Six Games, Zero Runs Allowed: Team USA Books Its Ticket to Australia
Maya Brady's three-homer clincher sends Team USA to the 2027 World Cup Finals, the No. 1 2028 recruit picks Tennessee in a wild four-day commit run, and Ana Gold wins MLBx Durham.
The national team didn't allow a run all week, the top of the 2028 class came off the board in a single weekend, and the AUSL's offseason keeps finding home run derbies to win. Not bad for September.
Lead Off
The U.S. Women's National Team finished what it started at Devon Park. In Wednesday's Group C final, Maya Brady homered three times and drove in five as Team USA run-ruled China 7–0 in six innings, clinching a spot in the 2027 WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Finals in Redcliffe, Australia. Brady and Tiare Jennings opened with two-run shots in the first; Brady added a solo homer in the second and ended it with a two-run walk-off in the sixth, while Karlyn Pickens and Rachel Garcia combined on a no-hitter. The U.S. went 6–0, won every game by run rule, struck out 49, allowed eight hits and never gave up a run, the only team across all three group-stage events to do so. Brady hit .647 and was named Most Outstanding Player.
Why it matters: The eight-team Finals field is set: Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Puerto Rico, the U.S., Mexico and wild card China. The winner in Redcliffe earns a direct LA28 Olympic berth; the U.S. is already in as host, so next April is about beating world No. 1 Japan, not qualifying. USA Softball →
By the Numbers
246 — Class of 2028 players with a verbal commitment on Line Drive Media's master list as of Sunday, up from just over 60 two weeks ago, after 130 commits landed in a single four-day stretch. Source · Line Drive Media
Scoreboard
Last 7 days — the ledger
| Final | Note |
|---|---|
| USA 7–0 China (World Cup Group C final, 6 inn.) | Brady 3 HR, 5 RBI; Pickens and Garcia combine on a no-hitter |
| Mexico 7–0 Netherlands (Group C playoff, 5 inn.) | Suzy Brookshire grand slam, Mariah Mazon three-hit shutout; Mexico then beat China for the second Finals ticket |
| Bull Dragons win MLBx Durham (home run derby) | Ana Gold, Rich Ankiel and Duke's Michael DiMartini (23 HR, MVP) take the trophy |
This week — 5 to watch
| When | What | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Sep 22 | Extra Inning Softball Class of 2030 Southeast rankings; a new region drops daily through Saturday | extrainningsoftball.com |
| Sat Sep 26 | Asian Games softball opens in Anjō, Japan; Japan, China and Chinese Taipei are all headed to Redcliffe | Through Oct 3 |
| Sun Sep 27 | Line Drive Media's Sunday master-list update; the 2028 count is the number to watch | linedrivemedia.com |
| Tue Sep 29 | Texas opens fall ball vs. Murray State College, 6 PM CT, free admission | McCombs Field |
| Wed Sep 30 | EIS Class of 2030 Extra Elite 100 goes live | extrainningsoftball.com |
Rankings week for the youngest class, and the first fall exhibitions are a week out.
Hot Corner
1. The No. 1 2028 recruit picks Tennessee as the top of the class goes off the board
Reagan Eldred, the 6-foot-2 Texas Blaze right-hander ranked No. 1 in Line Drive Media's 2028 HOT 100, committed to Tennessee on her visit Sunday, choosing the Lady Vols over Oklahoma and Texas A&M. She wasn't alone: fellow top-five HOT 100 names Kate McCartney (Oklahoma, Saturday), Lauren Schellhammer (Texas) and Ainsley Minchew (Georgia Tech) all came off the board, and OU also landed Iowa's Sophia Schlader, the top pitcher on the Rivals/On3 board. Line Drive counted 130 verbals in four days. Line Drive Media →
2. Ana Gold wins MLBx Durham in her old college town
Carolina Blaze infielder and Duke alum Ana Gold teamed with former Cardinal Rich Ankiel and fellow Blue Devil Michael DiMartini to win Friday's MLBx home run derby at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, beating José Reyes and the Cascade's Megan Grant in the final. Grant hit 13 homers in her opening round, a month after reaching the final at MLBx Atlanta; Reese Atwood and Sami Williams also competed. AUSL →
3. USA Softball names a 16-player roster to face Japan in November
Two days after the World Cup clincher, USA Softball announced its roster for the Japan All-Star Series, a three-game set against world No. 1 Japan on Nov. 19–22 in Nagoya and Naha. Seven players from the OKC roster return, and three names were added to the athlete pool: Arizona State's Kenzie Brown, Oklahoma City Spark infielder Sydney Romero, and Chicago Bandits star and AUSL Hitter of the Year Sami Williams. Brown and Williams will wear the red, white and blue for the first time; Romero last did so with the 2015 Junior Women's National Team. Patty Gasso leads the staff. USA Softball →
4. Extra Inning Softball starts ranking the Class of 2030, no ties allowed
The youngest ranked class in the sport got its first list Monday: Extra Inning Softball launched its Class of 2030 National Rankings with the Northeast region, and a new region drops every day through Saturday before the National Extra Elite 100 lands Sept. 30. Every ranked eighth- and ninth-grader gets an individual placement (EIS points out a competitor's 2030 Top 100 had 605 athletes tied), a 5-Star rating, a spot on a public leaderboard, and a free MyEIS360 profile that coaches can view without a paywall. For families with a 2028, the nomination window for that class closes Oct. 5. Extra Inning Softball →
5. Amanda Kamekona comes home to the college game at San Diego State
After four years coaching in professional baseball, former UCLA infielder Amanda Kamekona is the new assistant at San Diego State, D1Softball reported Friday. Elsewhere on the carousel, Kasey Fagan Graham landed at Adelphi, and USC Upstate extended Chris Hawkins through 2031. On Monday D1Softball also published the full 2027 Big Ten schedule. D1Softball →
From the Dugout
Podcast pick: The Dirt (NFCA, Sept. 16) — "The Power of Relationships" with Arizona State head coach Megan Bartlett. Forty-three minutes with the Sun Devils' head coach on why the connections between coaches, players and staff are the foundation everything else is built on. Takeaway: Fall is for relationships, not lineups; learn what each player wants out of the season before you tell her what you want. Listen →
Clip of the week: @thepackageddeal — the Nike-backed clinic collective founded by four former players is deep in fall-clinic season, and its feed rotates hitting, pitching, catching and defensive reps from a single account. Save it for the weeks when you need a drill for every position group.
Play of the Week
Maya Brady goes deep three times and walks off a World Cup clincher
Two-run homer in the first. Solo shot over the center-field wall in the second. Then, with the run rule one swing away in the sixth, a 276-foot drive to right-center that ended the game and sent Team USA to Australia. Brady's three-homer afternoon against China capped a week in which she hit .647; the AUSL's clip of all three swings is the offseason's best 30 seconds.
Source: @theauslofficial · Watch the full clip →
Softball Source — created to highlight the biggest stories in softball for players, coaches, parents, and fans. Reply to this email with feedback.