Hazleton-based Stripes and Strikes wins 18U travel softball national title

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A perfect 6-0 week led to a travel softball under-18 national championship this weekend for Stripes and Strikes, a travel softball team based out of Hazleton featuring several players from around the area.

Stripes and Strikes clinched the national title with a 4-2 win over Pottstown Krush Gold on Saturday. An RBI single from Julie Friel in the seventh inning put Stripes and Strikes ahead for good, while Friel also pitched a complete game to pick up the win.

Recent Wyoming Valley West graduate Maddie Austra, a WVC Division 1 all-star pick by the league coaches this past season, was the tournament’s top hitter.

Austra hit .526 across six games, driving in 10 runs. She drove in three runs in Stripes and Strike’s opening-round win over the Kentucky Krash, and homered in wins over Empire Athletics and the Maryland Aftershock.

Stripes and Strikes won their three pool play games each by mercy rule, and won another shortened game in the winner’s bracket final over the same Pottstown team they would beat to win the national title.