The desire for summertime escape and the drive to make the most of a championship setting has drawn more than 250 teams to Myrtle Beach, SC., for the 12th annual Triple Crown Summer Nationals fastpitch softball tournament.
The final total of 258 teams from 29 states marks the all-time high for the tournament as well as an impressive rebound after the COVID-restricted event in 2020. Teams representing age groups from 12u through 18u will get a five-game guarantee, with some of the region’s most organized and passionate programs taking part on more than 30 fields in the area. The 12u portion of the tournament runs July 22-25, with the rest of the field suiting up from July 28-Aug. 1. The latter group also features the Grand Strand Elite Camp on July 27, with instruction provided by the softball coaching staff at Coastal Carolina University. “We did our best to stay in regular contact with the fastpitch scene in the Southeast; although we couldn’t run the Summer Nationals we wanted to in 2020, we felt sure folks would want to come back in full force,” said TC event director Carrie Rivera. “Fortunately, our partners in and around Myrtle Beach had the same enthusiasm to bring the event back to capacity, and we’ve been thrilled to see a record number of teams eagerly get back in the mix.” Here are the champions from last year: 12u -- Atlanta Vipers 07 Tamborra (Marietta, GA) 14u -- Atlanta Vipers 05 Tamborra (Marietta, GA) 16u -- Lady Dukes Lamar (Cary, NC) 18u -- Virginia Glory Mertz-Griffith (Lorton, VA) Follow the 14u, 16u and 18u schedule with results here: Tourney Machine For the 12u division, follow here for results: Tourney Machine About Triple Crown Sports Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing youth, high school and college events for 40 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men’s and women’s DI Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering “WNIT” concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. Triple Crown’s PV College Challenge features more than 10 of the top DI college softball teams in the country each year in Puerto Vallarta, MX. Anchored by the 1,000-team Colorado 4th of July event, TC fastpitch tournaments draw the nation’s finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes. TCS produces one of the largest youth baseball events in the world with the Omaha SlumpBuster during the College World Series. The Triple Crown Volleyball NIT has become the top-recruited club volleyball event in the country each February when 650 teams compete in Kansas City, MO. |