Triple Crown Colorado 4th of July (Fireworks/Sparkler) was held all week in the Denver Metro Area (All rankings are Line Drive Hot 50 Club National Rankings):
#33 Top Gun National-Turner outslugged #14 Unity-Johnson/Ricks, 18-12, in the 18U National Power Pool championship game at Triple Crown Colorado 4th of July on Sunday at Aurora Sports Park.
North Florida-bound GOF/2B/3B Grace Shaw-Rockey hit a three-run home run to right field as Top Gun jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning.
Top Gun added seven more runs in the top of the of the 2nd inning on a two-run double by Southern Miss-bound OF Carrie Green, an RBI single by Stanford-bound SS Sydney Boulaphinh, an unearned run and a three-run homer by UNC Wilmington-bound 1B/C/OF Sierra Persinger to make it 10-0.
Top Gun pushed its lead to 12-0.
Persinger, Boulaphinh and Shaw-Rockey all homered for Top Gun. Boulaphinh went 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBIs, Green went 4 for 6 with with four runs and two RBIs and Shaw-Rockey went 3 for 3 with three runs and four RBIs.
Florida-committed 2025 Makenna Bellaire went 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs, Tennessee-bound 3B/SS Amayah Doyle went 2 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs and Boston College-committed 2025 C/IF Emma Knight went 3 for 3 with three runs and two RBIs to lead the Unity.
Top Gun defeated #9 Texas Glory-Shelton, 10-3, Sparks Elite-Ross/Stewart, 12-5, and Unity-Johnson/Ricks in the championship bracket on the final day.
Unity-Johnson/Ricks beat Bombers Gold-Jacoby, 10-4, #25 Athletics National 2024-Madden/Clemmer, 4-3, before losing to Top Gun in the championship bracket on the final day.
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Tennessee Mojo 2025-Gregory gave up a four-run lead, but rallied to beat #20 Texas Glory-Shelton, 8-7, in ITB in the 16U National Power Pool championship game on Sunday at Aurora Sports Park.
Trailing 7-6 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning, the Mojo loaded the bases and 2026 P/UT Carly Potts got down a squeeze. An E-3 allowed Ada Little and Missouri-committed 2025 MIF Avery Adcock to score, giving the Mojo the walk-off victory.
2026 1B/3B/UT Kennedy “KB” Bradley hit a solo homer in the top of the 1st inning to give Texas Glory a 1-0 lead.
Bradley added an RBI single in the top of the 3rd inning as Texas Glory improved to 2-0.
Adcock belted a two-run homer and North Carolina State-committed 2025 MIF/UT Lily Livingston added an RBI double to give the Mojo a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the 3rd inning.
Central Arkansas-bound 3B/SS Jade Carnahan made it 5-2 with a two-run blast to center field in the bottom of the 4th inning.
Georgia-committed 2025 OF/P/UT Natalie Donaldson doubled to lead off the bottom of the 5th inning and scored on 2026 P/1B Bailee Shelton’s double to give the Mojo a 6-2 lead.
Texas Glory scored four runs in the top of the 6th inning to tie it, 6-6. They got one run on a fielder’s choice, then 2026 RHP/SS Madelyn Doty had a two-run double and 2027 MIF/OF/UT Finlee Williams had an RBI single.
2027 C/UT Kinley Patten delivered an RBI single in the top of the 8th inning to give Texas Glory a 7-6 edge.
Then came Mojo’s dramatics.
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Coach Fredrick Alford has guided Birmingham Thunderbolts’ teams to a PGF 14U Platinum national runner-up in 2023 and a PGF 12U Premier national runner-up in 2022, but this time his team won a big one.
#8 Birmingham Thunderbolts Premier 2027-Alford/Rocky scored four runs in the 4th and 5th innings to pull away from #23 LTG Lions 2027-Buck en route to an 11-4 victory in the 14U National Power Pool championship game of the Triple Crown Colorado 4th of July on Sunday at Aurora Sports Park.
“It meant a lot to our girls to “break that curse,” Alford said, “especially the ones that have been with us during all of those tournaments. Our last trip to Colorado wasn’t a good showing, so this is even more special to them. As for as myself, it’s always great for our team and organization to win a tournament of this caliber with the best of the best competing. Each game was taken one game at a time and we had great team wins with every player playing a huge role whether it be drawing a walk, making plays, timely hits or throwing their best strikes. It took the whole team.”
2027 UT Jillian Wimmer went 3 for 4 with a run, 2027 UT/C Ellie Mitchell went 3 for 4 with two doubles, three runs and an RBI and 2028 3B/1B Kennedy “KC” Cuthbert went 3 for 4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs to provide the offense for the Bolts.
2027 3B Brooklyn Nicholls, who went 3 for 3 with a homer and four RBIs, had a big day for LTG.
Birmingham Thunderbolts beat #3 Impact Gold 2K9 National, 5-1, Fury Platinum X-Pickett, 8-3, #46 Texas Glory Gold, 9-1, and LTG Lions in the championship bracket on the final day.
LTG Lions defeated Unity 2027-TJ, 13-3, #10 Arizona National-Kobasew, 7-0, and #1 Athletics Mercado 09-Tidd, 8-6, in the championship bracket to reach the final.
— Carlos Arias, Line Drive Media (Follow Carlos on Twitter @los_stuff)
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