Bragan Burns and Taylor Sloan are used to playing against each other on their respective high school teams, and occasionally on their travel-ball teams as well.

But they had never faced off at a national tournament like the American Softball Association’s 16-and-under A Nationals — the top-level tournament for that age in the organization — and never for such high stakes.

Burns, who is catcher for Gardendale during the high school season, played the same position for the Germantown Red Devils from suburban Memphis. Sloan, who was also catcher for Corner High’s team (though she left the squad midway through the regular season), was behind the plate for the Birmingham Vipers during last month’s tournament at Montgomery.

Burns’ team ended up knocking Sloan’s out of the tournament in the loser’s bracket finals, before falling to champion Tulsa (Okla.) Elite. The Devils placed second and the Vipers third.

The two tangled with each other on a play at the plate in one game, where Sloan was trying to throw a runner out at third, but ended up hitting Burns in the head while she was in the batter’s box.

It’s the first time two Alabama teams placed that highly in an ASA top-level championship, which in the past has typically been dominated by West Coast teams.

Sloan’s Vipers squad was mostly comprised of metro Birmingham players, with a few from Montgomery. Burns’ Devils, on the other hand, had players from other states.

The ASA finals were held at Lagoon Park, also home to the AHSAA state tournament. That gave the Vipers and Devils an advantage, Sloan said.

“Teams from California and such didn’t know how to handle the heat,” she added. “And going back to Lagoon brought back memories of my ninth-grade year there.”

Most of the players at this level are headed for NCAA Division I schools, and Burns and Sloan are no exception. Sloan has verbally committed to Jacksonville State, while Burns gave a verbal to Austin Peay over the weekend.

From here, the teams move on to fall tournaments, which is where many college coaches go for one last look before choosing recruits. It’s indicative of a trend where more scouting is done at travel-ball tournaments, and less of scholastic teams.

“You’ll usually only see college coaches at state tournaments for school-ball anymore,” Sloan said.

“I don’t worry all that much on school-ball anymore,” Burns said. “I focus just on travel-ball, and school-ball is for fun.”

The frenetic schedule means sacrificing much of the summer while friends are at the beach, but Burns doesn’t mind.

“I don’t really think of it that way because I enjoy it so much. I sometimes wish I could see my friends more — but they can handle it I guess,” she said.