Oklahoma City, Okla.,---It was elimination day at the 2006 ASA Girls’ 18-Under Gold Fast Pitch National Championship as 16-teams were sent home after suffering two consecutive losses while 16-other teams advanced in the Sweet 16 of the winner’s bracket. 48 teams remain in contention for the ultimate title in girl’s fast pitch softball.
The Oklahoma Babes of Midwest, Okla., making their first appearance in the Girls’ 18-Under Gold National Championship, continued their late inning heroics on day two of bracket play when Lauren Menke launched a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Babes a 5-4 win over Sorcerers Gold.
Six games in the winner’s bracket were decided by one run including a classic between the California Cruisers of La Palma, Calif., and the Anaheim OC Batbusters of Huntington Beach, Calif., (1-0) that ended at 3:10 a.m. after nine innings on a single by Cruisers shortstop Krista Donnenwirth .
Games also decided by one run was the Sudden Impact Gold of Houston, Texas over The Next Level of Cardiff, Texas (1-0); Valley Breeze Gold of Palomia, Calif., over Minnesota Irish Gold of Rosemount, Minn., (1-0); San Diego Renegades of San Diego, Calif., over Oregon Panthers Gold of Salem, Ore., (3-2); So Cal Pumas of Newbury Park, Calif., over Omaha Finesse of Omaha, Neb., (2-1) and the Oklahoma Babes over Sorcerers Gold.
Other teams that remain in the winner’s bracket include San Diego County Breakers of Carlsbad, Calif., So Cal Athletics of Montclair, Calif., Shamrocks of Vienna, Va., Houston Power Gold of Katy, Texas, JETS Gold of Agoura Hills, Calif., St. Louis Chaos of Florissnat, Mo., Worth Firecrackers of Huntington Beach, Calif., Arizona Hot Shots of Tempe, Ariz.
The Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, La., came from behind for the second day in a row to remain in the winner’s bracket. Trailing 6-0 after five innings, the Voodoo scored four runs in each of the last two innings to defeat Texas Impact Gold of Houston, Texas, 8-6, to remain undefeated.
The 16 teams who have been eliminated from the 2006 Gold National Championship include: Blast Gold of Beaumont, Texas; South Bay Pride of Torrance, Calif.; So Cal Sliderz of Sunland, Calif.; Gold Coast Hurricanes of Plantation, Fla.; Strikezone of Hayward, Calif.; MC Elite Gold of Magnolia, Texas; Absolute Blast Gold of Bellevue, Wash.; Germantown Red Devils of Southhaven, Miss.; Team FLA 18U Gold of Palm Harbor, Fla.; Tennessee Nighthawks of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Texas Storm Gold of Pearland, Texas; Lady Gators Gold of Delray Beach, Fla.; Miami Valley Express of Mason, Ohio; New Jersey Breakers Gold of Monroe, N.J.; Polar Crush of Worcester, Mass., and Colorado Stars of Boulder, Colo.
Play continues on Wednesday with elimination games beginning at 9 a.m. Box Scores and Play-by-Play of all the games can be found on the official tournament website at http://gold.asasoftball.com. Three of the four fields also have “Live” stats available.
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