The biggest fastpitch tournament of the year, the 2019 USA Softball Northern Nationals, took place in various cities the last few days and the Plover girls season ended just as strong as it started. The 10U, 12U, and 16U Nationals teams are bringing home the gold in their respective age divisions, while the 13U Nationals finished in an equally impressive 3rd place given the fact that they faced older competition the entire weekend.
10U Nationals – this group of girls played exceptionally well all weekend and wrapped up an outstanding year by winning the National Championship in Mankato, MN. The girls finished 7-0 over the course of 4 days and outscored opponents 106 to 9. Overall, this team finished the season with a record of 30-1 with their only loss coming to a class A team from Illinois.
12U Nationals – the Plover 12U Nationals hit The 2019 USA Softball Northern Nationals on fire opening pool play with a pair of 15-0 wins. The ladies from Plover would go on to finish 7-1 en route to claiming the 2019 Class B National Championship. Battling a tough Colorado team to the end that they had previously beaten, Plover found themselves down 10-3 going into the final inning. Plover awakened their Thundering bats and scored six runs to bring it to a one run ball game. If not for a running catch in the gap by the Slammers center fielder Plover would have tied the game but fell 10-9.The momentum had however shifted and Plover continued on in the double elimination situation scoring 9 runs in the second game.Saylor Timmerman made her first ever start for the Plover 12’s in a do or die game and put on a stellar performance giving up 1 run on three hits. After a day of delays Plover scored the winning run at 11:30 PM Mountain Time Sunday night for a 9-1 National title win.Plover outscored their opponents 106-19 over the course of the tournament. The Champs wrapped up their season with a 40-8 record. Three losses were in tourney title games . They finished with Tournament wins in Winona,MN, Plover, WI, USA Softball State Champions and USA Softball National Champions.
13U Nationals - this group finished the season 23-12 with many great wins. One very memorable win was the first game of national bracket play against Yankton fury SD. Plover 13s entered the bottom of the seventh down 6 runs and looking at a long road back through the losers bracket. We rallied to score 9 runs and record 3 outs to close out the game winning by 3. This sparked a great run winning our next 3 in bracket play and getting to championship Sunday.
16U Nationals – it was a great team effort from all the Plover 16’s players with winning the 2019 Northern Nationals Championship in Bloomingon, IN this past weekend. The girls finished 8-1, fighting their way back after a Sunday morning loss to Esprit 16U to win the 2nd Championship game vs. Esprit 16U in a slugfest 13-10. The Plover 16’s batted .457 on the weekend, with 88 hits and 7 home runs, outscoring opponents 94-41. Overall, the Plover 16’s finished the season with a record of 21-7, and won both the 2019 16U USA Softball WI State and Northern National Championships.