July 7, 2024
Photo Credit: Nathan Chu
Aurora, Colo. - It was an instant classic between two of the elite squads in the nation, one hailing from northeast Texas, the other from Portland, Tennessee, at Aurora Sports Park on Sunday afternoon for the 2024 Colorado 4th of July 16u National Power Pool Championship. Changes in the wind at the ballpark also invited a back-and-forth battle on the scoreboard, leading to a 8-7 Tennessee Mojo victory in extra innings over Texas Glory 16u.
This was a rematch of these two teams from earlier in the week, who faced off in the TV game consolation bracket on Wednesday, where Texas Glory 16u came out victorious 17-9.
Glory third baseman Kennedy Bradley put her squad up early in the first 1-0, opening the scoring with a solo shot to right center, her third home run in two days. She would strike yet again with a laced single to right field in the third, driving in Brianna Cesario, putting Glory up 2-0.
TN Mojo second baseman and Missouri commit, Avery Adcock, evened things up in the bottom half of the third, delivering a two-run shot over the left field wall to notch the game up at 2-2. Bailee Shelton nearly went back-to-back, with a drive off the outfield fence, that scored Adcock and gave Mojo their first lead of the game, 3-2.
Mojo third baseman Jade Carnahan, who is headed to play college ball at Central Arkansas, kept the offensive surge alive in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run blast, to put her team ahead 5-2. Shelton, TN Mojo's starting pitcher, helped the cause with a double to center to bring home Natalie Donaldson and extending the lead to 6-2.
Glory's Madelyn Doty connected on a clutch RBI double, followed by another vital RBI single by Finlee Williams, a 2027 grad, to tie up the ball game at 6-6 in the top of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, a dropped third strike allowed Carnahan onto first, later advancing to second on a steal. Glory turned again to Doty, a highly sought after pitcher in the 2026 class, who proceeded to strike out three straight batters, sending the game to extra innings.
Kinley Patton rode the momentum of that into the top of the eighth, with an RBI single to drive in the go-ahead run and put the Glory in the driver seat, 7-6. But the Mojo refused to surrender, down to their final three outs.
Mojo tested Doty yet again, in the bottom of the 8th inning after loading the bases, when Carly Potts laid down a bunt that led to both the tying and game-winning run to score on an overthrow to home.
“Honestly, I was just thinking to tie the ball game and it was gonna go extra innings” said Mojo head coach Nick Gregory, “they overthrew the ball and we were able to capitalize,” when asked about his decision to bunt with the bases loaded that produced the game winning play.
Coach Gregory and his squad were able to persevere while securing the 2024 CoSparkFire title In an 8-7 victory, in what turned out to be one of the best Power Pool championship games in Triple Crown’s Colorado 4th of July tournament’s history.
