Let's just call these guys "seasoned" veterans. One of the most prolific hitting teams in the sport. They use that 4 man infield to their benefit as teams are not used to seeing it anymore after nearly every team went to the 5 man in the past few years.

These veterans know the deal. They can hit with the best of them. But, they simply cannot afford landing in the loser bracket early in a tournament. For them to recreate their championship run, they will need to stay fresh. The only way to do that is to avoid losing early.

They had an epic run in 2015. That is the stuff memories are made from. But 2016 they looked outgunned in Mid-Majors. Should do fine back in Gold where they can hit with anyone.

Ps.Com Comments: This is the story of 2 teams. One team plays offense and can slug it out with the best teams on the circuit. The other team plays defense and rarely keeps teams from scoring anything less than double digit runs. They are fortunate in that, softball is a hitters game so if you have to pick one area to be strong they picked the correct one. It will just be difficult for them to win a title unless they can steal some outs rather than give them back by muffing routine plays. Sure, they will win plenty of games. But to win titles, they will need to shore up the defense a tad. Their consecutive 3 game run on Saturday morning was impressive, so they still had a nice showing in Vegas by cracking the Top 10 (T9). Committee comments: Would be dangerous if their infield could figure out what those leather things are you wear on your hand when not at bat

The National Champions were firing on all cylinders rolling into Vegas but then the wheels fell off. They lost a non-critical round robin game but the loss might have impacted their overall confidence because they never got re-started and ended up with a disappointing 13th place finish. Keep in mind they were the number 1 Gold seeded team coming into the event so this is a big drop for them. Also keep in mind, this is a veteran squad loaded with players who have won plenty of championships so they are bulletproof. This will not impact them at all going into the 2014 season.