The 2026 Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) started Monday (July 13) in the Indianapolis metro area with 10U and 12U teams checking in and runs through Sunday, July 26 with the 16U and 18U championship games wrapping up that day.

Kallaway Crenshaw, a pitcher/outfielder ranked No. 11 national in the Line Drive Media 2031 HOT 100 and a member of the Atlanta Vipers – Kotula team, is blogging for us at the AFCS 12U Nationals.

Kallaway is sharing behind-the-scenes coverage from the ground in Indiana, including daily recaps, mic’d-up players, highlights, and everything that goes into competing at AFCS.

You can check out previous reports by clicking on the links below:

• Day 1 (Tue. July 14)
• Day 2 (Wed. July 15)
• Day 3 (Thu. July 16)
• Day 4 (Fri. July 17)
• Day 5 (Sat. July 18)

… here’s Kallaway’s fun report of her team advancing to the Championship Series!

*****

DAY 6 RECAP

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES BOUND🏆🥎🔥

We started the day at 11 am against Impact Gold National from Texas. We came out strong, scoring two runs in the first and two more in the second to take a 4-1 lead that we never gave up.

I had two hits and two RBIs, and Ella Roche had two hits. Layla D’Amico started in the circle and went the distance, allowing just one run while striking out six.

Then it was on to the semifinal game against the Tampa Bay Mustangs. They knew they had to beat us twice to move on, but we had other plans.

It was a back-and-forth battle until the top of the fifth inning, when our bats exploded for nine runs! We finished with a 15-5 victory and 17 total hits as a team.

Kayla Gardner went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Aria Brown had three hits and three RBIs.

Caroline Blackburn also had two hits and I had three RBIs on a bases-clearing triple.

I started in the circle and pitched three innings, allowing just one earned run. Kayla Gardner came in for an inning, and Layla closed it out to earn the save.

And just like that… WE ARE GOING TO THE AFCS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES!!! 🏆🧡

We’ve fought through every challenge this tournament has thrown at us. We’ve battled through long days, tough teams, weather delays, early mornings, and pressure-filled games.

We’ve trusted each other, picked each other up, and continued to believe.

Our third game of the day was Game 1 of the best-of-three Championship Series against the Batbusters from California.

It was a true pitchers’ duel for most of the game. They scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning, and we ended up taking our first loss of the tournament, 0-4.

But one loss doesn’t define this team—we’re still standing, we’re still fighting and we still have a chance to finish what we came here to do.

Game 2 is tomorrow at 11:15 am EST on ESPN+

Our approach is this:

One game at a time. One inning at a time. One pitch at a time.

LET’S GO VIPERS! 🧡🐍🥎

And because we know you’ve been following along with us all week, we, of course, started the day off with a “Get to Know Our Team” game! 😂

Check out the video below to get to know our team with a round of “Would You Rather?”

And now, just two more wins gets us a National Championship! 🏆