You couldn’t have asked for better weather—and better competition—at Day 1 of the Clearwater Fall Classic that started today in Florida.

The team matchups were as good as it gets as you had powerhouse teams from 25 different states facing each other in elite matchups from the first games of the day at 8 am to the final ones starting at 6 pm.

We focused on primarily the 18U action today at the Sprowls Horizon Sports Complete; there were some 16U games, too, and we checked out briefly some of those top games, but here’s our thoughts and impressions from Friday play…

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The game of the day had to be the battle between two SEC bound pitchers featuring Reagan Eldred, our No. 1 ranked player in the 2028 HOT 100, who is headed to Tennessee and plays for the Texas Blaze – Robertson 18U team, and Sydney Root, the Alabama right-hander who we ranked No. 3 who is the go-to hurler in the circle for OC Batbusters – Stith.

The game ended up a 1-1 tie—fittingly enough—with these two outstanding pitchers giving up just one run each to the opposing team’s powerhouse offenses.

The Batbusters got their one run in the first inning when Tennessee commit Caelyn Campos singled off Eldred, her future Vols teammate, and would come around to score.

The Blaze earned the tie with a run late in the game.

Eldred showed how she can take over a game as she pitched four complete innings with three hits and the one earned run allowed but she also had 10 strikeouts versus just one walk.

While we’re talking about the Blaze, we have to mention Lolo Gamble, the future Texas Longhorn catcher, who is the batterymate of Eldred and looked great on Friday after a strong weekend at the event held last week in College Station, Texas, where she had four home runs including three in one game.

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Speaking of the Batbusters, outstanding first baseman Lelei Salue, an outstanding 2028 first baseman committed to Texas Tech, looked to have rolled her ankle pretty badly in Friday play and was seen hobbling to get looked at by a trainer.

We wish her a speedy recovery and you have to feel for a top player who flies all the way from Orange County, Calif. to appear to miss most of the weekend with an injury.

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We give the Game of the Day award to Brooklyn Atha, the outstanding infielder for Wow Factor who went 2-for- with a home run, triple and a walk in the team’s 4-1 win over a good Top Gun – Turner team.

Brooklyn is a Mississippi State signee and isn’t a big slugging first baseman-type but can do some damage with the long ball as shown today.

While talking about Wow Factor, we have to mention the great coaching duo the team has with Head Coach Lincoln Martin, who compiled a very impressive baseball playing and scouting background before becoming a key figure in the Team USA program, and now Assistant Coach Patrick Lewis, who returned to the dugout after several years off from coaching.

Lewis was a very successful coach for nearly 20 years in the South, especially with the Georgia Impact program where he coached from 2008 to 2022 highlighted by his winning a PGF 18U Nationals title in 2018 and finishing second in 2019.   

He coached several future college all-Americans including Skylar Wallace, who played at Alabama and Florida, and Charla Echoles, at Michigan State and Florida, among many others.

Keep an eye on this program which should quickly become one of the most successful in the country.

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Tony Rico is one of the legends of the club world, and his Firecrackers have long been one of the standards in travel ball.

They’ve won multiple national titles and perennially send players to top programs from all over the country including Arizona, Oklahoma, and dozens of major colleges.

One thing fun on Friday was to notice that the org that originated in Southern California has built their current uniforms to look like the home team Los Angeles Dodgers.

We’re not just assuming this, Tony told us it was intentional!

So we asked (ok, cajoled) the current Firecrackers to show off their Dodger/Firecrackers colors as well as pay tribute to the MLB team.

Is it us, or do they seem less than fired up here? haha

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Marty Tyson of the Corona Angels is a winner… period.

His 18U team went 0-2 on Friday and he understandably wasn’t happy but here’s a story that indicates what a classy coach he is.

On Wednesday, he took time out of his schedule to surprise his senior catcher Emma Anderson who signed her LOI at her Eaton High school in Colorado.

Emma has been with Coach Tyson since age 13 and has made numerous trips to California to practice and compete with the SoCal-based Angels.

