Scenic City Notebook
Week 3 of the busy summer travel season showcased tournaments nationwide as teams get ready for the next couple of weeks in Colorado. While a heatwave gripped the upper Midwest and Northeast, the competition heated up on the diamond as pitchers began to take form and hitters battled at the dish.
Connect Sports played gracious host to two top tourneys in the greater Chattanooga, TN/ North Georgia region: Scenic City Summer- Top 25 and the Scenic City Summer Showcase. Perhaps one of the hidden benefits of the event this year was the proximity to the Chattanooga Steam professional fastpitch team hosting the opening series of their inaugural season.
The Top 25 tourney (held in Dalton, GA) saw many of the elite teams battle it out in pool play as they jockeyed for bracket seeding.
Scenic City Top 25:
(Note- ties were broken by Run Differential in pool play)
16U Pool Winners
Mojo- Sherill
Louisville Lady Sluggers- Huecker/ Norwood
Fury Platinum X- Hutchins
Mojo 2025- Nelson
Louisville Lady Sluggers- Wathen
18U Pool Winners
EC Bullets 18U- Schnute
Tampa Mustangs- Seymour
Louisville Lady Sluggers- Huecker/ Murphy
Indiana Magic Gold- Green
Lady Dukes Gold Torres
The single elimination bracket format began on Saturday with the Louisville Lady Sluggers- Huecker/ Norwood defeating the Mojo 2025 Nelson 7-3 and the sister team Louisville Lady Sluggers Wathen coming out on top of a tight battle against the Fury Platinum X- Hutchins 5-4 in the final four of the 16U division. Important to note: both Louisville Lady Sluggers teams were deemed Co-Champions of the bracket. This organization is one to keep an eye on this summer as they are fielding high-level elite teams at every age group.
The 18U division saw Team NC- Hinde defeat the Starz Gold- Bigham 9-7 in the first semifinal and the Tampa Mustangs- Seymour defeat the Louisville Lady Sluggers Huecker/ Murphy 3-2 in another close contest.
The Tampa Mustangs-Seymour squad would become the eventual champion outscoring Team NC-Hinde 8-2.
Notable performances:
Courtney Norwood (2027) continues to impress on the mound picking up the victory in the semi-final of bracket play giving up 7 hits and only 1 earned run in 7 innings.
Sarah Breaux (2025 Clemson commit) and Anna Hinde (2025 Florida State commit) went toe to toe at the plate for their respective teams in the Championship of the 18U bracket. After hitting a home run in the quarter-final, and a double in the semi-final, Breaux went 2-3 in the championship game, while Hinde was perfect at the plate going 3-3 with 2 RBIs. These are two monster bats sure to make some noise at the collegiate level.
McLaine Hudson (2026) is off to a hot start this summer after a MONSTER high school season. Hudson who is a member of the 18U Junior National team was 11/20 over the weekend with 12 stolen bases. She was the 3A Player of the year in high school and amassed a staggering 22 home runs, 67 RBI, and 36 stolen bases this Spring.
Scenic City Invitational:
The Scenic City Invitational was held mostly in the Chattanooga, TN area with divisions broken into (14U, 14U Supers, 16U, 16U Supers, and 18U)
Bracket winners were as follows:
14U- Unity 14U TJ 2027
14U Supers- Top Gun 2027 National
16U- GA Fury Platinum Haines
16U Supers- Impact Gold Pipkin
18U- Southern Force 18U National Palmer/ Hammond
Notable performances:
Lucy Cochran (2027) was 2-2 with two runs scored for the Impact Gold Pipken squad in their championship game of the 16U Supers bracket. She was Miss 2A Softball this Spring and is already hitting .356 with 2 HR and 15 RBI on the summer season at shortstop.
Kamryn Timmons (2027) continues to show why she is on our 2027 Hot Watch list as she leads her team this summer. She picked up the victory in the championship game of the 14U Super bracket and is boasting a 0.83 ERA with 54K’s and a batting average against of 0.083. These eye-popping numbers are already generating chatter among some of the top college programs in the country.
Tourney Results From Around the Country:
Top Club Nationals- Oklahoma
14U Champion: Vision Fastpitch-Merryman
16U Champion: Nebraska Gold National- Perkins
18U Champion: Sparks Elite- Ross/ Stewart
Note: On a field loaded with talent and next-level commits, the Sparks Elite squad outscored the Hotshots-Nelson team 8-5 to secure the championship. Presley Lively (South Alabama signee) was a home run away from hitting for the cycle in the contest including a bases-clearing triple.
The Power 24- New Jersey
14U Champion: Finch’s Aces 14U-Russo
16U Champion: UNY Revolution-Cooley
18U Champion: Empire State Huskies National-Porcelli & Newtown Rock Garvey (Co-Champions). Note: Garvey’s Newtown Rock squad is 19-0 heading into Colorado.
