July 1, 2026
by Kyle Koso
WINDSOR — Playing in the 10u age division, it’s no surprise Stacey Johnson casts a modest physical presence, and for sure you can count on her getting taller and stronger in the years to come.
Her opponents certainly won’t be thrilled to think about her getting better.
Working hard in the circle Tuesday afternoon for the Nebraska Thunder-Chronic squad, Johnson allowed three hits over five innings and struck out nine batters as the Thunder (Papillion, NE) closed their day with a 10-5 victory over the Colorado Crush (Thornton, CO) at Chimney Park as play began for the 2026 Triple Crown Sports Sparkler Juniors.
While her offense did damage in every inning, Johnson soothed the occasional bumpy spots caused by walks and errors to keep the Crush at a safe distance, wrapping up the contest by striking out five batters in the final two innings.
“I always just trust the defense, because I know they will back me up,” said Johnson, who worked around trouble in the third inning by forcing two simple ground balls with the bases loaded, to go with another strikeout. “It was important for us to stay together there.”
Maddie Hahne came through multiage times hitting fifth in the order for the Thunder, starting with a run-scoring single in the first as her team took an early 3-0 lead. She reached on an error and scored in the third, then capped the offense with a hard double down the left-field line to secure the 10th and final run.
Leadoff hitter Brynlee Barber did her job, scoring three runs. The result took away some of the sting from Game 1, where the Thunder dropped a 10-7 result to Explosion Indian/Larkin (San Diego).
“Our coaches say when you get one strike, you have to battle for the rest of the team. That’s what I did,” Hahne said. “If we lose, we warm up and reset and forget about a game we did bad at. Stacey did so good, it felt like she basically pitched a perfect game.”
“We scored well in that first game, so we just wanted to keep the bats hot,” said head coach Josie Chronic. “This is a team that’s been together for about four years now; that makes it easy because we know each other and how to catch each kid. They pick up on everything so quickly, it makes my job easy.
“Even if we are getting a lot of balls, you have to expect a strike. You don’t want to just be sitting back, but be ready for anything in our hitting zone.”'
For the Crush, who also went 1-1 on the day, Ana Martinez doubled and scored; Cali Moya tripled and scored in the fifth.
