The Triple Crown Nationals are being held Tuesday-Thursday in Chino Hills, CA (All rankings are Line Drive Hot 50 Club National Rankings):

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In 18U:

2027 3B/C Riley Hilliard, Oklahoma-bound C Corri Hicks, Duke-bound 2B/RHP Hailey Shuler and 2026 C Tessa Cowsill homered to help #1 OC Batbusters-Stith, the defending two-time Alliance national champion, defeat Athletics Mercado AZ-Mo, 12-2, in the Sweet 16. …

2026 3B Natalie Keith had a two-run double and 2027 SS K’lene Gutierrez had an RBI double in the top of the 6th inning as OC Batbusters-Stith/Black rallied from a 3-2 deficit to beat #40 Power Surge Gold-Walling, 6-5, in the Sweet 16. …

Ohio State-bound P Kassandra Gewecke pitched a complete game, allowing five hits, one run and striking out five in 7.0 innings to lead #10 Corona Angels-Tyson past #44 Corona Angels-Howard, 3-1, in the Sweet 16. …

Brown-bound MIF/OF Amanda Deng led off the top of the 9th inning with a homer to highlight a three-run rally as Suncats Jimenez got past Breakers Labs-Bobby, 12-9, in the Sweet 16. …

Washington-bound 3B/SS Alexis DeBoer hit two homers and drove in five runs as #18 NW Bullets-Campos rolled over Mojo-Pikas, 10-2, in the Sweet 16. …

Santa Clare-bound RHP Cari Ferguson pitched a three-hit shutout with five strikeouts and Sacred Heart-bound 3B/C/OF Catherine Calzada homered to lift #32 USA Athletics Gold-Rogers to a 4-0 win over #33 Top Gun National-Turner in the Sweet 16. …

Iowa-bound UT Bree Johnson, Nevada-bound 3B Maya Soto and Kentucky-bound C Lindsey Miller homered to lift #29 LTG-Henderson over Washington Ladyhawks-Miller/Simpson, 5-1, in the Sweet 16. …

Boise State-bound 1B Makenzie Butt hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as #3 Athletics Mercado-Smith rolled over Firecrackers Premier-RTY, 15-1, in the Sweet 16. …

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In 16U:

Lady Magic 09-Munoz is #2 in 14U, but they moved up an age group and are in the 16U championship bracket after beating #42 OC Batbusters-Fernandez, 13-5, and #21 Warrior Academy-McDonald, 21-8, in loser’s bracket games.

2027 3B Niayli “Yelli” Calvo hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the Magic’s win over the Batbusters and 2028 C/1B Emma Johnson had two homers and seven RBIs in the Magic’s win over Warrior Academy.

“It was something we planned from the beginning of the year,” Magic coach Ernie Munoz said of the move up for Triple Crown Nationals. “It looked like they belonged out there (in 16U). They’re just doing what they do.”

Lady Magic 09-Munoz won the PGF 12U Premier national championship as a second-year 12U team in 2022. They will compete for the PGF 14U Premier national title in two weeks in Orange County.

“It’s our goal to run it back,” Munoz said. “We won it as a second year-team of 12s and now it’s second year of 14s. They have their sights set on it.”

But first up was Universal Fastpitch-Macias in the 16U championship bracket of the Triple Crown Nationals. 2026 MIF Laine Macosky hit a two-run homer as Universal Fastpitch-Macias ended Lady Magic 09-Munoz’s run with a 9-1 win in the Sweet 16. …

2026 RHP/SS Madelyn Doty struck out seven in 3.1 innings and she hit her third homer of the day to help #20 Texas Glory-Shelton defeat LK Black Hawaii, 8-1, in the Sweet 16. …

2026 SS Brooke Paalhar went 3 for 4 with a homer, two runs and three RBIs as Louisville Lady Sluggers-VanBoxmeer defeated Power Surge-Berndes/Mujica, 9-2, in the Sweet 16. …

2025 C/OF Mya Laroya hit two home runs and had three RBIs to lead BSC Bengals-Gurule past Oregon Blaze-Boynay, 6-4, in the Sweet 16. …

2026 3B Mahlyah Sao went 1 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs, 2026 1B Charlotte Coney went 1 for 3 with a homer and four RBIs as San Jose Sting-Jensen beat Athletics Mercado-RC, 13-5, in the Sweet 16. …

2025 MIF Onna Swanigan went 3 for 3 and 2026 C/1B/3B Savannah Lorenzi and 2026 RHP Mckena Harvey each drove in three runs to propel #29 LTG-Henderson past Preps Academy National-Lopez, 11-2, in the Sweet 16. …

2026 OF Bri Smith had three hits to lead Arizona Storm National-Mathis’ 11-hit attack as Arizona Storm, which features players from eight different teams, held on to beat Firecrackers Leles 2026, 7-6, in the Sweet 16. …

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In 14U:

2028 P/IF Tulutuleilei Salue went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs, 2029 OF Devaeh Crawford went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs, 2028 IF/C Melia Munoz went 3 for 3 with an RBI and 2028 P Madeline Capek started the game and came back to close it in 5.0 innings of work to lead #11 OC Batbusters-Stith/Garcia over So Cal Athletics-DK, 12-5. The Batbusters clinched a spot in the championship bracket.

“(The) team is playing good,” Batbusters coach Chris Garcia said. “We have some areas where we need to be more sharp, but we’re seeing the ball well at the plate and making good decisions on pitches to hit.” …

2029 RF Erica Martin went 3 for 4 with a run and two RBIs to help BSC Bengals-Briggs upset #20 Athletics Mercado-Tidd/Iwai, 11-5, and qualify for the championship bracket.

“This week, we got back on track with where we left off (3rd-place finish) in KC at the Top Gun Invitational),” Bengals coach Ken Briggs said. “Solid batting throughout the lineup led by (2027 CF) Kayleigh Allen, (2028 P/1B Kiarah) ‘Kiki’ Chukwudi and (2027 P/2B) Yenna Song along with timely hitting has been a key factor. We have also had solid performances by (2028 P/1B) Savannah Doss and (2029 P/OF) Erica Martin in the circle.” …

2027 RF Aliandra Plimpton went 3 for 3 with a run and two RBIs as #6 Corona Angels-Tyson beat #38 Warrior Academy-McDonald, 8-1, to qualify for the championship bracket. …

Firecrackers 2027-RTY had a 12-2 lead going into the last inning before pulling out a 12-10 victory over Breakers Labs 09-Keusch to qualify for the championship bracket.

The Firecrackers got hitting from 2027 MIF Sadie Burroughs, 2027 OF/3B Josephine Gallo, 2027 1B/OF Shiloh Smith, 2028 P/1B/OF Brooklyn Mireles and 2027 3B/1B/OF/SS Ryan Torres and pitching from Mireleas and 2027 P Mia Salas to beat the Breakers.

“They beat us the last two times so it was a grudge match,” Firecrackers coach Randy Yuge said. “They are a great team and it’s (a) great friendly competition.” …

2025 3B Jennie Hernandez went 3 for 4 with a homer, two runs and two RBIs as Suncats Jimenez-Gutierrez knocked off #9 Wildcats-Holcomb/Knight, 11-3, in the Sweet 16. …

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