The Tampa Mustangs (Bell) brought home a hard earned 3rd place finish in the Louisville Slugger Independence Day Invitational Tournament. 43 Elite 16U teams from all over the country compete in the Invitation Only tournament which is one of the major recruiting showcases of the year for competitive softball. Over 300 college coaches were in attendance to watch the Mustangs battle for one of the top spots during the week long tournament where the girls played 14 competitive games. During pool play, the Mustangs only allowed 8 runs by their opponents in 6 games.
On Saturday, the team started early in the morning, arriving at the fields at 8 AM and persevering to win 4 games in a row to advance on to the semi-finals in Boulder on July 4th. College coaches stayed late into the evening watching the Mustangs end the evening with a victory over the Indiana Magic.
On Sunday, the Mustangs were dealt a tough 12-2 loss by the California Batbusters, who eventually went on to win the Invitational later that afternoon, but came home proud of their best ever 3rd place finish, 14 spots higher than 2009 where they placed 17th.
The Mustangs will be participating in the Atlanta Legacy Showcase Tournament the weekend of July 16-18th, Floridas Finest Mustangs Tournament the weekend of July 24-25th in Tampa, FL and ASA 16U Nationals in College Station, TX from August 1-8th.