Xtreme finish third at fastpitch nationals

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif — The long road through the losers bracket finally caught up to the North Idaho Xtreme 18-and-under softball team at the Premier Girls Fastpitch national tournament Thursday at the Fountain Valley Sports Complex.

The Xtreme won four games in the losers bracket before losing in its fifth game of the day, 5-1 to USA Athletics of southern California.

The Xtreme finished third out of 64 teams in the Platinum Division, one win away from playing in the national championship game.

“We just ran out of gas,” Xtreme coach Travis Smith said. “I feel if we’d stayed in the winners bracket longer, we could have stayed in their longer (against USA Athletics).”

The Xtreme, which tied for ninth at the same tourney last year, opened play Thursday with a 4-1 victory over TNT Gold of Pennsylvania. Hannah Bell went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Haley Loffer was 2 for 4 and Kelsey Gumm pitched a three-hitter.

Loffer went 2 for 2 in the Xtreme’s 2-1 win over the Colorado Stars. Riley Thompson drove in both runs, and Breana Burke scattered five hits.

Gumm pitched a three-hit shutout as the Xtreme beat Team Florida Mizuno 3-0. Bell and Kylie Smith each had two hits and drove in a run, and Loffer was 2 for 3.

Bell drove in two runs and Burke and Gumm teamed on a five-hitter as the Xtreme beat the Batbusters KG of Southern California 3-0.

USA Athletics scored all five of its runs in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie and eliminate the Xtreme. Burke went 2 for 3 in the loss.

“To play against the best teams in the country and come in third, I was just super proud of them,” Smith said.

The tourney wrapped up the season for the Xtreme, which is sending four players off to college — Burke, of Coeur d’Alene High (to UNLV); Martha Tooley of Eagle (College of Idaho); Elaina Cook of Boise High (Portland State) and Taylor Wuesthoff from Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls, Wash. (Community Colleges of Spokane).