Emma’s mom, Elena, told Line Drive’s Brentt Eads today that Marty told her:

“She’s flown to me since she was 13, I can fly to her this once.”

Here’s video of this touching surprise… kudos to a coach who certainly loves and is dedicated to his kids.

He even brought her flowers!!!

Scuse me… my allergies must be acting up. Yea, that’s why my eyes are watering…

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In 18U play on Friday, there were 10 teams that won both of their games:

• Texas bombers Gold – Smith
• Athletics Mercado – Smith
• Tampa Bay Mustangs – Rene
• Texas Hotshots – Nelson
• Arizona Rising – Apple/Kobesew
• Unity – Johnson/VanBoxmeer
• Warrior Academy – McDonald/Mullins
• Lady Dukes – Lamar
• Indiana Magic Gold – Green
• Armor Elite Premier – O’Neal

The most impressive displays?

Probably the two Friday performance was by Scott Smith’s Texas Bombers which defeated its two opponents by a combined score of 23-1.

Next up would be the two victories Ray McDonald’s NorCal-based Warrior Academy team won by 17-5 and 8-0 scores, and also by Dave Mercado’s powerhouse SoCal-based team which outscored the two teams it defeated by a 21-to-4 margin.

Wow.

Unity was also impressive with a 12-run differential, outscoring its two opponents 17-to-5.

Click HERE to see all the scores and standings…

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The Aces Fastpitch team has a lot of talent and one who really impressed today was Kate Losh, the 2028 pitcher committed to Florida.

She’s tough—she got plunked at the plate and then went out and showed why the Gators are all over her—Kate has an impressive array of pitches including a drop, curve and a very difficult-to-hit change-up.

Another who looked good for Ryan and Taylor Taylor’s team today was Texas A&M commit Ella Carmack, who had an RBI double.

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If there’s a sleeper or surprise on that list, it may be Rene Ciccarello Jr’s Tampa Mustangs team which won’t be a sleeper much longer the way it’s playing these days.

The team does have three players going to Tennessee and one to Kentucky in the SEC and all but three on the team are committed elsewhere.

The Mustangs have gone 10-4 this fall and the pitching especially has been very impressive. A trio of hurlers this weekend to watch including Taliah Murria (2027, South Florida), Paige Betterman (2027, Pitt) and one of the top 2029’s in the country now in lefty Ding Balavender from Melbourne, Fla.

College coaches will be attending Saturday and Sunday en masse and you can bet many of them will be scouting Ding… we’ll leave it up to you to come up with the clever phases using “Ding.” You know, like “Ding Dong, King Kong” or “Ringa-Ding Ding.”

OK, back on topic… Coach Rene’s program, which now has 25 teams including three in South Carolina, got some impressive wins today over elite national programs in the Impact Gold and the OC Batbusters.

Let’s just say, the Mustangs are here to stay and can beat anyone on any given day.

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Bob Turner’s Top Gun 18U team is very strong and has players going to Oklahoma, Clemson, LSU, Florida, Illinois, Purdue, Central Florida and three to North Carolina.

However, the trio who are future Tarheels weren’t at the games today for a very good reason: they are at UNC for their official camps visits.

The LSU-bound player is one to note… it’s MIF/OF Brylie Seifert who will be a Top 3-ranked player in the Line Drive Media 2027 HOT 100 when it is unveiled over the next several weeks (shhhhhh… don’t tell her, her family or coaches she’s going to be that high!).

Here’s an interview done with her at the Clearwater Classic on Friday…

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Finally, we mentioned in our preview yesterday how impressive the umpiring crew was in past years and this year is no exception in how they’re all mostly D1 officials.

In the very first slate of games on Friday—the 8 am games—umpire Edwin Ortiz did something unusual: he stopped play and walked over to a Hotshots runner on first base and knelt to tie her shoe.

He didn’t want her to risk an injury, so he simply did a nice deed like that… well done, Mr. Ortiz!

We talked to him after the game and he said he’s from Puerto Rico and now lives in Winter Haven, Fla.

High level umpires who care about the players’ safety… can’t beat that!

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media