Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) Is July 20-26 at Westfield/Kokomo, IN (All rankings are Line Drive’s Club National Rankings):

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In the 18U Tier 1 national championship series:

#7 OC Batbusters-Stith came back after losing on a walk-off in Game 1 against #5 Texas Bombers Gold-Smith to win twice on Sunday to claim the 18U Tier 1 Alliance national championship at the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series at Kokomo High Stadium in Indiana.

2028 OF/MIF/3B Michaela Landers led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a double and Florida-bound MIF Brooklyn Gidley drove her in with an RBI single as the Bombers led 1-0 in Game 3.

Oklahoma-committed 2027 C/3B Riley Hilliard hit a grand slam to center field for the Batbusters in the top of the 2nd inning for a 4-1 lead over the Bombers.

“I was just feeling it for my teammates,” Hilliard told ESPN Plus. “Those are my ride or dies. … They had scored first and we needed to come back harder.”

Nevada-bound OF Grace Maguire came through with a two-run double as the Batbusters took a 6-1 lead in the top of the 3rd inning.

Gidley picked up another RBI single and Texas State-committed 2027 C/1B/3B Morgan Sanchez had a two-run double as the Bombers cut the lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

Oregon-committed 2027 3B Maya Matthies got an RBI double to give the Batbusters a 7-4 lead in the top of 4th inning.

Arizona-bound SS Natalie Keith and Hilliard had solo blasts that gave the Batbusters a 9-4 lead in the top of the fifth. It was Hilliard’s second homer of the game.

Landers got an RBI triple and Gidley had an RBI double as the Bombers cut the lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Stanford-bound OF Kale’a Tindal got an RBI single to increase the Batbusters’ lead to 10-6 in the top of the 6th inning.

The Batbusters added another run in the top of the 7th inning to make it 11-6.

The Batbusters last won 18U Tier 1 Alliance national championships from 2022-2023. The Bombers have been to the 18U Tier 1 national finals the past three years and last won an 18U Tier 1 Alliance national championship in 2024.

OC Batbusters-Stith bounced back from its walk-off loss to Texas Bombers Gold-Smith in Game 1 by holding on for a 7-6 win over the Bombers in Game 2.

Gidley came through with an RBI single to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning.

Stanford-bound OF Kale’s Tindal led off the bottom of the 3rd inning with a double and scored on 2028 OF Caelyn Campos’ single as the Batbusters tied it, 1-1. Stanford-committd 2027 3B Reese Hilliard, the twin sister of Riley, had an RBI single and Maguire blooped a two-run single to make it 4-1.

Reese Hilliard added a two-run double and BYU-bound C Tessa Cowsill drove in a run with a sac-fly in bottom of the 4th inning to give the Batbusters a 7-1 lead.

Gidley had an RBI double and Sanchez drilled a three-run home run to help the Bombers cut the lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Ole Miss-bound OF/3B/1B/C Abby Lynch-Buxton hit her third home run of the series, a solo shot to center field, as the Bombers cut the lead to 7-6 in the top of the 6th inning.

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In the 16U Tier 1 national championship series:

#25 Texas Bombers Gold-Serie took care of Turnin2-Pezz, 14-4, in Game 2 to complete the series sweep of the 16U national championship series at the Alliance Fastpitch Championship Series (AFCS) on Sunday at Kokomo High Stadium in Indiana.

2028 C Ryann Harris hit a grand slam and drove in six runs and 2028 SS Ashlynn Kennedy went 2 for 3 with two RBIs to power the Bombers offense.

“Game 2 of the national championship series was everything it needed to be,” Harris said. “We knew Game 2 was going to be the hardest and it’s always pretty tough to stay locked in after winning Game 1, but we knew that everything we did had to be our very best. It took everyone. Having a role, knowing what your role is and then being able to capitalize when your time comes was huge for us!

“I am very proud of my team, not just for winning a national championship, that was a given. I am proud of my team for being relentless and fighting all the way through to make the Elite 8 and responding to adversity to get us on the big stage. We knew if we continued to grind and got ourselves to the series, we were going to give it absolutely everything we had and that’s exactly what we did. Pressure is only what you make it, so being able to come together and rally no matter what happened really helped us perform at our very best.”

It was the first 16U Tier 1 Alliance national championship for the Texas Bombers.

“Winning the Alliance national championship for our team was the ultimate goal,” Bombers coach Serie said. “Going 47-4 on the season proves that this team could compete with anyone and talented enough to win a championship. There wasn’t a game that this group didn’t feel they couldn’t win. What an amazing summer for these young ladies.”

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