The 12U-B USSSA Southern Nationals took place on July 16th and ran through July 19th. The event took place in Plano and Frisco, TX.
Pool play began on Thursday and Friday as 12U Nalley battled in the Texas heat and finished pool play with a 2-1 record, good enough for the #1 seed out of Pool E. Bracket play began on Friday afternoon as they took on Waco Storm Fastpitch. It was a tough game but the girls were able to pull off a 6-4 victory as they were led by Avi and Mia in the circle for a combined 7 strikeouts! Kayleigh led them at the plate with 2 hits! Second round of bracket play started early Saturday morning as they took on a tough Twins Fastpitch team from Salado, TX. Mia went 5 strong innings to hold off the Twins and pull out the 4-1 win. Austyn, Halle and Mia each had multiple hits to help lead the way at the plate.
Bracket play continued on Saturday afternoon and they took one to the chin as they ran into a talented Ruthless Futures - Torres/Bustos team and were sent to the losers bracket. This began what would be a LONG Sunday as they battled all day (FIVE Games) to eventually run into the same Ruthless Futures team that beat them the day before. This time the girls were ready for a battle as they showed a lot of fight! The game was a back and forth affair as they took an early lead and then Ruthless took a late 7-2 lead. Down to their last at bat they knew what they had to do and were up for the challenge! First 3 batters got on to push a few runs across and put some pressure on Ruthless as the score was cut to 7-5. With two outs, another run came across for a 7-6 deficit with the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 2nd! A ground out to First Base ended their run to the Championship game but heads were held high as they knew that they left it all on the field. Very proud of this group!
Congratulations to the team for a great tournament! Eleven total games played for a 8-3 record. Also, congrats to the 3 players chosen as MVP during pool play (Austyn Pena, Aviana Valbuena and Mia Valbuena).
Great job done by Head Coach Jerry Nalley and Assistant Coaches Mike Stidham and Haidyn. The girls and the parents really appreciate your hard work!