Pro News: First Two Games in the Books for Athletes Unlimited Softball As Cat Osterman & Samantha Show Take MVP Honors

The Opening Day of the 30-game Athletes Unlimited season saw two games played on Saturday—both contests seeing the winning teams score double-digit runs—with two big-name pitchers collecting MVP honors and, thus, collecting the most points in their respective games.

Here are recaps of the games done by Bruce Miles for Athletes Unlimited and photos courtesy of Jade Hewitt Media.

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OSTERMAN PITCHES FIVE SCORELESS IN 11-3 VICTORY

The sun shone brightly on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Rosemont, Illinois, as Athletes Unlimited officially kicked off its inaugural softball season. No one’s star was brighter than that of veteran pitcher Cat Osterman, who pitched five shutout innings for Team Warren (Orange) in an 11-3 victory over Team Fagan (Purple).

For her efforts, the 37-year-old Osterman won MVP-1 honors and scored a game-leading 230 points, 60 for being the top MVP, 110 for her team winning the game and 60 stat points for her in-game performance.

At noon Central time, Osterman fired the first pitch – a strike – in the regular-season history of Athletes Unlimited Softball.

“Gwen Svekis (catcher) and I were actually talking about that before the game,” Osterman said. “Obviously, if COVID doesn’t hit and everything unfolds the way we thought it was going to be, I would probably be at home and not playing – retired. It’s kind of ironic that I got a chance to throw out the first pitch. But at the same time, I was very honored and blessed to be able to do that and kind of kick us off, obviously with a strike. This is a great opportunity for all of us to be playing again, so I was very happy to be able to deliver the first pitch.”

Team Warren scored a run in the second inning but blew the game open with 10 runs in the fifth, sending 14 batters to the plate. That made things all the more easy for Warren to manage. Warren was named MVP 2, earning 40 points for a grand total of 180, placing her second behind Osterman.

“It just makes the game more fun,” Warren said. “When you have everybody in the lineup that’s hitting, that makes it easier as a captain to make the lineup because we’re hitting 1-9.”

It was a big points day for Team Warren across the board. Aubrey Leach picked up 160 points by going 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases. Victoria Hayward, Abby Ramirez and DJ Sanders were next, with 140 each.

For Team Fagan, Sam Fischer earned MVP 3 honors and 20 extra points, giving her 80 for the game. Starting pitcher Danielle O’Toole worked four innings, giving up seven hits and five runs. Pitchers lose points for every earned run they allow, giving O’Toole eight points. Reliever Randi Hennigan netted -42 points as she gave up six runs in two-thirds of an inning.

For a league that rewards both individual and team efforts, the players said they saw a good mix.

“I think a lot of people assume that the individual points are what we’re going to focus on,” Osterman said. “If you think about it, if your team scores and wins innings and games, you get more points that way than we do individually. I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out between pitcher and hitter but it’s playing out pretty equally. It’s been fun. It’s not as individual focused as people assume it’s going to be.”

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SHOW GETS IT DONE ON THE MOUND AND IN THE BOX IN 18-4 WIN

As she crossed home plate after hitting a home run in the sixth inning, Samantha Show gave a wry little smile and a sheepish laugh.

What else was there to do or say? Show’s blast to center field at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex was part of a five-run inning that widened the gap in an 18-4 victory by Team Wagner (Gold) over Team Pendley (Blue) in the second game of a doubleheader.

The first game also was one-sided, as Team Warren beat Team Fagan 11-3.

Show went 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI. She also pitched a scoreless inning in relief of starter and captain Haylie Wagner.

At the end of the day, Show led all points-scorers with 252. She earned 110 for her team winning the game, 102 for her individual stats and 40 for finishing second in MVP voting to teammate Jazmyn Jackson.

“I was seeing the ball really good,” Show said. “All of the hard work of the past two months has been paying off. It was such a fun game. It was nice to go back to back with Wiggs (Megan Wiggins). It was nice coming into my team and getting excited for winning that inning.”

Show and Jackson enjoyed a nice back-and-forth for individual points honors. Jackson earned the 60 MVP 1 points to go along with the 110 for the team winning the game and 70 for her in-game stats.

Those stats ran the spectrum. Jackson hit the first grand slam in Athletes Unlimited history when she connected in Team Wagner’s seven-run fourth inning. The opposite-field blast carried well beyond the wall in left-center field.

Jackson capped her day in the sixth with a bunt single that carried all of about 10 feet. She finished the day with 240 points, placing her second to Show and 10 ahead of Game 1 MVP and Team Warren (Orange) member Cat Osterman.

There was another nice footnote in the sixth, as Jordan Roberts homered in her first professional at-bat. Roberts earned 40 points for the homer and wound up with 150 for the game. Wiggins was named MVP 3 and totaled 190 points.

For Team Pendley, Sahvanna Jaquish homered and scored 60 overall points – 40 points for her home run, 10 for a single, and 10 from team points.

Jackson said she was not thinking about the individual points race with her teammate.

“I was absolutely not thinking about it,” she said after going 3-for-4 with five RBI. “We just want to win the inning. I think we’re all on the same page with that. I didn’t even think about my points once, actually.”

Trailing 2-1 in the third inning, Team Wagner scored five runs erase the one-run deficit. Team Pendley outscored Team Wagner 2-1 in the first to pick up 10 inning points right off the bat.

But there was no stopping Team Wagner the rest of the way.

“Pass the bat,” said Lilli Piper, who put up 140 points. “I think that’s super important for us. Get it done and give it to the next person and hope they get it done. Every inning counts for us. You guys know that. Win the inning, which is the biggest thing for us.”

Athletes Unlimited players are also socially aware. As other pro sports leagues chose not to play on certain occasions during the past week. The women here decided to take the field.

“There was a conversation of us, obviously, not playing, given everything that’s going on,” Jackson said. “It also has to be addressed, the gender inequality that we deal with as female athletes. We decided to play and use our platform, wear our masks, have some stuff going on on the field that really highlights what we stand for as players.

“I think the staff has done a very good job of asking us what we want, not putting anything on us. For us, it really wasn’t a question of playing or not … But because this is something people are going to be watching because nobody’s playing, ‘OK, let’s take advantage of this and let’s support what we feel is right.’”