FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Georgia’s North Gwinnett High won three games over two days to capture the 2026 F.A.N./NFCA High School Leadoff Classic over the weekend.
The (6-3) Bulldogs defeated fellow Georgia team Dacula, 6-5, in Saturday’s final. All 12 other tournament teams were Colorado-based schools.
North Gwinnett defeated Eagle Crest, 6-1, in Saturday’s semifinals after routing Arapahoe, 13-0, in its second game Friday. The Bulldogs opened tournament play on Friday with a 6-3 loss to 2025 Colorado state 5A runner-up Legacy.
Head coach Amanda Heil improved to an impressive 204-53 leading North Gwinnett, after notching her 200th win just four days before the tournament with a 15-2 triumph over Norcross.
Meanwhile, Dacula (9-2) also went 3-1 at the event, scoring three convincing victories before falling to North Gwinnett in the final. The Falcons soared past Rock Canyon, 18-2, and Fort Collins, 18-0, on Friday, then blanked Mead, 10-0, in Saturday’s semis.
“It was a great weekend of high school softball to kick off the 2026 season,” Event Director and F.A.N. Board of Directors member Lisa McVicker said. “We saw lots of excellent softball, and competitive games, with two Georgia teams battling it out for the championship!”
Five dollars from every ticket sold over the two days went directly toward scholarships and grants that the non-profit Female Athlete Network (F.A.N.) provides to girls and women in sports during the year.
Fossil Ridge, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Central, Discovery Canyon, Rock Mountain and Wellington rounded out the field at the tournament, which was an NFCA-endorsed event for the second time.
This was the second straight year a Georgia school has captured this Colorado tournament. Harris County was dominant last year, steamrolling its opponents by a combined 60-6 margin, with all four victories coming by 10 or more runs. In last year’s championship, Harris County defeated Nebraska’s Papillion-LaVista South, 12-2.
Coincidentally, Papillion-LaVista South will be the co-host the next Leadoff Classic on the 2026-27 calendar, joining Millard North High to administer the fifth annual NFCA Kaiti Williams Memorial Leadoff Classic on Sept. 4-5 at the Papillion Landing Softball Complex.
The NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded student-athlete awards, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from podcasts to awards, to in-person events and National Convention.
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