VIERA, FL-Several New Jersey teams came home from Florida with hardware after a tough, hot and grueling week at the new USSSA Space Coast Stadium and sports facility in Viera, Florida.
Temperatures and humidity levels were at their peak all week as the Jersey girls went up against teams from all across the United States in the inaugural USSSA World Series at the new facility. The Space Coast complex is anchored by Space Coast Stadium, an 8,100 seat former minor league baseball stadium converted for softball.
It features a championship stadium built for younger age groups and 1.3 million square feet of turf across 12 additional playing fields.
The Jersey champs at the tournament were the 12u Renegades fastpitch out of Asbury in Hunterdon County. The team went 6-1, defeating the Florida Premier 3-2 in the championship game, led by coaches Juan Torres and Jay Colon.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Leslie Flaherty hit a 1-2 single up the middle, driving in two runs for the walk off victory.
That inning, trailing by one, Kylie Flaherty got on base after being hit by a pitch. Amya Lundy then hit a line drive single to left field, putting runners on first and third for Leslie Flaherty. With two outs and down on a 1-2 count, Flaherty’s hit scored Lundy and Kylie Flaherty.
On the mound, Amanda Medina pitched all six innings giving up just two runs and struck out eight batters.
L. Flaherty and Lundy each went 2 for three on the afternoon with Flaherty driving in all three runs to make the Renegades the inaugural Space Coast World Series 12U A division champions.
The Renegades’ 10u B team reached the tournament semifinal, losing to the 10u Gamers of Rincon, Georgia.
At the 10U A level, the South Jersey Mystics ended the week with a second place finish, losing to the Carolina Elite 7-6 with another last inning walk-off. The Mystics had 13 hits in the game. Morgan Chambers went 3-4 with an RBI in the championship game. Sophia Bordi struck out 8 Carolina batters over 5.2 innings.
With the score tied inside Space Coast stadium going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Carolina capitalized on a two out walk. The next batter belted a line drive to center field driving in the go ahead winning run.
In the 14u A division the Jersey Assassins finished bracket play as the top seed, defeating the Maryland Chill, Florida Diamond Girlz and the Indiana Indy Crush, all in come from behind games. In bracket play, the Assassins dropped their first two games, thus being eliminated. They lost 10-1 to the Virginia based Front Royal Fire and were eliminated from the competition with a follow up loss in a rematch with the hometown Diamond Girlz, 12-3.
This year was the first season the USSSA Pride professional women’s fastpitch team and USSSA hosted the USSSA World Series at their new Florida facility. After each day’s games, the girls and their families were invited to watch professional softball as the USSSA Pride took on the Beijing team each evening.
Games in the main stadium were announced and broadcast online with ESPN like quality and coverage. Each of the games on the surrounding fields were also broadcast live online during the tournament. A week prior, Space Coast hosted the annual USA Softball World Series.
