July 8, 2024
AURORA, Colo. – No doubt, the Top Gun National 18u squad had reason to celebrate a terrific early start to the 18u Power Pool championship game of the Colorado 4thof July event.
But they had to calibrate the reality, as well, that the opposing Unity Johnson/Ricks team would not go away quietly.
In a marathon episode of big swings at Aurora Sports Park, Top Gun exited the scene with an 18-12 victory, never falling behind after taking a 12-0 lead but never quite perfectly at ease as Unity kept chipping away. Grace Shaw (a North Florida commit for college softball) reached base five times with three hits and four RBI and got the wheels churning for Top Gun with a two-out three-run homer in the first inning.
The next big blast came from Sierra Persinger, a grand slam in the second inning that highlighted a seven-run outburst, and the lead hit that 12-0 mark in the third backed by another home run from Sydney Boulaphinh.
Unity would respond with five runs in the bottom of the third with home runs from Amayah Doyle and Emma Knight, and both teams spent the rest of the afternoon packing the stat sheet with positive numbers.
“Against a team with that kind of offensive firepower, you’re never comfortable. They kept us on our toes for the full seven innings,” said Top Gun head coach Bob Turner. “We had a couple chance to get it done earlier (via run rule), but they kept finding ways to score. Hats off to them, that’s a tremendous group, and this was a fun championship game.”
Top Gun was down a pitcher for this portion of the event, which meant the relief work of Macie Hunolt stood out and was definitely relevant. She got enough big outs, especially with Top Gun’s offense still doing steady damage throughout and scoring at least one run in every inning.
And that production proved that even if the focus waned at times, Top Gun wouldn’t let this opportunity to win a notable title escape.
“Jumping ahead at the beginning is a great thing to do, especially against a team that is going to continue to battle,” said Persinger. “Maintaining energy, we lost it a few innings but picked it back up and were able to be the team we are. My one goal (before the grand slam) was to hit a line drive; that’s all I wanted. I used to struggle a lot with having quality at-bats, but I’ve figured it out. To get the pitch I was looking for and to get great contact, all I could ask for.”
“My (home run), I was looking to hunt a pitch to drive, and lucky for me she gave me something I wanted,” Shaw said. “It’s been a crazy ride, playing a lot of great teams, and I just wanted to do my job. I knew (Unity) would be scrappy –but you’re not going to find a team out here that has better chemistry than we do. We took a few innings off, lost some focus, but once we locked back in we were unstoppable.”
Top Gun (Lee’s Summit, MO) flexed more than just athletic ability in the 18u Power Pool; they showed the power of believing in each other to tackle their goals.
“One thing, family is what comes to mind. They treat each other like sisters and genuinely don’t care who gets the credit,” Turner said. “They want to play together and win – the other side of it is, a mindset of never giving up. In our last pool game, we had to win to get the No. 1 seed; down three in the last inning, came back to walk it off. They’re never out of it and will compete to the last pitch.”
“Our goofiness and our collaboration – we are goofy, great energy and love being around each other,” Persinger said.
Makenna Bellaire and Doyle (who had two solo home runs) each had three RBI for Unity, and Frankie Vrazel added two RBI.
