Sunday action in Games 15 & 16 of the Athletes Unlimited season saw a 7-run inning in Game 1 and great pitching by Taylor McQuillin in Game 2.
Leading on the individual points scoreboard is Aleshia Ocasio who went from 954 to 1,034 with the big win in the opening game of the day… here’s how the pair of games went.
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Game 15: Team Ocasio Secures 9-3 Victory Over Team McCleney with 7-Run Fifth Inning
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Athletes Unlimited Softball season reached its midpoint Sunday afternoon. But there is nothing halfway about how Team Ocasio is going about its business this weekend.
Aleshia Ocasio’s Purple squad broke open a 2-1 game with seven runs in the top of the fifth inning on the way to a 9-3 victory over Team McCleney (Orange) at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
It was the second straight day Team Purple (2-0) exploded for a big inning, and both times, Amanda Lorenz capped the uprising with a three-run homer. Ocasio’s team sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth. Caleigh Clifton hit a two-run homer in the inning, and Anissa Urtez added a two-run triple.
The quick-strike capability is fitting for a team that has named itself of the Purple Cobras.
“Haylie Wagner (starting pitcher) actually put it in our group: the Purple Cobras,” Clifton said. “There was no question about it. We all loved it. It was perfect for us, from the movie ‘Dodgeball.’”
The Purple Cobras struck not only via the long ball, but by some small ball as well.
Team Ocasio opened the scoring in the top of the first inning against Sara Groenewegen (1-4). Lorenz, who hit two homers Saturday, led off with a walk. After Morgan Zerkle popped out while bunting, Hannah Flippen singled to shortstop. Urtez moved the runners up on a groundout.
Check out the highlights from Game 15:
Taylor Edwards walked, and Clifton followed with a solid single to center, scoring two runs..
“I think just scoring early helps a team at any point, especially in the first inning,” said Clifton, the game’s MVP 1, good for 60 bonus points. “At that point I was just trying to string something together and poke something through, and thankfully it went through.”
Clifton’s fifth-inning homer came after Edwards singled with one out. It was Clifton’s first homer of the season. Lorenz (MVP 2 and 40 points) has three in the last two games, so Clifton was happy to join the parade.
“Seeing Amanda have so much fun, obviously I want some of that,” she said. “So that’s fun to get my first home run.”
After Lorenz homered later in the inning, Zerkle doubled, and she later came home on Urtez’s triple. Zerkle earned 20 points for the double in addition to the 10 for the single and 10 more for the stolen base in the second. She just wanted to keep the line moving in the big fifth inning.
“For sure,” she said. “And it’s tough hitting behind Amanda. Every at-bat, she has a quality at-bat. So it’s a fun challenge coming up behind her and keeping the inning rolling.”
Center fielder Haylie McCleney crashed into the wall trying to make a play on Urtez’s ball. She stayed down on the turf for a few minutes but stayed in the game.
“She makes some amazing plays, so it was tough to see for a second,” Zerkle said. “I thought she almost caught it. Good for her for going hard, but we need to keep her in the league.”
Wagner started in the circle for Team Ocasio and worked three innings, giving up seven hits and one run. Amber Fiser (1-0) got the win with two innings of relief.
Ocasio strengthened her grip on first place on the overall points leaderboard, going from 954 to 1,034. Zerkle made a jump from eighth to four, going from 766 to 886.
Abby Ramirez took home MVP 3 honors (20 points) for Team McCleney, which fell to 0-2 on the weekend.
Zerkle said she hopes the cobras will keep on showing their fangs.
“It’s pretty funny,” she said. “We always like to get excited and have a home run celebration. So to be able to do that cobra sign is pretty entertaining, I think.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
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Game 16: Team Jaquish Defeats Team Osterman in Extra Innings Behind Taylor McQuillin’s Pitching
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Taylor McQuillin had that look about her, the one pitchers get when they dare you to take the ball out of their hand.
McQuillin kept the ball in her left hand and kept Team Jaquish (Blue) in the game long enough Sunday night for her teammates to take care of things on the offensive end.
It took extra innings for that to happen, as a tie-breaking RBI double by captain Sahvanna Jaquish followed by a two-run homer by Amanda Chidester gave the Blue team a 5-2 victory over Team Osterman in eight innings.
“The big thing was my team gave me all their effort, all their energy the entire game,” McQuillin said. “So it fired me up to want to do the same for them. I wanted to be out on the field with them. I wanted to be fighting with them in the dugout. I wanted to do everything I can to get a big team win and show people who the Blue team is.”
McQuillin came on in relief of Carrie Eberle in the second inning and stranded three runners. She worked 6.1 innings and gave up four hits and one run for her third win of the season against no losses. She also pitched four innings Saturday in gaining a win.
Going deep again was not a problem.
“I think that was the goal,” McQuillin said. “We’re trying to save as many of the pitchers’ arms as we can. When I go out there, the intention is go as long as I can for the other pitchers on our staff to save their arms for the rest of the games. I had all the faith in Carrie in the world. She started again for the second day, so she’s a little fatigued as well. So I knew I had to go out there and do it for her and shut it down and keep our team in the ballgame.”
Click on the video below to see how Game 16 played out:
When asked if she could pitch again Monday, McQuillin did not hesitate.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’m doing whatever Captain over there says what’s going on.”
Speaking of captains, Jaquish and Gold captain Cat Osterman managed this one like the deciding game of a playoff series, with moves back and forth, pinch hitters and pinch runners.
“I feel like this has challenged my coaching abilities to the utmost, the highest level,” Jaquish said. “I’m trying to pull people in and take people out. These are all professional athletes. Thank God I have Joey Lye; she’s a great facilitator for us. She’s great level-headed … when things get up and down, Joey’s just steady.”
Team Osterman scored a two-out run in the first inning on singles by Kelsey Stewart, Gwen Svekis and Jessi Warren against Eberle.
Team Jaquish strung together three straight hits to tie the game in the third. Lilli Piper doubled to left-center, with Ciara Bryan running for her. A single by Sis Bates sent Bryan to third, and Aliyah Andrews brought Bryan home with a single to right.
The Gold team got the run back in the bottom half against McQuillin. With the bases loaded and one out, Katiyana Mauga pinch hit for Jazmyn Jackson and hit a sacrifice fly.
Gold starting pitcher Odicci Alexander was in the middle of all the action in the fifth, when Team Jaquish tied the game at 2-2. Bates led off the inning with a double to left field. Andrews singled back to Alexander, who threw the ball into right field for an error that scored Bates.
Alexander quickly redeemed herself when the next batter, Kelsey Harshman, bunted the ball. It looked like it might die in front of the circle, but Alexander reacted quickly and made a diving catch.
Osterman’s machinations included turning to Jessica Burroughs after Alexander pitched five strong innings. Osterman put herself in for a 1-2-3 seventh before going back to Burroughs for the decisive eighth.
Harshman started the extra inning as the runner at second base. She came home as Jaquish wasted little time greeting Burroughs with her double. Chidester put things out of reach with her Athletes Unlimited-leading sixth homer.
McQuillin was the game’s MVP 1, followed by Chidester and teammate Sis Bates, who had a single and a double.
“It’s been incredible,” said Bates, a first-year player in Athletes Unlimited. “My experience so far has been like anything I could have dreamed of. Playing with these athletes I’ve watched my entire life, it’s the coolest thing ever. SJ being my captain, I’ve looked up to her for a long time. I’m seriously having the time of my life.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
