Saturday continued the Bracket play at the PGF Show Me the Money and set up the three title games that will be played today at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, the home of Florida Gator softball in Gainesville, Florida.

The last full day of bracket play determined the finalists for the trio of contests to decide the winners of the 14U, 16U and 18U championships… and, of course, decide who will be “showed the money” with the winning team in each of the three age divisions getting a $10,000 cash prize and the runners-up receiving $2,500.

Those that didn’t make the finals will continue play at Champions Field in Newberry, competing in one or two “exposure” games to get reps in but also perform in front of interested college coaches.

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Speaking of those trying to find future talent to recruit and hopefully sign one day, our college count continued as more coaches watched the bracket play in Newberry, Fla. on Saturday.

You generally had three groups that we could ID (these are just some of the many programs that came to watch the 126 total teams in the event that watched the action):

Sunshine State schools (ones inside Florida) such as:

• Florida
• Central Florida
• Florida State
• Florida Southern
• Florida International
• Jacksonville State
• Florida Atlantic

Regional programs such as:

• Gardner Webb University
• Furman
• Troy State
• South Alabama

Power 5 schools such as:

• Georgia
• Clemson
• Arizona
• Ole Miss
• Michigan State
• LSU
• Georgia Tech
• Indiana
• South Carolina
• Purdue
• Penn State

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The PGF Show Me the Money Championship Games (Sunday, June 9, 2024)

14U: Tampa Mustangs 09 Pynes vs. Birmingham Thunderbolts Premier 2027 – Alford

Game Time: 8:15 am EST

How They Got There:

The Bolts team went 7-1 with the only loss being to the Tampa Mustangs 09 Pynes team in the first game Saturday, a 6-1 loss: however the Bolts won its final three games by scores of 3-2, 7-1 and 7-6 over a strong Team NC – Tucker/Benson squad 7-6.A key win was over the Frost Falcons, 3-2, against pitcher Audrey Seiler, recently honored by Line Drive Softball as the No. 1 player in the 2028 Line Drive HOT 100. Other than that narrow win,

The Mustangs went 6-0 with the first five victories being comfortable wins by scores of 6-0, 7-3, 9-1, 6-0 and 6-1 before a very tight 6-5 win over Team NC – Tucker/Benson. Saturday was the first day the 14U was at Champions Field (Newberry) and the teams benefitted by having the many college coaches there to watch the older teams but many scouts taking notes of the teams and players to watch for the future.

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16U: Top Gun 16 National vs Georgia Impact – Taylor

Game Time: 10:45 am EST

How They Got There:

Top Gun 16U went 7-0-1 to make to Sunday play and the offense really turned it up the two days of bracket playing, scoring six or more runs in the six games played. The tie for Top Gun came on Day 1 in pool play against Unity – Meadows/Johnson and the first four games in Bracket Play the team won by two or more runs; however the last two games to advance to the title game were narrow 6-5 wins over two excellent teams from the Peach State: Athletics Gold – Tamborra and Georgia Impact – Taylor, who will face off again in Sunday’s championship game versus Top Gun

The Georgia Impact – Taylor team went 8-1, making it out of the Loser’s Bracket with a narrow 5-4 win over Fury Platinum X – Hutchings/Helton which made it to finale on the strength of its offense that, in its eight games scored 9, 14, 7, 6, 1, 6, 7, 5 and 5 runs, the tightest game being the Friday note pitching duel against Tennessee Mojo 2025 – Gregory 1-0.

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18U: Birmingham Thunderbolts 18U Premier vs. Top Gun National

Game Time: 1:00 pm EST

How They Got There:

The Bolts went a perfect 7-0 leading into the championship game, getting done with great pitching as in none of the seven winds did opponents score more than two games. Saturday, in fact, the Thunderbolts won 3-1 over LLG – Corn, 21- over Santa Fe Inferno – Nowling and 3-2 over Top Gun National, the opponent it will face in the final.

Top Gun National went 7-1 on the day, the only blemish being the loss to the Bolts in the 4:45 pm game, the penultimate bracket game of the day. In the Loser’s Bracket final at 6:30 pm, the Nationals defeated LLG – Corn 6-5 in one of the day’s most exciting games.

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Top Gun Gets It Done

Two organizations have a pair of teams in the finals, the Birmingham Thunderbolts and Top Gun National

Bob Turner’s 18U team saw several standout performances including from a third baseman who really saw her stock skyrocket

Here’s are some of the star players who helped put their team in Sunday’s championship game.

* Sage Rodmyre, an uncommitted infielder, turned heads all weekend.  She hit .500 on Saturday, including a huge 3-three run bomb against Sparks Elite Ross in the winners bracket semifinal. She also had big hits against Birmingham Thunderbolts and LLG Elite Corn.  Sage’s play helped her leave the fields Saturday evening with offers.

* Carrie Green, a Southern Miss commit, hit .556 on the day, adding in five runs scored and a .667 OBP.  

* Nat Kenyatta: this Michigan State commit hit .625 on the day, including a two-run triple against the Birmingham Thunderbolts in the winners bracket final.  She also had a big triple against Sparks Elite Ross in the team’s 3-1 victory over that talented team.

Sparks Chemistry

* How respected is Oklahoma-bound catcher Kendall Wells? In a key situation, Kendall (Georgia Impact 18U – Sampson) was intentionally walked to load the bases to bring the winning run to the plate against a very strong Sparks Elite Ross/Stewart team. But the final out was scored on a ground out to third baseman  Esther White, headed to Georgia, and allowed the Jay Ross-led Sparks team to win the game 6-2.

What makes the Sparks team as good as they are, we asked Coach Ross.

“The dugout. The team. The team chemistry. They do not care about individuality. It’s the first time I’ve seen it to this level. They each want to succeed but they care about each other. They are all super stars. They walk into the dugout excepting and respecting the talents of others and ready to work together at their highest level.”

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Below is the complete listing of the Saturday games and results…

Click HERE to get the full schedule of the event and keep up with the latest scores.

18U

16U

14U