Strood, Jones play key roles in DS Hotshots Gold winning PGF 12U division

IRVINE – The Diamond Sports Hotshots Gold of Texas were firing on all cylinders throughout the Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals.

Nothing about that changed in Friday’s 12U championship game at Irvine Bill Barber Park’s Deanna Manning Stadium.

Well, one thing did. Laboring after a long week of games, Hotshots starter Savannah Geurin was able to give her team just two innings as the starter.

Emma Strood played savior for her team, allowing a single run over the final five innings as the Hotshots came away 5-1 winners over the Georgia Impact Langston.

The Hotshots went undefeated at 7-0 in claiming the 12U title.

“Our team is very contagious once we start rolling,” Strood said. “We knew that we were going to come out and do our best because that’s what we always do.”

Strood struck out six. She allowed four hits and issued one walk.

Ashlyn Jones had a hand in all of the runs scored by the Hotshots. The left-fielder went three for four with a triple, three RBI, and two runs scored.

She had a two-run single to the opposite field in left to give the Hotshots their first lead in the third. Jones would score on a double by Kasidi Pickering.

In the fifth, Jones tripled in the right-center gap, scoring Kennedy Powell, who reached on a leadoff single. Again, Jones crossed the plate when Maci Bergeron dropped down a sacrifice bunt with one out.

“If you’re going to give an MVP out, you’re giving it out to (Strood) and Ashlyn Jones,” Hotshots coach Nathan Nelson said. “She sets the table for us offensively, and then today, we were fortunate that she got some RBIs with it.”

The Impact managed just five hits as a team. Strood’s lone hiccup came in the fourth, when Caydra Parker, Aspen Calloway, and Alana Crenshaw strung together consecutive two-out singles.

“I had one pitcher throw 20 innings (Thursday),” Impact coach Michael Langston said. “I had one girl throw 15. I had a catcher that caught all 35 innings. All three of those came back (Friday).

“Not only that, but our position players, on an 18-player roster, we had 12 or 13 kids here this week. I’m as proud of this group as I am of any group that I have ever coached. They fought until the end, and they never gave up.”

The Colorado Sparkler was a lot closer to home for the Hotshots. Nelson figured that as long as his team was making the trip to the West Coast, they might as well complete what they set out to accomplish.

“It’s what we started to shoot for at the beginning of the season from day one,” he said. “This is something that we wanted was a PGF national championship. We’re going back to Texas with it.”

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