The Lawrence Phenix Fyler 16-under softball team had a front-row seat for a tremendous individual performance Monday.

Lawrence Phenix Fyler batter Amanda Weishaar swings at a pitch from Southwest Hammers pitcher Ashley Bussey. The 16-under Phenix squad lost to the Neosho, Mo., club, 12-0, Monday at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

For Fyler, it came from a player on the wrong team.

In Fyler’s only game of the day, opposing pitcher Ashley Bussey, 16, of the Southwest Hammers from Neosho, Mo., threw a perfect game in her team’s 12-0 victory during the opening round of pool play at the American Fastpitch Assn. “B” Girls Fastpitch Softball National Tournament at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

“She was tough,” Lawrence coach Randy Fyler said. “She threw mostly strikes, but it was a nice variety.”

The Phenix Fyler team had trouble catching up to Bussey’s devastating off-speed pitches, and Fyler said his team may have been flat after playing a tournament during the weekend in Johnson County.

Lawrence Phenix Fyler pitcher Summer Mulford pitches against the Southwest Hammers of Neosho, Mo., at the American Fastpitch Assn. B Girls Fastpitch Softball National Tournament. The Phenix Fyler lost, 12-0, Monday at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

But, win or lose, the opportunity to play games at home always is a welcome opportunity for several Lawrence Phenix squads.

Because of the lack of a local league, the Phenix teams play the majority of their games in the Kansas City area. Along with attracting teams from eight states, this week’s national tournament gives the players a break from traveling for out-of-state tournaments and seemingly endless out-of-town trips.

Each Phenix team identifies itself by using the name of its coach.

“We’ve been to nationals three times in the last four years, and you’re living out of your motel room,” Fyler said. “It’s a lot more comfortable to jump in the car and be out here in ten minutes.”

The Phenix’s two other 16-U teams also were in action Monday as all of the day’s games were delayed by nearly two hours because of heavy rain. The delays kept the action going well past midnight, including the Phenix Riling’s second game, which originally was scheduled for 10 p.m.

Southwest Hammers pitcher Ashley Bussey hurls to a Phenix Fyler batter. Bussey pitched a perfect game.

“That’s just what you get when you play an outdoor sport,” coach Mike Riling of the Phenix Riling said.

Riling said the competition at the national tournament was not intimidating, but the pressure of family members attending could rile his squad. It didn’t in their first game of the day, as the Phenix Riling defeated the Tartan Titans of Maplewood, Minn., 6-5.

While the Phenix Fyler was having trouble with the Hammers, the Gary Tanner-coached Phenix T’s, the third Lawrence 16-U team competing, ousted Fire & Ice of Oklahoma City, 2-0.

Pool play at the tournament continues at 8:00 a.m. today before the teams are seeded into a double-elimination tournament that will begin Wednesday.

More coverage at Game