The first game saw a thrilling comeback and the nightcap contest was the 100th sporting event in Athletes Unlimited history and saw 18 runs be scored.
Both action-packed games were fitting tributes to the ground-breaking league which saw a sellout crowd get to enjoy some thrilling softball… here are the details.
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Game 9: Anissa Urtez Secures Comeback for Team Osterman with Walk Off
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Go ahead. Try to find a more fascinating game in the short history of Athletes Unlimited Softball than Sunday afternoon’s 6-5 victory by Team Osterman over Team Piper. This one had everything from start to startling finish.
Down 5-0 in the second inning, Cat Osterman’s Orange team clawed back with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, setting off a series of strategic machinations on both sides.
In the end, Anissa Urtez’s bases-loaded single to the gap in left-center against Aleshia Ocasio scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the perfect capper on a game that more than lived up to its advanced hype.
After all, this was the upstart Purple squad headed by Lilli Piper against the team headed by the biggest presence in the league: Cat Osterman.
“It was a dogfight on both ends,” said Urtez, the game’s MVP 2, earning her 40 extra points.
“I don’t think we expected that to happen in the first inning (when Purple scored three runs). But we never gave up. Just continuing to trust each other and focus on what we bring to the table and not what the other team is doing. I think keeping that mentality really helped us thrive to the end, and we never gave up. I think it showed.”
This one looked like it would be a rout from the start, but sometimes a plot needs a little cooking to thicken.
And cook this one did.
Team Piper wasted no time jumping on Team Osterman starting pitcher Carrie Eberle, loading the bases on singles by Kelsey Harshman and Ali Aguilar and a walk to DJ Sanders. Sashel Palacios drove the first run home on a groundout and after Caleigh Clifton walked, Ocasio hit a two-run single.
Aguilar hit a two-run double in the second to make it 5-0 and force Osterman to pull Eberle in favor of Randi Rupp. That move would prove pivotal.
Team Osterman began its comeback with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jessi Warren led off and got a ball up into a jet stream that was blowing out to right field. Ocasio, playing right field at the time, never gave up on the ball, but it cleared the wall for Warren’s second homer of the season and second in two days.
Amanda Chidester followed immediately with her Athletes Unlimited-leading fourth homer of the year, a big drive over the camera platform beyond the center-field wall. After Urtez walked, Purple Team captain Lilli Piper replaced starting pitcher Taylor McQuillin with Jessica Burroughs.
Team Osterman added two more later in the inning on a double to the gap in left-center by Jordan Roberts (MVP 3).
Warren is no stranger to being a captain in Athletes Unlimited. So she knew things weren’t over – not by a longshot.
“Even after the five runs in the first and second innings, going into the next couple innings knowing that we had a whole game left, five innings, we were all just staying in the game,” she said.
The MVP 1 and 60 additional points went to Rupp, who improved to 2-0 with 5.2 innings of scoreless one-hit ball. On more than one occasion, Osterman began throwing in the bullpen, but Rupp did not falter and perhaps saved valuable pitches in Osterman’s arm that may be needed Monday.
“I’m excited,” Rupp said. “The biggest thing for me is just to go in and test the defense and do my job. I was just going inning by inning. I wasn’t thinking about going the full game. I was just trying to go out there and make the defense work and stay confident and attack the zone.”
Piper pulled out the stops, too. Even though Ocasio pitched a complete game Saturday, Piper brought her in to start the fifth inning, and she was sharp.
It also sent a message to Team Osterman that Purple was serious about this game.
“They wanted to win the game, but we just stuck to our plan, and it worked,” Urtez said.
The fateful bottom of the seventh began with Aliyah Andrews beating out an infield hit. Morgan Zerkle bunted with two strikes and was safe at first base on Ocasio’s throwing error, sending Andrews to third. Zerkle then stole second base, and when catcher Gwen Svekis’ throw ended up in center field, Andrews scored the tying run. Warren singled, and the dangerous Chidester was walked intentionally, even with first base occupied.
That set the stage for Urtez’s heroics.
