Fusion Orange Competes in the AFA National Tournament in Oakdale, MN

Oakdale, MN - July 23-27

Fusion Orange finished out a successful season by attending this year’s AFA National Tournament in Oakdale, MN, on July 23 – July 27.

The tournament started on Wednesday with opening ceremonies and skill competitions. Fusion Orange had participants in the Batting, Slickest Infield, Fastest Pitcher, and Fastest Team competitions. Katie J. finished third in the fastest pitcher contest and our infield (Mikki Z., Hanna C., Carly P., Sydney R., Haley C., and Katie J.) finished second in the Slickest Infield competition by 1/100th of a second. Great job!

Click here to see photos of the tournament.

Fusion Orange competed in a very tough four-team pool on Thursday and Friday, with three of the four teams finishing in the top eight and two finishing in the top three! Elimination play began on Saturday, with Fusion Orange coming right out of the chute to defeat an excellent North Iowa Invasion team who was the #1 seed, with a score of 4-3. Katie J. pitched for the win and the bats were hot!

The next game pitted Fusion Orange against Wayzata Blue. This game stayed close at 2-3 until the late innings, when the Fusion bats came alive and we scored 10 runs for a final of 12-3.

The third game of the Saturday ticket had Fusion Orange facing Waukee Gold from Iowa. Unfortunately, the bats had cooled off during the wait between games and Waukee was able to take the win and send Fusion Orange to the loser’s bracket.

The fourth and final game for Saturday capped off a long day ~ and started at 9:15 p.m. with Orange challenging Apple Valley. The pitching was on, the defense solid, and the bats swinging as Fusion posted an 8-0 victory in five innings to allow them to continue playing on the final day of the tournament.

Sunday morning’s game against Brooklyn Park proved to be challenging for Fusion Orange and they ended their quest with a 6-0 loss.

With three wins and two losses in the elimination bracket, Orange finished tied for seventh in the pool of the 32-teams. Coach Devin Caress noted “The majority of the teams participating in this AFA National were either second-year or “mixed” teams, meaning they included girls from both the first-year and second-year eligibility groups. Fusion Orange, however, includes only first year players or younger, which makes this accomplishment even more significant. Topping that is that three of the teams that beat us during pool and elimination play finished the tournament in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. All of the girls worked really hard throughout the season and it really came through during these five days.”

Great job, Orange! Relax, have fun this fall, and we’ll see you at the beginning of the year!