It’s getting serious in Week 2 of the PGF Nationals as the top teams march on in the Winner’s Brackets while those who lose one game must fight back through the Loser’s Brackets, meaning a harder path (but doable).

After Thursday’s play in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Irvine, we’re getting a clearer picture of who’s advancing in the Winner’s Brackets.

Here’s how it looks for each age division—14U, 12U and 10U…

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Winner’s Bracket Games on Friday

Note: all times listed are Pacific Standard Time

14U

Bracket A (8)

* NW Vandals – Duval/Hollen vs. Hotshots – Torres/Seneca
— Friday @ 12:30 pm, HG  – Field 5

* Athletics Gold – Tamborra/Olson vs. Hustle Nation Fastpitch
— Friday @ 12:30 pm, HB  – Field 6

* Beverly Bandits – Chow/Hardin vs. Athletics Mercado – Cook/Drew
— Friday @ 12:30 pm, HB  – Field 7

* Lady Magic – Allen vs. Universal Bay Area – Tabro/Garcia
— Friday @ 12:30 pm, HB  – Field 8

Bracket B (8)

* Athletics Mercado – Bryant vs. Birmingham Thunderbolts – Whitaker
— Friday @ 12:30, HB – Field 1

* USA Prime – Halstead vs. USA Athletics – Ramirez 
— Friday @ 12:30, HB – Field 2

* LTG Henderson – Buck vs. AZ Storm – Pomeroy
— Friday @ 12:30, HB – Field 3

* NW Bullets – Herman vs. Warriors McDonald/O’Brien
— Friday @ 12:30, HB – Field 4

12U

Bracket A (4)

* Sorcerer – Ramos vs. Birmingham Thunderbolts 2031 – Tennyson
— Friday @ 8:00 am, FV Sports Park – Field 3

* I-5 – Banbrook vs. Athletics Mercado – Greg
— Friday @ 8:00 am, FV Sports Park – Field 4

Bracket B (4)

* Hana Pa’a Softball vs. Explosion – Kim/Okamoto
— Friday @ 8 am, FV Sports Park – Field 1

* Top Gun – Rocha vs. EC Bullets – Hunt
— Friday @ 8 am, FV Sports Park – Field 2

10U

Bracket A (4)

* LTG Lions – Mora/Sousa vs. Athletics Mercado – Godoy
     — Friday @ 2:45 pm @ Barber Park – Field 1

* Hotshots – Villegas vs. Panthers Gold
     — Friday @ 2:45 pm @ Barber Park – Field 2

Bracket B (4)

* Hotshots 2033 – Draheim vs. Wildcats – Laukat 
     — Friday @ 2:45 pm @ Barber Park – Field 3

* AL Sparks Elite 2033 vs. LTG – Palacious 
–– Friday @ 2:45 pm @ Barber Park – Field 4

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Team Spotlight – Athletics Gold – Tamborra/Olson… Limited Numbers at Times, But Always Huge in Talent

You have to give credit to Head Coach Janet Olson who at times has impressively done a lot with less… much less.

When some teams have 15 or more players, Olson has had to make do with a roster of only 10 and at teams even eight.

How to deal with that?

Coach Olson picked up other players in the Athletics organization and credits the org head Stacy Tamborra and the other coaches for being generous in letting players move up or share time competing with this successful team.

This week at PGF Nationals, the Athletics squad has made it to the “Sweet 16” in the Winner’s Bracket and will play Friday at 12:30 pm PST against Hustle National Fastpitch.

“We have just eight players from my original team and have to pull the best players from other Athletics teams,” she explains.

“It’s wonderful to have so much talent within the organization and it’s such a blessing—it’s saved our summer and we haven’t missed a beat.”

A good example is that of 2031 Callia Patterson, a right-handed pitcher and outfield who played all summer with the Athletics Tamborra– Beck team at 12U and has recently come up to the 14U level with Olson and has been successful.

Sometimes patch-working a roster together, Olson and her staff have had impressive results; here are their finishes this summer in elite events across the country:

• Scenic City T25 (2^nd place)
• Sparkler National Power Pool (top 16)
• Team NJ Clearwater Fall Classic (2^nd place)
• Zoom Into June – 7 inning division (5-1)
• GA Oaks 16U (5^th place)
• CanAm Cup 16U (2^nd place)

Heading into Thursday, game—which was an 8-0 run-rule win over D1VISION—the team was 49-14-2 this summer.

It helps that the team has two of the top 2030 pitchers in the nation in Tyler Orebaugh and Addison Ozgo, who throw as high as 64 mph and 67 mph, respectively.

In Thursday’s win, Tyler pitched four innings and gave up just three hits and no runs while striking seven and walking two.

In one inning, she struck out the side.

Stacy Tamborra, the head of the highly successful organization, says of Orebaugh:

“She has a very lively ball and her up spin is incredible.  Tyler is such a fierce competitor, but such a gentle soul.  She’s pretty quiet and seems passive, but she is an absolute fierce competitor.  Tyler’s also very much a student of the game and constantly holding herself to a very high standard.  She’s a great teammate, very humble and loves to celebrate other kids successes.”