“It actually brought me back to college,” Urtez said. “I would bat behind Hannah Flippen. They would walk Hannah Flippen to get to me. I had the mentality already being prepared from college experience. Kind of having that in the back of my mind – just hitting the ball, putting it in play and keeping it simple, looking for something to attack that was elevated to be able to hit it out of the infield. Just keeping it simple and sticking to my plan.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
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Game 10: Piancastelli & Flippen Combine for 9 RBIs in 13-4 Win for Team Vidales
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Momentous occasions call for momentous moments.
Sunday provided plenty of those at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont. When Haylie McCleney made a signature diving catch off the bat of Riley Sartain-Vaughan, it closed out a 13-5 victory for Team Vidales (Blue) over Team Jaquish (Gold) in the second game of the day.
“I just want to say it was a bad read; it wasn’t a very good defensive play,” McCleney said. “It was just recovery. So I want to put that out there first. I made it look a little harder than it actually was.”
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, McCleney. And Sunday provided stories from noon ‘til night with a fabulous twinbill, which began with a walk-off win for Team Osterman over Team Piper in the afternoon.
Sunday night’s game marked the 100th sporting event in Athletes Unlimited history, covering softball, volleyball and lacrosse. What’s more, a sellout crowd was on hand to soak it all in.
“It’s so cool to see this all come together and to have fans back in the stands,” said Team Vidales second baseman Hannah Flippen. “There was one point during the game tonight where Tori (Vidales) had a mishap. She had a foul ball where she didn’t swing and she faked like it hit her. The whole crowd reacted and started laughing.
“So it’s cool to hear them engage with us on those moments that are silly to us. Everybody gets to see what we see every day. We have those moments and then the big hits. You get the oohs and aahs. And little kids. There’s little kids all over the place that are asking for autographs. They know our names. It’s just a really fun environment to play in and be around.”
Sunday night’s game finished as a blowout, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t excitement for those fans and some stories of personal comeback for the players.
Team Vidales used some two-out thunder to grab a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first. McCleney led off with a single, and she moved to second on Victoria Hayward’s sacrifice bunt. After Vidales popped out, Erika Piancastelli doubled to score McCleney.
Flippen followed with a two-run homer to left. It was Flippen’s first hit of the season after she had gotten off to an 0-for-11 start.
“It is nice,” she said. “You remember what you did yesterday, but you have to keep showing up. It is a new day, but it definitely feels good to have the first one out of the way.”
Team Blue starting pitcher Danielle O’Toole also had a rough beginning to her season, entering the game with an ERA of 22.24 and ranking 60th in the overall points standings.
She gave up a two-run homer to hot-hitting Sahvanna Jaquish in the bottom of the first, but she settled in and worked five innings of seven-hit, four-run ball to improve to 1-1.
“I think I’ve obviously had a little bit of a misstep, but I’ve had a lot of friends and teammates who have totally had my back and pushed me to kind of keep going,” O’Toole said. “I think the flip side is that yesterday is different. The day before is different, and you’ve just got to come out the next day and compete, and I think our team did that today.”
O’Toole freely admitted her confidence had suffered.
“Oh, yeah, 100 percent,” she said. “I felt like I stepped in something my dog let go. Yeah, for sure. My confidence as down a little bit, which is insane because all three of us just came back from Olympics. It’s just something I personally am going through. I think my teammates and my other friends who are not on my team really helped me out this week.”
McCleney won MVP 1 honors and 60 bonus points with three singles and a home run, which came in the team’s five-run fourth inning. She moved from 15th to sixth on the overall Athletes Unlimited leaderboard, going from 428 points to 668.
Piancastelli hit a seventh-inning grand slam to gain MVP 2 honors, and Flippen was MVP 3.
Jaquish’s homer for Team Gold was her third of the season. The Gold team also got a home run from Samantha Show.
“I felt good in the box in Tokyo, and I feel good in the box here,” McCleney said. “Like Hannah (Flippen) said, the game doesn’t know what you did yesterday. So I’ve got to keep showing up regardless, good or bad. That’s what I try to do every day.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
