Fusion Orange Wins Brandon Early Bird

Fusion Orange stayed close to home on May 16 and 17 and came out with the championship trophy at the Brandon Early Bird.

Pool play on Saturday matched Orange against Mitchell and the Sioux City Slammers. Katie Johnson and Sydney Rechtenbaugh combined for a no-hitter against the Cyclones, with Mikki Ziegler and Johnson adding to the pitching stats with a one-hitter against the Slammers, which included 11 strike-outs.

Sunday morning dawned cloudy, cool, and a bit damp, which did not make for the best softball weather. Orange, however, did not let it affect them as they took on Madison in the first elimination round game of the day. Homeruns by Johnson and Haley Covais helped push Fusion on to the next round.

Covais pumped up her batting average during the next game, as well, versus the Metro All Stars out of Sioux City, by going a perfect 3 for 3, thus eliminating the All Stars from competition.

The bats continued to be hot during the third elimination round game against the SBL Road Warriors. Carly Peterson and Mattie Vande Berge added to the home run total for the day!

Orange met up with the Rapid City Stealerz in the championship game. Peterson continued her batting streak by going 3 for 3, along with Hanna Caress. The team put together 12 hits for 10 runs, with no errors.

All in all, the team went 6-0 for the weekend, while only allowing 5 runs. Great defense and solid offense helped the team come away with the championship!