Callia, the young 2031 who was playing 12U most of this summer, came in and closed it out with one hit allowed and two strikeouts.

The offense is talented and deep—in Thursday’s game, seven different players had hits including Kaelyn Utech, a 2029 outfielder who went 3-for-3 and scored three runs. Sophia Blane, a 2029 lefty pitcher and first baseman, went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs including an RBI double.

One of the player losses that Coach Olson has had to replace is that of Hartley Hurt, ranked in the Line Drive HOT 100 in the Top 5 of her class.

She had an ACL tear last fall, but is about ready to return—in fact, the tough 2029 middle infielder says if the Athletics make it to the championship game on Sunday, “I could possibly DH.”

There’s another complicating factor that Tamborra, Olson and the coaches in the org have had to deal with: high school softball in Georgia—where many of the players are from—has started already and many will miss the start of the season.

Take 2029 outfielder Keegan Angel, for example. Her high school will play two games on Saturday which she’ll miss.

And she’s not the only one, but Coach Olson says the high school softball coaches understand what’s going on and are patient until the players return from nationals to rejoin their prep squads.

And that brings up a final change for the coaching staff: they have flights set up on Sunday to get them home at 10 pm EST so the players can get back to their school teams.

Only problem is, the PGF 14U Premier Nationals is on Sunday and, if the A’s make it, they’ll have to totally rearrange their flights home.

“Playing in the championship game,” says Olson, “and having to reschedule our flights home would be a nice problem to have.”

A final fun note… the Athletics Gold – Tamborra/Olson players are big fans of their coach… to the point of cheering for her, probably because they know it embarrasses the good-hearted coach who, you can tell, they really appreciate and love.

Check this short video shot after the team won today’s game:

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Rising Star: Pitcher Evelyn (Ev) Gregory (Birmingham Thunderbolts 2031 – Tennyson)

You’re a 12-year-old player and you think you’re doing pretty good… you’re at PGF Nationals, after all… right?

And then you step into the box and look out at the pitcher’s mound and see a 6-foot-3 multi-sport athlete who throws in the low 60’s—and has hit as high as 63 mph—staring in ready to pitch.

And, you learn, just seconds before stepping into the box that she also throws a curveball (her out pitch), a screwball, drop and change-up.

Gulp.

That’s what opposing hitters are facing with they take on Evelyn Gregory, a tall and intimidating athlete who also has played volleyball and basketball but has decided to focus on softball for the future.

Which is interesting in that she started at age 8, but up until the last year, she’d played mostly local rec ball until being seen and brought into the Bolts organization where she has thrived.

From Tupalo, Miss., “Ev”—who her Bolts teammates have humorously started to call “Tiny”—has been all but untouchable this week at PGF Nationals.

In 16.1 innings pitched, the 2031 grad has faced 66 batters and struck out 22 of them to go with a 0.00 ERA and a batting average against of .121.

In the spring for the Thunderbolts, the 13-year-old who has a 2012 birthday, pitched 66 innings and faced 298 batters, of which she struck out 87 and had a 1.873 ERA.

Also, this spring, Ev led her Guntown (Miss.) Middle School to an undefeated season and struck out 58 of the 89 batters she faced.

Here’s a clip of Evelyn making a pitch for a strikeout in Thursday game action:

An interesting fact about Ev is that she can’t hear out of her left year due to a non-cancerous tumor that was removed but still impacted her hearing. Obviously, it hasn’t slowed her down between the lines.

Off the field, her mother Kelly Gregory says of her daughter:

“Evelyn is strong in her Christian faith and goofy but a lot of fun. She likes rap, dancing and singing and, truthfully, she can’t sing and I tell her to just stick to softball! (laughs). But seriously, Ev is very disciplined and a rule follower which has helped her get to where she is today in life.”

Where she is today in softball is a promising rising star who will be one to watch in the future. And because she has helped her Bolts team make the Elite 8 of undefeated teams in the 12U Premium Winner’s Bracket, we’re also going to name her our Pitcher of the Day.

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Hitter of the Day

The Hotshots – Torres/Seneca team continues to roll and had a big 12-1 win over Athletics Mercado – Petterson earlier today.

Sparking that win was third baseman Paige Wardinsky, who went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBIs. She also scored three runs.

There was a bit of a controversy in her hits, though; the one ruled a double actually could have easily been ruled an inside-the-park home run as it escaped the outfield and Paige used her speed to round the bases.

Here’s a clip of that hit which was ultimately ruled just the two-bagger.

And props go out to her teammate Avery Dunlap, the outstanding pitcher who has had top Power 4 schools following her all week.

She showed she has some pop in the bat two as she hit a two-run walk-off home run that made the run-rule go into effect.

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Happy Birthday

Finally, we hope Susie Clark, who is on the same Birmingham Thunderbolts 12U team that Evelyn Gregory pitches for, had a wonderful birthday.

In this clip, she is getting sung to by her teammates wishing her a Happy Birthday!

And one of her family members told us that the team would get cupcakes after today’s game… but only if they won! We think that was a joke… but they won so it doesn’t really matter!

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media