July 6, 2025
Aurora, Colo. – The 2025 Colorado 4th of July 18u National Power Pool title matchup featured two of the top squads in the country, highlighted by offensive fireworks at Aurora Sports Park on Sunday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth fight between Georgia Impact Premier- Taylor and Athletics-Mercado/Smith, with Mercado-Smith landing the final blow to secure the championship, 12-9.
GA Impact Premier – Taylor previously defeated Athletics-Mercado/Smith 11-3 on June 26 at the P5 Patriot Games in Fort Collins, but this time it was Mercado/Smith who came away with the Triple Crown Power Pool Championship behind a top-to-bottom offensive showing and resilient pitching effort from their mainstay on the mound throughout the tournament, Coral Williams.
“She pretty much started every single game for us and left it on the field. We're gonna have to pick her arm up out there in about an hour, it's laying out in the circle still,” said Athletics Mercado/Smith head coach Dave Mercado.
Mercado/Smith jumped out to an early lead with a bat-flip worthy home run from shortstop Bailey Goldberg, who is headed to the Oregon Ducks for college ball, and an early 2-0 lead.
Kendall Wells, GA Impact Premier catcher and future Oklahoma Sooner, responded with an opposite field blast in the bottom half of the first. Despite another run tacked on by Mercado/Smith the following inning, Liberty commit Jacely Hogan, GA Impact outfielder, responded with a two-run shot leveling the game at 3-3 after two innings.
Georgia Impact Premier starting pitcher and LSU Tiger commit Addie Rackley delivered a two-out grand slam to put her team up 7-3.
The offense kept coming in the fourth with an Aubrey McLaughlin bases clearing double to pull Athletics Mercado/Smith within one run of the lead. Goldberg kept her hot hitting going, driving McLaughlin in the following at-bat, knotting up the game 7-7 in the fourth.
“It was a grind, it was a battle. The lineup's been coming together this week. We've been turning it around. We needed a big offensive day here, especially in Colorado,” said Goldberg.
Wells and GA Impact Premier had yet another response in the bottom of the fourth, after the catcher delivered a 2-RBI double to right center, putting her squad up 9-7 by the inning’s end.
Hannah DeMarcus came on in relief for GA Impact Premier, pitching two scoreless innings until she ran into Sina Talataina, the future Arizona Wildcat, who blasted a three-run bomb to put Athletics-Mercado/Smith up 10-9; triggering a monstrous 5-run inning in the sixth, capped by nine-hole hitter AAmya Harrison’s RBI double to put Mercado up 12-9 and seal the win.
“Our lineup is pretty solid, all the way through. We don’t really have a bottom (of the lineup), the girls were resilient to say the least,” said Coach Mercado.
Williams, an uncommitted starting pitcher for Athletics-Mercado/Smith, willed her way through her third start of the day and sealed the deal from there on out, in front of an intense crowd to secure her club the 18u National Power Pool title at the Colorado 4th of July.
“Coral Williams, that’s the biggest thing,” said Mercado. “Other than that, the girls played for each other, but we couldn’t have done it without Coral.”
