July 2, 2024
Warrior Academy McDonald 14u 10, Arizona Storm Garcia 6
ERIE, Colo. – It wasn’t easy. It may not have been expected. But one of the youngest teams in the 14u Power Pool bracket, boasting an entire team of 2028 graduates, Warrior Academy McDonald came out on top of its box bracket to secure a spot in the championship bracket tomorrow.
Warrior Academy McDonald trailed in both games but overcame the early deficits to come out on top.
“This is a very resilient group,” Head Coach Kelly McDonald said. “I think a lot of people, outside our organization, inside our organization, just thought ‘you know what, we are just going to come out here and try and play our best ball,’ and they came out here and won their box bracket. I was just very proud of them.”
In the second game of the day, Warrior Academy squared off against Arizona Storm and was delivered an early blow when Storm scored four runs in the first inning to take a quick 4-1 lead. Storm added runs in the second and third inning to keep a 6-3 advantage after three innings, but Warrior Academy quickly settled into the game after that.
“There were definitely some not so pretty innings for us,” McDonald said. “They could have just given up and quit, and they didn’t. They kept hitting and we had some major at bats from some really big players in really big moments, and that’s what Colorado is all about.”
The biggest moment of the game came in the fifth inning courtesy of center fielder Rylie Hicks, who has older sisters playing for Oklahoma University and Fresno State University. After two runs had scored to tie the game at 6-6, Hicks stepped up to the plate with two runners on base and found the pitch she was waiting for, blasting a monstrous three-run home runover the right field wall to give Warrior Academy the winning runs.
“Rylie has just shown up and gotten better,” McDonald said. “A year ago in Colorado, she was our eight or nine hitter, just hoping to put together a couple of quality at bats together. She got in the cages and just got better. She was ready this year. She’s our three hitter and our centerfielder, and she’s taken that responsibility seriously and she executed it.”
Arizona Storm looked poised to make a comeback of their own in the bottom of the fifth inning, with runners on second and third base, but Warrior Academy forced a pop up to the catcher to end the inning and avert any danger. A quick one-two-three inning followed in the sixth inning before Warrior Academy closed the door for good in the seventh inning, stranding a runner on first.
After playing in the inaugural P5 tournament held at Triple Crown Sports the week prior and going 1-4, Warrior Academy now moves on to the Championship Bracket of the 14u Power Pool TV Bracket and will take on the winner of Sorcerer 09 Torres/Khalatyan and Unity 14u Johnson/Amsler at 10 am at Erie Community Park.
“I think playing in the P5 was a great wake up call for us,” McDonald said. “I think with having a young team, some of our girls thought of Colorado and thought we get to go hiking and see the lakes and do all the vacation things. But if you want to win at this level and you want to be successful at this tournament, your mind has to be on softball and really focused on succeeding in these games because that’s how you get noticed.”
