Triple Crown Colorado 4th of July (Fireworks/Sparkler) is being held all week in the Denver Metro Area (All rankings are Line Drive Hot 50 Club National Rankings):

In 18U:

INCONCEIVABLE!?!

Firecrackers Select-Rico/Brashear hit FIVE consecutive home runs in the same inning … and lost.

#25 Athletics National 2024-Madden/Clemmer built a 9-0 lead over #11 Firecrackers Select-Rico/Brashear and saw it all but evaporate after the Firecrackers hit five consecutive homers in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

But Kansas-bound IF Karsen Griggs hit a three-run bomb in the top of the 4th inning and the Athletics went on to a 13-9 victory over the Firecrackers in an 18U National Power Pool game at the Triple Crown Colorado 4th of July on Friday at Aurora Sports Park.

INCONCEIVABLE!?!

“It was a crazy typical Colorado game,” Firecrackers coach Sean Brashear said. “I do not remember coaching a game with five consecutive home runs.”

Florida State-committed 2025 MIF Harlie Chism went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Wichita State-committed 2025 MIF/UT Kammie Smith went 2 for 4 with a run, Texas-committed 2025 Hannah Wells went 2 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs, Griggs went 1 for 3 with a three-run homer, Grand Canyon-bound 3B/IF/UT Willa Ford homered, Western Michigan-bound OF Rylee O’Brien went 1 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs and Louisiana Monroe-committed 2025 C/UT Dally Engle went 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI to power the Athletics.

Uncommitted 2026 C/OF/3B Amaya Del Omo, uncommitted 2025 1B/OF Mia Gomez, Stanford-bound 1B/LHP Zoe Prystajko, Oregon-committed 2025 1B/MIF/3B Amanda Urbina and Louisiana Lafayette-bound 1B/OF/UT Lily Knox hit the five consecutive homers for the Firecrackers in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

“It was an intense game for sure,” Athletics coach Terry Clemmer said. “Every pitch mattered, especially after scoring the first eight runs and then watching them score eight runs in the 3rd inning.

“They are an impressive roster loaded with Power 5 talent from top to bottom and knew even after scoring the games first nine runs it was not over. They can swing it and are very well coached. Our girls stayed after our game plan at the plate and continued to push and try to apply pressure on their defense all game long. I am very proud of how our girls responded right after their eight-run inning cut our lead to a single run. We came back with three runs of our own to push the lead to four. Our pitches made the pitches and our defense made the plays to finish the game. It was a great game from two teams that can certainly compete.”

But Griggs delivered the resounding blow.

“The five homers were definitely earned,” Griggs said. “The Firecrackers are a very high-caliber team with huge commits. Pitchers were hitting spots, but they are also really good hitters. When you put both of those together, it can go either way. As for my three-run bomb, it doesn’t happen without my teammates in front of me being on base and my teammates in the dugout cheering me on. I was just trying to do my job to help my team stay ahead and keeping rolling!” …

Ole Miss-bound MIF Mackenzie Pickens went 2 for 3 with 5 RBIs and Georgia-bound P Ella Troutt came on in relief in first inning and pitched the remainder to lead #12 Georgia Impact Premier-Sampson/Gusaeff past #28 Virginia Glory National-Willemssen, 11-7. …

#14 Virginia Unity-Johnson/Ricks shut out Finesse-Dreher/Peters, 9-0, and got past #31 Tampa Mustangs-Rene, 9-7. Georgia-committed 2025 RHP Presley Harrison pitched a two-hit shutout with one strikeout in 5.0 innings to record the shutout against the Finesse. Ohio State-bound MIF/OF Kailea Ricks went 2 for 3 with two homers and four RBIs and Boston College-committed 2025 1B Emma Knight went 3 for 3 with a run and two RBIs to lift Virginia Unity over the Tampa Mustangs. …

Sparks Elite-Ross/Stewart rolled to a 13-0 win over Rogue FC-Kaye and a 12-3 win over #13 Hotshots National-Nelson. Alabama-bound RHP Braya Hodges, North Carolina-bound RHP Lilly Parrish, North Carolina State-committed 2025 RHP Morgen Talley combined on a two-hit shutout over Rogue FC-Kaye. South Alabama-bound OF Presley Lively had four hits and four RBIs to propel the Sparks past the Hotshots. …

Arizona Storm National-Mathis defeated I-5 Softball-Snyder, 9-8, and Texas Riptide, 15-4. Cal-bound MIF/OF Harmony Andrade’s solo homer in the top of the 6th inning for Arizona Storm broke an 8-8 tie against I-5 Softball. Michigan-bound IF/OF Lauren Putz had three hits and four RBIs against Texas Riptide. …

#33 Top Gun National-Turner cruised past LK Black Hawaii, 5-2, and Extreme Elite National, 8-0. Ohio State-bound RHP Lorin Boutte threw a complete game with eight strikeouts and Mississippi State-bound OF/1B Taylor Troutman had two hits, a homer and four RBIs in Top Gun’s win over LK Black Hawaii. Kansas-bound RHP Kennedy Diggs threw a one-hitter with nine strikeouts to blank Extreme Elite. …

#5 Tennessee Mojo-Ramsey/Fisher dispatched TC Colorado Gold, 13-1, and beat LTG-Henderson, 7-3. East Carolina-bound 3B/SS Jenna Kroll went 3 for 3 with two homers against TC Colorado Gold and Clemson-bound OF Sam Minish went 2 for 3 with a homer and two RBIs against #29 LTG-Henderson.

In 16U:

Central Florida-committed 2025 RHP/UT Tori Payne hit a grand slam in the top of the 6th inning and #34 Louisville Lady Sluggers-Wathen held on for an 18-15 win over #7 Athletics Mercado-Hovermale. …

In 14U:

#10 Arizona National-Kobasew, the 2023 PGF Premier 12U National runner-up, beat Corona Angels-FTS, 4-3, and picked up a 14-7 win over #30 Tampa Mustangs 09-Pynes, which won PGF Show Me The Money earlier this summer. 2028 P/1B Lily Oswalt went 6 innings, allowing three earned runs, 2029 OF Ameliana Mendez went 3-3 and 2028 C Isabella Mora threw out two girls stealing and picked off one at second to lead Arizona National past Corona Angels-FTS. 2028 P/IF Rylee Kobasew got the win in the circle and 2028 MIF/3B Takoah Jones went 2 for 2 with a walk to lift Arizona National over the Tampa Mustangs. …

#3 Impact Gold 2K9 National got by So Cal Athletics VC-Chatelain, 4-2, and handled #43 Iowa Premier National-Paz, 10-0. 2027 C/UT Izzy Lawrence went 1 for 3 with two RBIs against the So Cal A’s and 2028 1B/OF Khloe Williams hit a two-run homer against Iowa Premier. …

Impact Gold National-Siegel blanked Oklahoma Athletics 09-Madden/Ashbaugh, 5-0, and edged Fury Platinum X-Pickett, 7-5. 2028 P Amanda Elkins pitched a two-hit shutout with zero walks and 5 Ks in 7.0 innings in a victory over Oklahoma Athletic 09. 2027 SS/3B Olivia Frias went 4 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs, 2027 1B/3B/C Riley Piorkowski went 3 for 3, 2028 IF/OF Kelsey Luderer went 2 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs, 2028 C/1B/3B Keira Luderer went 3 for 4 and 2027 3B Hudson Ortiz went 2 for 3 as Impact Gold pounded out 17 hits against Fury Platinum X. …

— Carlos Arias, Line Drive Media (Follow Carlos on Twitter @los_stuff)