Here we are… it’s time to get serious as the march to Sunday’s PGF Championships in the younger age brackets (14U, 12U and 10U) begins.

Each day ‘til now has had its primary focus:

• Sunday was the Coaches Dinner which is where the draw took place to assign teams positions in the brackets
• Monday was Opening Ceremonies
• Tuesday was Pool Play
• … and today, Wednesday, started Bracket Play

It’s the familiar process where, if you lose, you drop down into the Loser’s Bracket and have a more difficult path to the championship game—but it can be done.

Today saw some of the top names in club softball take the field and from one end of the country to the other, literally, as the Rhode Island Thunder begin their bracket play as did LK Hawaii!

Important note: if you have some impressive stats or performances you’d like to share for possible publication, email them to: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com.

Here are some highlights from the games we saw today at the Huntington Beach Sports Complex…

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Team Spotlight: LTG 14U Henderson/Buck Is Loose & Loaded… Loaded with Talent, That Is!

Joe Henderson, who runs the Love the Game (LTG) club organization out of the Sacramento, Calif. area, has a good thing going with his 20-plus teams in the program ranging from 10U up through 18U.

Last week at PGF 18U Nationals, his teams finished 9^th in each of the Premier and Platinum divisions, and he also had a player in the PGF Futures All-American Game.

Here’s a sweet clip of Joe, who also coaches several teams including the 14U squad playing this week in the Premier division, taking a photo last Saturday of one of his players, outfielder Taylor Sansaver who is committed to Arizona, while she poses with young fans of hers after she played in the Futures All-American game.

There’s no doubt that—from 18U down to 10U—this West Coast-based successful program has talent and has won at the highest levels.

Take the LTG 14U – Hendson/Buck team competing in the PGF 14U Premier division, for example.

Two years ago, as a then-12U team, this very squad was runner-up in the PGF Nationals. This summer, the team showed what it could do by winning the Colorado Power Pool at the Colorado 4^th of July tournament, one of the biggest of the summer.

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The talent and depth on this team is impressive.

Deep at pitching, you have a standout right-hander in Maddy Benzler, a 2029 grad who is tall and powerful and, according to Recruiting Liaison Cat Carrisosa, is “a phenomenal teammate.”

Today’s starting pitcher in the LTG bracket opener was Lauren Klomp… more on this standout in a minute.

In the infield, you have one of the best shortstops in the Class of 2029 in Tamiayh Ward who has great footwork, speed and softball smarts.

In the 7-0 win today over a solid Illinois Chill team, she made a beautiful play in the 6-hole when she took a groundball on the right side of the infield, stepped on second and in one motion fired to first for the double play.

All the players on this loaded LTG team are 2029’s save one: Malia Johnson, a standout 2030 outfielder who is the daughter of former Major League Baseball first baseman and DH Nick Johnson, who played 10 seasons in the MLB including five with the New York Yankees.

Malia’s sister, Bri Johnson, is currently a sophomore shortstop for the University of Iowa.

Here’s a clip of Malia from today’s game when she hit a two-run double…

And then there’s the lefty pitcher Lauren Klomp mentioned earlier…

She really impressed on Wednesday with her low 60’s speed complemented by four off-speed pitches with her drop-curve being especially dangerous.

In May, we ranked Lauren 8^th in the 2026 HOT 100 rankings and as a freshman at Ponderosa High, she was Cal-Hi Sports 1^st Team All-State for Medium Schools as she went 18-1 with a 1.03 ERA and had 243 K’s in 128.2 innings.

And this is where the “loose” part of the team comes into play.

Talented… oh yes. Accomplished… very.

But what you have to love about this team is HOW. MUCH. FUN. it has (and is)!!!

One player to note here is Brea Hart, the 2029 outfielder who had a home run today at the Huntington Beach Sports Complex.

Brea, to put it simply, is one of—if note THE—most entertaining softball players we’ve been around this year.

She is all energy and fun and you can tell her teammates love what she brings to the team.

For example, we tried to get in a serious interview with Klomp, the winning pitcher, after the game, but you can see Ms. Hart hovering in the background ready to wreck some havoc while catcher Elle Osbourne sneaks in from the side to interrupt what surely would have been an ESPN Sports Center caliber interview…

They’re dancers too… check out Hart and Klomp doing some dance moves while their vocally talented teammates sing “”Hey, Soul Sister” by the band Train.”

We found a future comedy team of Hart & Klomp who here crack up their teammates off camera… and then when Line Drive’s Brentt Eads asks the rest of the team in jest if Brea is missing a few (well, brain cells), you can see how much fun and love they all have for their hilarious friend…

Finally, huge props to Coaches Henderson and Zach and Amanda Buck for letting the team create its own personality which includes getting it done on the field and having great fun off of it.

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Pitcher of the Day

You have to give it to Lauren Klomp, as mentioned above, as the LTG 14U – Henderson/Buck standout pitched five innings today (the game was shortened to six innings because it was a 7-0 run rule win) and gave up no runs nor hits while recording nine strikeouts and no walks.

Her righty complement, Maddy Benzler, came in to pitch one inning and also was perfect while striking out one batter.

Together, the lefty/righty dominating duo totaled six innings of no-hit ball while striking out 10.

The only thing that prevented it from being a perfect game was one error, but you have to think that Head Coach Joe Henderson isn’t too upset about the dominating way the team looked in all states of the game.

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Mark this Name Down as One of the Top 2029’s In the Country

Avery Dunlap is a 2029 right-handed pitcher and first baseman who is drawing a lot of attention at the PGF 14U Premier Nationals this week.

The past two days, she’s had a dozen college coaches at her games from Power 4 schools like Arizona State, Auburn, Texas, A&M, LSU, Penn State, Michigan St, Texas Tech, Georgia, Tennessee and more.

In the first game of bracket play today, Avery went all seven innings in her team’s 3-0 win over BSC Bengals Briggs and gave up just four hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Avery also had 12 strikeouts.

Here’s an interview Line Drive’s Brentt Eads did with her right before the second game of the day in which Avery didn’t pitch but got to rest as the Hotshots defeated the LTG Lions – Quiroz 10-1.

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Hitter of the Day

Sticking with the Hotshots, you have to give props to Colbie Miskie who had two big home runs today to help her team advance in the Winner’s Bracket of the PGF 14U Premier Nationals.

In the opening 3-0 win, the 2029 outfielder/second baseman had a two-run blast and in the late afternoon win over LTG – Quiroz she had another big game with a three-run home run in the first inning over the center field fence and in the fifth inning had an RBI single to help propel the Hotshots to a 10-1 victory.

All told on the day, Colbie went 3-for-6 with two home runs and four RBIs.

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Loudest Dugout

We gotta give it to the Las Vegas Blast 14U 2011 team led by Head Coach Kristy Odamura.

You could hear the team a mile away and, to the team’s credit, when a player drew a walk, you’d have thought it was a walk-off home run.

The team suffered a tough 7-6 loss to the Vault Fastpitch 14U – Howard team but you can be sure win or lose, this team will be loud and proud.

*** Kudos also to the Washington Ladyhawks, whose dugout was the best we heard all day when it game to energetic and supportive chatter.

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Another Impressive Pitcher in 14U Premier…

Jayla Thomas, the 2029 pitcher for Universal Bay Area, led her team to a 2-0 win over Intensity National BOD/Burzo as she went all seven innings, allowing five hits and walking three while striking out six.

Most importantly, she kept a good-hitting Intensity team from coming around to score.

Here’s a highlight of one of her pitches for a strike on Wednesday…