The PGF 16U Premier Nationals kicked off the first of four games on Saturday at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif. (the others being the PGF 18U Premier Championship, the PGF Futures All-American Game and the PGF Seniors All-American Game).

The fact that both the Beverly Bandits 16U – Moran/Lewis and BSC Briggs teams made it at all to the title match was made all the more impressive in that both had to come through the loser’s bracket on Friday, meaning they had to defeat the winner’s bracket champ twice to make it to this morning’s title match-up.

This game was also the third time Bandits head coach Chad Moran did it that way, but in the others, he lost in the championship.

“It’s a lot nicer to do it this way,” he said after the game, which was won by his Midwest squad that featured an undefeatable combo of tough pitching and great speed at the top of the order.

Starting pitcher Adeline Shultz, a 2027 commit to Arizona State, didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning.

In the 7^th inning, Coach Moran brought in 2027 Kent State pitcher Paige Visser to close the game, a smart move as her dropball was a nice complement to Shultz’s tough-to-hit riseball.

Shultz would give up just two hits in her six-inning stretch with six strikeouts and only one earned run. Admitting she was tired after a long week to get to the title game, she gave up five walks, but each time was admirably able to pitch out of trouble.

Entering the game, Adeline had pitched 35 scoreless innings out of 36.2 total innings and had four complete game shutouts in bracket play—including one that went eight runs—to give her a 6-1 record and 0.57 ERA.

The Bandits started the game off with an infield single by 2027 uncommitted infielder Kira Bailey and a flair over third by 2027 middle infielder Hunter Hopkins.

A grounder to third moved the runners up to scoring position before Piper Lewis, the lefty corner infielder committed to Kentucky, walked to load the bases.

Zhanna Guenter, a 2027 outfielder committed to Missouri, hit a sac fly to short right field to put the Bandits on the board as Bailey came across to score.

The bottom of the first was typical of how the day would go for the Bandits pitcher, as she gave up a leadoff walk but then struck out the side using an effective combination of her riseball, curve and change-up.

In the top of the second inning, the Bandits effectively put the game out of reach by plating four runs.

A leadoff walk to Michigan bound catcher Lexi Kyros had Natalie Carr come in as replacement runner and she moved to second on an infield hit to Layla Peters. A sac bunt by Mary Fortner moved the runners to second and third.

Kira Bailey slapped a single to left field to bring home run the second run and Hunter Hopkins then slapped to left field to make it 3-0, with baserunners on the corners with one out.

Outfielder Kendall Ponatoski, a talented 2028 grad, slapped to third base and the throw came home, but the runner scored in advance of the throw to make the score 4-0.

Next came a smart coaching call to utilize the Bandits’ speed.

Ponatoski intentionally strayed off first to draw the throw from the BSC – Briggs catcher, which allowed Hopkins to race home for the fourth run of the inning and a 5-0 score overall after just one and a half innings.

On the flip side, Shultz got another 1-2-3 inning including two more strikeouts to give her five K’s out of the six hitters she faced in the first two innings.

In the top of the second, the Bengals brought in Ericka Martin to pitch and she mixed good spins and a change-up to stem the damage and get out of  the inning with no further damage.

In the third, Shulz gave up two walks to start the inning and then came a bizarre situation as an infield pop-up by the Bengals’ Eliana Corona was called an infield fly rule, but the third baseman and shortstop hesitated, allowing the ball to land and the runners to advance to second and third.

Kynalea Cacal a talented 2029 infielder, hit a comebacker to Shultz in the circle and the pitcher threw to first to get the sure out, in the process allowing Corona to cross the plate to make it 5-1 at the end of three innings.

In the top of the 4^th, the Bandits got their run back: with one out as Bailey lined a bullet up the middle that deflected off Martin’s glove in the circle for a scorching single into center.

Hopkins reached safely on an infield single and both advanced on steals to put runners in scoring position with no outs.

Eventually, a Ponatoski infield ground out brought home Bailey for the run to make it 6-1.

In the top of the fifth, the Bengals would add another run to make it the eventual final score of 7-1 as another intentional rundown between first and second allowed 2027 outfielder Zhanna Guenther, who has verballed to Missouri, to slide face-first safely at home plate.

Along with the strong pitching from Shultz and Visser, the top of the Bandits offensive order was key as Bailey lead off the lineup and went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBIs while Hopkins went 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

All told, Bandits had 10 hits compared to the Bengals two.

Here’s the final play to give the Bandits the Premier 16U National Championship…

After the game, Line Drive Media’s Brentt Eads caught up with Coach Moran. Here’s that interview:

Also interviewed was Adeline Shultz, the winning pitcher and the player Coach Moran says should be “the MVP of the tournament.”