The P5 Patriot Games in Colorado—primarily inFort Collins and Loveland—continued Friday with the 16U and 18U age divisions kicking off fully.

Here’s a recap of Day 2of the four days of the Patriot Games featuring many of the top 18U, 16U and 14U teams across the nation…

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Yesterday, Day 1 of the P5 Patriot Games, was shut down twice due to heavy thunder and rainstorms that led to a lot of cancellations or games that had to be made up today.

It was very sporadic as some teams got three, even four games in yesterday while some got no games in.

The Birmingham Thunderbolts 14U team, for example, had to play four games today including one that had just started yesterday.

Fortunately, today’s weather was a total reversal from Thursday’s storms with beautifully sunny skies and bright sunshine.

The temperature was in the mid-80’s and the outlook for the weekend looks similarly good, albeit a bit toasty with highs in the low 90’s.

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More College Coaches on Scene

On Day 1, yesterday, I hung around the 14’s primarily at the Barnes complex in Loveland and saw a handful of coaches but today they really showed up—probably, again, because all ages are playing now through the finals on Sunday.

Here, in no particular order, are the universities we saw represented with coaches on-site watching the 14U teams:

Cal, Nebraska, Arizona State, BYU, Western Michigan, Yale, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Notre Dame, UCLA and Mizzou.

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Big 12 Head Coach & Interested Dad

Oklahoma State Head Coach Kenny Gajewski has two jobs at the Patriot Games: looking at potential recruiting prospects and being a dad and supporting his daughter, Logan Gajewski, who is a first baseman for the Athletics 14U – Madden team.

Logan made some nice defensive plays today and had a home run in an earlier game against the Athletics.

Unlike most dads, however, Coach Kenny had to move around to watch several games and teams at once and did miss at-bat or two of Logan’s.

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Team to Beat in 14U and 16U Appears to Be…

… both in the same organization, the Texas Bombers.

As of the late afternoon on Friday—and mindful that there are still make-up games to be played—the 14U team is 3-0 and has won its games by scores of 13-0, 22-3 and 12-3 for a total of 47 runs scored and just six given up.

The 16U team is 4-0 and has outscored its opponents 37-7 with two of the wins being shutouts.

Looking closely at the 14U team primarily for now—I’ll see the 16U team later tonight—the thing that jumps out initially is the pitching.

The Bombers led by Head Coach Kristi Malpass have five pitches they can go to at any time with 2029 right-handers Brynli Reynolds and Reagan Christopherson getting the majority of the innings but with 2029 lefty Trinity Brents, 2029 righty Abagail Nails and 2030 righty Layla Werner all available to fill in without missing a beat.

Here’s the stat that is jaw-dropping when looking at the Bombers this summer—the team is 19-0! The team won the TFL Championship coming out of the gate and has been unbeaten since.

The offense has been up to the task as well with Blake Romero, a 2029 C/3B, hitting two runs in action last week and one so far at the Patriot Games.

Ivy Jones, a 2029 MIF/OF, also has a home run her in Colorado and 2029 1B/OF Alexandra Wiatrek had a grand slam yesterday.

Details on the 16U team to come soon…

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My Player of the Day

Remember this name: Bella Smith.

She’s a 2030 catcher for the Birmingham Thunderbolts 14U – Whitaker team and she lives, eats and breathes softball and it shows—she’s one of the most promising players I’ve seen so far this summer.

Her hitting instructor is Leo Rojas out of Florida—we’ll have more on his facility and working with Bella soon—and he has trained Bella since 2022.

Here’s what he has to say about her:

“Bella has always been very mature, a natural leader, and has an unmatched drive. She’s the kind of athlete other girls point to and say, ‘Yeah, but that’s Bella!’”

“That’s just who she is. Nobody is surprised when she does something amazing because that’s the standard she sets for herself.”

Yesterday at Patriot Games, she went 2-for-2 with a double and today had a hit, walk and RBI in an earlier game.

Here’s a clip of her walk today:

Jenny Buzzell-Parker, one of the key figures in the Bolts organization, says this of Bella:

“Bella just has that swagger and work ethic that you can’t beat. Leo and her other coaches have to throw her off the field because she doesn’t want to stop working!

The young athlete hits rockets and is outstanding defensively too.

Amazingly, she started on varsity for Cornerstone Charter Academy as an 8^th grader this spring and put up tremendous numbers: a .406 batting average, a .479 on-base percentage with five home runs, 16 doubles and a triple—not bad for a catcher!

She also nailed seven would-be base-stealers who dared test her arm.

There’s a great story to Bella’s rise in softball, too…

Her father, Dan Smith, played baseball at the Univ. of Mount Olive in North Carolina and at the tender age of 3, Bella wanted to play t-ball which she did for a year or two before switching to softball.

Her mother, Jennifer Smith, wanted the youngster to try everything so Bella was in lacrosse, soccer, gymnastics, basketball and dance, but the result was always the same.

“At the end of the season for all the sports,” Bella’s mom remembers, “she would cry and say she didn’t want to do that one anymore, she just wanted to go back to softball!”

That she has in a big way and the future is very, very bright for the standout from the Sunshine State.

Here’s an interview I did with her after her second game of the day:

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Other Players & Teams Who Impressed:

*** McKenley Reed, a 2029 right fielder with Arizona rising 14U – Mabrey, made a beautiful throw from the outfield grass that nailed a runner at third base.

*** EK Grosvenor, a right-handed pitcher for the Bolts 14U team, gave up only one hit in her stint today as part of the team’s 8-0 shutout over Arizona Rising.

*** Addison Ozgo, the righty pitcher for the Athletics Gold – Tamborra/Olson team is one to watch. She throws in the mid-60’s with a rise and change-up that keeps hitters off-balance.

She throws a lot of strikeouts and is the type of pitcher who can carry her team to a championships game.

Here’s a video clip from today of her getting a K:

*** Looking at 14U, as mentioned above, the Bombers look strong along with the Thunderbolts and Athletics – Tamborra/Olson could do some damage.

But keep an eye on the Athletics Mercado/Tidd 2011 too.

Jayleen Mendoza is a 2030 pitcher who has the tools to take her team to the title game on Saturday and has a great offensive team around her to do it.

In an early afternoon game on Friday, third baseman CJ Wilson hit a monster shot over the right field fence for a home run