Powered by area players, Indiana Aces 12U win national tournament

Team includes Caston’s Johnson, Long, Winamac’s Cotner, Pioneer’s Grandstaff

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Indiana Aces travel softball team won the 12-and-under B Great Lakes National Tournament in Columbus, Ind., from July 6-10. The team went 6-1-1 over eight games to top a field of 22 teams. Front, from left – Elizabeth Grandstaff, Caroline Cotner, Aubriella Garcia, Skylar Hudson, Teagan Long. Middle – Harper Johnson, Delta Mayhill, Lillie Ridenour, Bray Byer, Mae Gilford. Back – assistant coach Tim Gilford, coach Kyle Mayhill, assistant coach Troy Hudson, assistant coach Kyle Grandstaff. Elizabeth Grandstaff will be a seventh-grader at Pioneer this fall, Cotner will be a seventh-grader at Winamac, and Long and Johnson will be eighth-graders at Caston. (photo provided)

A travel softball team based out of Logansport just won a national tournament, and four players from the RTC area helped them win it.

The Indiana Aces won the United States Specialty Sports Association 12-and-under B Great Lakes National Tournament in Columbus, Ind., last weekend. They capped their title with a 10-9 win over the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Diamonds Friday to win the double elimination tournament. 

The Aces went 6-1-1 during the double elimination tournament. They topped a field of 22 teams. In addition to Indiana and Michigan, there were also teams from Illinois and Oklahoma at the tournament.

Teams that are B level, which comprise most of the teams, have more advanced players than typical teams and frequently travel out of state for competitions. For example, this same Aces team traveled to Branson, Mo., for a tournament at this time last year.

Teams that are C level consist of mostly entry-level players, and teams at the A level consist of high-level players that typically play a national schedule.

Area players include Harper Johnson and Teagan Long, both of whom will be eighth-graders at Caston this fall; Caroline Cotner, who will be a seventh-grader at Winamac; and Elizabeth Grandstaff, who will be a seventh-grader at Pioneer.

Grandstaff’s father Kyle is an assistant coach on head coach Kyle Mayhill’s staff. Other assistant coaches include Tim Gilford and Troy Hudson. Hudson is also the football coach at Logansport High School.

Going into the tournament’s final day, the only teams remaining were the Diamonds and the Aces. Since the Aces were undefeated, the Diamonds had to beat the Aces twice while the Aces had to beat the Diamonds just once.

The Diamonds then won the first game 7-4 to set up a winner-take-all championship game.

Cotner was the hero, driving in the game-winning run with a walk-off RBI single in the fifth for a 10-9 win in the rematch. Games are played on a timer, and if the game had gone to a sixth inning, teams would have begun each half-inning with an automatic runner on second base.

Cotner made sure that did not happen.

“I would say the fight,” Mayhill said when asked what makes this group of girls so special. “I mean, we kind of got the nickname over the last three years the ‘Comeback Queens.’ It doesn’t matter if we’re down one run. It doesn’t matter if we’re down 10. They just play their hardest, and it seems like we always come out on top. I would just say their fight and their care of the game. They love the game.” 

Cotner also had a triple and finished with four RBIs.

Johnson played second base, Cotner played first base, Grandstaff played left field, and Long played right field in the championship game win. Long is a utility player who has also seen time at catcher, and Grandstaff has seen time in the infield as well.

The Aces just finished their third year of existence. He said his daughter had been playing for another travel ball team, and he said it was “very frustrating” watching it. So Mayhill, who had coached his son in Little League and on a travel baseball team out of Indianapolis for five years, started his own travel softball organization.

They currently have two 12-and-under teams, an 11-and-under team and a 10-and-under team. Ten of the champion Aces will move up to form a 13-and-under team starting in the fall, and Mayhill will continue as coach.

“These girls play softball 24-7, 365 days a year,” Mayhill said. “They’re the definition of passion when it comes to the game. They just bond so well. … They’re softball sisters, and I think they will be forever. … We’re a family. And then 365 days a year for three solid years, you get to know each other very well with travel and staying in hotels. It’s one big family from top to bottom.”

Coach Grandstaff praised the character and sportsmanship of his players.

“You’ve got very, very talented, self-motivated, driven kids,” he said. “They started out together when they were 10U, so when they were 9. … They all have a drive. It doesn’t matter what situation you put them in. They don’t quit. They all get along well. They are almost like siblings.”

Mayhill was also asked to speculate on the high school futures of these players. He chuckled.

“No doubt,” he said, later mentioning that they could beat some high school varsity teams. “These girls are the best of the best here in the northern part of the state. I don’t want to put anyone else down ever, but there’s no one that compares. They are very, very, very good at the game.

“And what’s even better is they’re better people. They’re so much fun. I could spend every weekend with them.”