Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) Is July 24-31 at Westfield/Kokomo, IN (All rankings are Line Drive’s Club National Rankings):

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In 14U Tier 1 National Championship Series:

#21 Athletics Mercado 2029-Christie/Zito picked up a 6-4 upset over #2 Texas Bombers Gold-Malpass in Game 1 of the AFCS 14U Tier 1 national championship series on Thursday at Kokomo High in Indiana.

Texas Bombers Gold-Malpass is the defending 14U Alliance national champion. The national championship series continues on Friday with Game 2 at 7 a.m. PT and Game 3 at 9:15 a.m. PT.

2029 3B/UT McKenleigh Mathews went 3 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, 2029 OF/UT Kendal Peel went 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2029 C Kayleigh Highfill went 2 for 4 with a double and a run to power Athletics Mercado’s offense in Game 1.

“We had been playing since 9 a.m. straight at that point,” Athletics Mercado coach Christie Chapman said, “they had to have been tired, but we had a lot of momentum and belief! And everyone is going to get tired of me saying it, but a ton of grit. I’m going to steal a quote from the NCAA tournament this year, ‘an underdog is still a dog.’ We play our game, compete from start to finish and leave it all on the field.”

2029 1B/OF Reese Madsen, 2029 1B/C Jillian Gonzales and 2029 MIF/OF/UT Kimber Fuessel all had two hits apiece for the Bombers.

“The championship series is a battle between two very good teams,” Bombers coach Kristi Malpass said. “To win, you have to play clean softball and we didn’t do that today. Good teams capitalize on mistakes and Mercado did exactly that.

“Mercado is a tough, competitive team and beating them will require us to clean up our game, execute the fundamentals and take advantage of every opportunity we’re given. That’s exactly why it’s a series. One game doesn’t decide anything. We learn from it, respond and come back ready to compete tomorrow.”

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