The Goodwill Games was held Oct. 2-4 in Stockton, CA:

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18U: HOTSHOTS NATIONAL-NELSON 8, OC BATBUSTERS-STITH 7 

1st To 3rd Softball Events put together the Goodwill Games, one of the top tournaments of the fall, featuring some of the top teams from PGF and Alliance.

Hotshots National-Nelson, #3 at PGF 18U Premier Nationals this past summer, picked up an 8-7 upset in 8 innings over OC Batbusters-Stith, the reigning 18U Tier 1 Alliance national champion, in the 18U championship game on Sunday at Arnaiz Stadium in Stockton, CA.

Hotshots-Nelson received $7,500 prize money and Batbusters-Stith got $2,500.

Central Florida-bound 3B/UT Bella Nicholson (571 AVG, 4 doubles, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, .700 OBP, 2.200 OPS), Stanford-bound 1B/C/Ut Daniela Villareal (.450 AVG, 9 hits, 4 doubles, 2 HRs, 10 RBIs), Florida-bound UT Taegan Lerman (1,010 OPS, 8 hits, 5 RBIs), McNeese State-bound IF/OF/UT Maliyah Harrison (8 hits), Texas Tech-bound OF/3B Skylar Knight (.412 AVG, 7 hits), uncommitted Northwest Alabama Community College-bound C/UT Maci Nowak (.444 AVG, 1.323 OPS, 4 RBIs), Alabama-committed 2028 C/SS Jayde Palmer (2 HRs, 4 RBIs), uncommitted 2029 P/1B Avery Dunlap (5 hits, 6 RBIs) and uncommitted 2030 SS/3B/UT Paige Wardinsky (5 hits, 3 RBIs) were some of the offensive standouts for the Hotshots.

Uncommitted 2028 RHP/1B Avery Pitts (8.2 IP, 11 Ks), Dunlap (12.2 IP, 18 Ks) and Stanford-bound RHP Abby Atkinson (7.1 IP, 13 Ks) were the pitching standouts for the Hotshots.

“Great event with real softball being played,” Hotshots coach Nate Nelson said.  “Top competition making all the players in the event better! We’ll be back next year.”

Hotshots National-Nelson beat USA Premier, 8-0, Foothill Gold-Stinson, 11-2, Warrior Academy-McDonald, 5-3, and OC Batbusters-Stith, 8-7, in bracket games.

OC Batbusters-Stith defeated Suncats Jimenez, 2-1, Lady Magic-Munoz, 10-9, California Grapettes-Merrida/Kapp, 14-1, and lost to Hotshots National-Nelson, 8-7 , in bracket games.

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16U: LADY MAGIC-MUNOZ VS. LADY MAGIC-ALLEN

Lady Magic-Munoz and Lady Magic-Allen, #5 at PGF 14U Premier Nationals this past summer, bother reached the 16U championship game, decided not to play the final and finished as co-champions at the Goodwill Games on Sunday at Misty Holt Singh Field in Stockton, CA.

Both teams received $5,000 prize money for finishing as co-champions.

Washington-committed 2028 C/1B Maddie Bittman (.500 AVG, 3 HRs), uncommitted 2029 SS/C/3B Renee Dragseth (.476 AVG, 3 doubles, 2 HRs and 9 RBIs) and Purdue-committed 2028 MIF/OF Bri Seffens (.471 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBIs) and uncommitted 2028 MIF/UT Gracie Martinez (.471 AVG, 1 HR, 6 RBIs) were the leaders for Lady Magic-Munoz. In the circle, Utah State-committed 2028 RHP Rylie Bumgarner finished the weekend with a 1.60 ERA and led the pitchers with 12 Ks for Lady Magic-Munoz.

“This was a great event with top-level competition from not just the area, but also from the national stage,” Lady Magic-Munoz coach Lindsey Munoz said.

“We like how our 16U Muñoz team is playing right now, and are excited to see the growth continue between now and PGF Nationals.”

2029 RHP/3B/2B Lovee Bryant (.526 AVG, 10 hits, 3 triples, 3 doubles, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, 8 runs), 2029 IF/UT Chloe Wolfe (.444 AVG, 1 double, 2 HRs, 5 runs), 2029 OF/UT Briona Bravo (.429 AVG, 4 doubles) and 2029 RHP/UT Katharine Popovski (16 IP, 20 Ks, .197 BAA) were the leaders for Lady Magic-Allen.

“Getting to co-champ(s) in this tournament with our older (Lady Magic-)Munoz team means so much to our team and our org,” Lady Magic coach Brian Allen said.

“We have added some key players to a group the had T-5 finishes in the P5 (Patriot Games), (Triple Crown Colorado) Sparkler and PGF Nationals. The future is much brighter for this team and it is going to (be) fun to watch what they can do together.”

“This is just a glimpse. After the last four games leading into today’s 3-0 run, most would have thrown in the towel. The girls came together after going 0-3 in pool play and 0-4 in their last four games.”

“The girls had a lot of good learning moments and most of all learned to trust in their team and compete as a team.”

Lady Magic-Munoz defeated Cal Nuggets-Woods, 12-1, Hotshots National-Galloway, 8-1, OC Batbusters-Stith, 9-1, and DNP’d Lady Magic-Allen, in bracket games.

Lady Magic-Allen defeated Power Surge-Walling, 5-2, LTG 2029-Henderson/Buck, 8-5, Unity 2028-Nulick, 9-1, and DNP’d Lady Magic-Munoz in bracket games.

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