has batted .360 with nine hits, seven RBI, four runs scored and has not struck out. The Bengals are 17-6-2 this summer.
(Fountain Valley) Explosion-Kim/Adame
Malaia Huskey (Gahr), Brianna Ramirez (Valley Christian)
Pool O games @ Bill Barber Park, Field 3
Saturday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Mocksville, NC) LLG Elite
Saturday @ 9:40 a.m. vs. (San Antonio, TX) Athletics Mercado-Bonola
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Woodstock, GA) GA Impact-Taylor
In 23 games played this summer, Huskey has a dozen hits, 11 RBI and six runs scored while Ramirez, in 18 games, is six of 17 with three RBI. The Explosion has won 11 of 26 games this summer.
(Long Beach) USA Athletics-Rogers Gold 2025
Angelina Ratzlaff (La Mirada) Katherine Villegas (Cerritos)
Pool F games @ FVSP, Field 7
Saturday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Scottsdale, AZ) Rogue FC-Mabrey
Saturday @ 9:45 a.m. vs. (Elk Grove, CA) LTG-Carda
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Fort Myers, FL) Rock Gold-Manetta
In 20 games played this summer, Ratzlaff has eight hits, seven RBI, four runs scored and four doubles. The USA Athletics have a summer record of 6-17.
16-Under Platinum Division (92 teams)
(Long Beach) USA Athletics-Rogers Gold 2026
Isabella Gonzalez (Gahr)
Pool G games @ Harvard Park, Field 2
Saturday @ 3:10 p.m. vs. (Claremont, CA) Firecrackers Premier-RTY
Saturday @ 6:45 p.m. vs. (Larkspur, CA) San Jose Sting-Jensen
Sunday @ 2:15 p.m. vs. (San Diego, CA) Breakers Labs-Cullivan
(Los Alamitos) Wildcats-Wilcox/Hunter
Ava Ceron (Cerritos)
Pool S games @ Yorba Regional Park, Field 3
Saturday @ 11:30 a.m. vs. (Whittier, CA) Firecrackers-Medina/Gomez
Saturday @ 1:15 p.m. vs. (Layton, UT) Utah Avalanche-KDC
Sunday @ 8:00 a.m. vs. (Bensenville, IL) Chicago Cheetahs-Connolly
AFCS 18-Under Division (89 teams)
Corona Angels-Tyson
Montserrat Reyes-Cardenas (La Mirada)
First game to be played at Grand Park, Diamond 16 on Monday @ 11:15 a.m. (local time) vs. either (Castle Rock, CO) Colorado Batbusters Gold-Acree or (Eureka, MO) St. Louis Chaos-Mazzola in Region #5.
(Huntington Beach) Firecrackers Select-Rico/Brashear
Rebecca Eckart (La Mirada), Amanda Urbina (La Mirada)
The first game will be played at Grand Park, Diamond 21 on Monday @ 1:30 p.m. (local time) vs. either (Johnson City, IL) Illinois Force National or (Pasadena, TX) Illusions Gold-Plocheck in Region #10.
(Anaheim) Orange County Batbusters-Stith
Reese Hilliard (La Mirada), Riley Hilliard (La Mirada)
The first game will be played at Grand Park, Diamond 17 on Monday @ 1:30 p.m. (local time) vs. either (Kuna, ID) Firecrackers-Mogel or (Chicago) Iowa Premier National-Shraiberg in Region #1.
Riley Hilliard, a catcher and third baseman, is batting .452 with the OC Batbusters-Stith this travel season with 17 home runs, nine doubles and a triple. She has 45 RBI and has scored 40 runs. Her average is the 24th best amongst all the 18-Under players in the Pacific Coast Fastpitch League (PCFL) of The Alliance Fastpitch.
AFCS 16-Under Division (116 teams)
Corona Angels-Slye
Alyssa Aguilar (Gahr)
The first game will be played at Grand Park, Diamond 10 on Monday @ 11:15 a.m. (local time) vs. (Pendleton, IN) TN Mojo 2027-Fox in Region #13.
(Fountain Valley) Orange County Batbusters-Fernandez
Danni Lopez (La Mirada)
First game to be played at Grand Park, Diamond 8 on Monday @ 9:00 a.m. (local time) vs. (Pearland, TX) Impact Gold National-Jackson in Region #3.
(La Puente) Orange County Batbusters-Lara
Emma Maldonado (Gahr)
First game to be played at NYB, Field 2 on Monday @ 9:00 (local time) vs. (Richland, WA) Maniacs-Garcia in Region #15.
(Rialto) Orange County Batbusters-Mora
Rachel Zhang (Valley Christian)
First game to be played at NYB, Field 2 on Monday @ 11:15 a.m. (local time) vs. (Cleveland, TN) Mojo 2025-Nelson in Region #14.
Zhang, known more for her pitching, has an ERA of 2.46 in nearly 37 innings pitched this season with 35 strikeouts. Her ERA is best for all 16-Under players in the PCFL.
