PGF Show Me The Money brought another loaded weekend of softball to North Florida, with most of the event played at Champions Park in Newberry before the championship games moved to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville.
That setting fit the weekend.
Across 14U, 16U and 18U, the title games delivered three different kinds of championship stories. USA Prime National-Halstead 14U turned its final into a statement. Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U leaned on timely hitting, pitching and defense to finish off a tight 16U win. Georgia Impact Premier Taylor completed an unbeaten 18U run with a 7-1 championship victory.
Different paths. Same result. Hardware.
14U Championship: USA Prime National-Halstead Rolls Past Tampa Mustangs Ohana
USA Prime National-Halstead 14U did not leave much room for drama in the 14U championship game.
Prime defeated Tampa Mustangs Ohana 14U, 16-0, behind a 15-hit offensive surge and a combined shutout in the circle. The game was still sitting at 1-0 after two innings, but the third inning changed everything. USA Prime erupted for nine runs in the third and added six more in the fourth, turning a tight game into a championship statement.
The middle and lower part of the USA Prime lineup did plenty of damage. Ella Rackley went 2-for-3 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Maddie Grace Nelson was 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, four RBI, a run scored and a walk. Avery Murphy added a 2-for-3 day with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored.
Mackenzie Fritsch also homered and drove in a run, while Gia Gomez went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Ally Halstead added two hits, two runs and an RBI, and Mollie Anglin reached three times with a hit, a walk, two runs and an RBI.
That is a lot of traffic. That is also a lot of loud contact.
In the circle, USA Prime used three pitchers to finish the shutout. Hartley Staton worked 2.2 innings, allowing two hits while striking out one. Ellouise Koester followed with 1.1 scoreless innings, and Zoe Velazquez closed it with a clean final inning and one strikeout.
Tampa Mustangs Ohana managed three hits, with Grace McDaniel, Alivia Giddens and Deanna Wright each recording one. But USA Prime’s pitching staff kept the Mustangs from stacking baserunners, and the defense played clean behind them.
USA Prime finished with 16 runs on 15 hits and no errors. In a championship game, that is usually more than enough. In this one, it was overwhelming.
Final Score: USA Prime National-Halstead 14U 16, Tampa Mustangs Ohana 14U 0
Key Performers
USA Prime National-Halstead 14U
Ella Rackley: 2-for-3, home run, 4 RBI, 2 runs
Maddie Grace Nelson: 2-for-2, home run, double, 4 RBI, run, walk
Avery Murphy: 2-for-3, home run, 3 RBI, 2 runs
Gia Gomez: 2-for-3, double, RBI, 2 runs
Ally Halstead: 2-for-3, RBI, 2 runs
Mackenzie Fritsch: 1-for-3, home run, RBI, run
Hartley Staton: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K
Ellouise Koester: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Zoe Velazquez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K
Tampa Mustangs Ohana 14U
Grace McDaniel: 1-for-2
Alivia Giddens: 1-for-2
Deanna Wright: 1-for-1
16U Championship: Santa Fe Inferno Nowling Holds Off Unity
Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U finished the job on one of the biggest stages in Florida softball.
Santa Fe defeated Unity Schultheis/Johnson 16U, 4-2, to claim the 16U title at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. It was not a blowout. It was not flashy just for the sake of being flashy. It was championship softball. Score a little, defend a lot, get a complete-game effort in the circle and make the other side earn every inch.
Santa Fe scored single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings, building enough separation to survive Unity’s late push. Unity scored once in the fourth and once in the seventh, but Santa Fe never gave up the lead.
Braylee Rano helped set the tone at the top of the lineup, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Paityn Donalson added a hit and an RBI, while Baylee Gladden drove in a run and delivered a triple. Kamryn Pickering also added an RBI, giving Santa Fe production across the lineup instead of relying on one big swing to carry the game.
In the circle, Addison Allaire gave Santa Fe exactly what a team needs in a championship setting. She went the full seven innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. Unity put the ball in play and made things interesting late, but Allaire worked through it and closed out the win.
Unity Schultheis/Johnson 16U did not go quietly. Adrianna Thorne went 2-for-4 with a run scored, Skylar Flack drove in a run, Lexi Medina added a hit and a run, and Kennedy Coplen came off the bench and recorded a hit. Unity finished with five hits and pushed a run across in the seventh, but Santa Fe had already done just enough.
After the win, Santa Fe head coach Jason Nowling pointed to the full-team effort it took to get through the weekend.
“Great weekend for this team and another testament to the organization being able to compete with the best in the country.
Timely hitting, solid defense, solid pitching and unselfish role players. We needed every bit of it to come out on top.
SMTM is always a fantastic tournament and we faced some really great teams. Eight of the 15 on this 16u roster helped us win 18u SMTM in the fall. Winning one is hard in itself but two in row for them just makes it really special.”
That last part matters.
Winning a PGF Show Me The Money title is hard enough. Doing it with a group that already had players from the fall 18U championship run adds another layer to what Santa Fe has built. The organization continues to show it can win across age groups, across formats and against high-end national competition.
For Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U, the formula was simple enough to say and difficult enough to execute: timely offense, clean defense, steady pitching and role players who embraced the moment.
That is usually how championship weekends are won.
Final Score: Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U 4, Unity Schultheis/Johnson 16U 2
Key Performers
Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U
Braylee Rano: 2-for-4, 2 runs
Baylee Gladden: 1-for-3, triple, RBI
Paityn Donalson: 1-for-3, RBI
Kamryn Pickering: 1-for-2, RBI
Addison Allaire: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Unity Schultheis/Johnson 16U
Adrianna Thorne: 2-for-4, run
Skylar Flack: 1-for-3, RBI
Lexi Medina: 1-for-3, run
Kennedy Coplen: 1-for-1
18U Championship: Georgia Impact Premier Taylor Completes Perfect Weekend
Georgia Impact Premier Taylor closed out a perfect weekend at PGF Show Me The Money with a 7-1 win over Top Gun 18 National - Turner in the 18U championship game.
With a box score unavailable, the details stay simple, but the result says plenty. Georgia Impact Premier Taylor went 9-0 on the weekend, finishing the event unbeaten and ending it with a six-run championship game victory.
Top Gun 18 National - Turner also put together a strong run, finishing 8-2 overall and reaching the final in one of the weekend’s premier divisions. But in the championship matchup, Georgia Impact Premier Taylor created enough separation to finish the job and leave with the title.
The 18U bracket at PGF Show Me The Money is never light work. Getting through the weekend without a loss takes depth, pitching, defense and the ability to handle pressure late in an event when teams are tired and every inning gets heavier.
Georgia Impact Premier Taylor handled all of it.
A 9-0 weekend, a 7-1 championship win and an 18U title at one of the summer’s major events is about as clean as it gets.
Final Score: Georgia Impact Premier Taylor 7, Top Gun 18 National - Turner 1
Weekend Records
Georgia Impact Premier Taylor: 9-0
Top Gun 18 National - Turner: 8-2
Final Thoughts
PGF Show Me The Money once again delivered the kind of weekend that makes it a major stop on the summer calendar. The event brought top competition to Champions Park in Newberry, then gave the championship games a fitting finish at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in Gainesville.
USA Prime National-Halstead 14U overwhelmed the final with offense. Santa Fe Inferno Nowling 16U won with balance, toughness and a complete-game pitching effort. Georgia Impact Premier Taylor 18U finished the weekend unbeaten.
Three champions. Three different paths. One loaded weekend of softball in North Florida.
That is Show Me The Money.
