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Week 3 of the Athletes Unlimited softball season marched on Sunday as the middle day of three straight days of pro fastpitch included a dramatic walk-off home run by Caleigh Clifton in today’s early action.
The final game of the week will be Monday at 4 pm ET and will match Team Sanders vs. Team Reed.
Here are recaps of the games today written by Bruce Miles for Athletes Unlimited and photos courtesy of Jade Hewitt Media.
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Game 15: Caleigh Clifton puts Team Piancastelli on top with a 3-run walk-off home run
Caleigh Clifton watched – and learned.
Clifton spent much of a sunny Sunday afternoon observing opposing relief pitcher Danielle O’Toole change speeds while completely shutting down the potent lineup of Team Piancastelli from the third inning and heading into the bottom of the seventh.
But when Clifton stepped to the plate with two runners aboard and her team trailing 7-5, she knew just what to look for.
When it came, Clifton made no mistake. Instead, she made her own walk-off moment with a three-run homer to cap a four-run rally and lift her team to a dramatic 8-7 victory over Team Reed before an ESPN2 viewing audience, giving Athletes Unlimited quite a showcase game.
“I just think that Tooly is an amazing pitcher,” Clifton said. “Up until that point, I think she had a lot of us hitters just guessing, and I kind of learned from my first at-bat and stuck with my plan for my second at-bat, and it just kind of paid off.”
What was Clifton looking for?
“Something softer, a changeup,” she replied without hesitation. “She does a great job of mixing speeds and keeping batters kind of guessing. She comes with that changeup.”
For her heroics, Clifton took MVP 1 honors for an extra 60 points on top of the 50 stat points she earned for the homer and a third-inning walk. She also took home 70 inning and win points.
The way this game was going, it had all the makings of a 16-15 slugfest.
Thanks to O’Toole and Team Piancastelli reliever Karissa Hovinga (MVP 2 and 40 extra points), things settled down in the middle innings.
Team Reed jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second on a three-run homer by No. 9 hitter and catcher Aubree Munro off Taylor McQuillin. Nadia Taylor brought Piancastelli’s Orange team within 3-2 in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer right after Morgan Howe singled.
In the top of the third, Hanna Flippen and Tori Vidales hit back-to-back homers off McQuillin before Piancastelli went to the bullpen and brought in Hovinga, who was just as solid as O’Toole in the middle innings.
Hot-hitting Megan Wiggins hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third before Reed’s team scored single runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings.
O’Toole looked loose as she took to the circle in the bottom of the seventh, but an error on Wiggins bouncer by Flippen and a hit batter quickly gave Team Piancastelli life.
“I think, honestly, the way AU has set this whole thing up, going into the inning, just thinking about winning the inning, we knew we had the chance,” Wiggins said. “We shut ’em down. Having the chance to win just one inning, when I went to bat, it wasn’t, ‘Let’s win the game here. Let’s just win the inning,’ and do whatever it takes to get on base and get the inning started.”
O’Toole got a strikeout and a force-out before Taylor (MVP 3 and 20 extra points) hit an RBI single, setting the stage for Clifton.
“Right before that at-bat, our captain, Erika, came up to us and was like, ‘Guys, we really have nothing to lose,’” Clifton said. “What do we have to lose, right? So I just think with that mentality, the game is not all on my shoulders. There were at-bats before that, things before that. Just trying to do my job and honestly, trying to pass the bat to the next player.”
Captain Janie Reed’s team managed to win 50 innings points. In addition to her 40 points for the home run, Flippen added 10 with a walk and 10 with a single.
Here are the Game 15 video highlights:
*****
Game 16: KATIYANA MAUGA HAS A FIVE-RBI DAY AS TEAM OSTERMAN DEFEATS TEAM SANDERS
There appears to be no stopping Team Osterman, even when Cat Osterman doesn’t pitch.
Osterman was able to watch Sunday’s proceedings from the first-base coaching box as her teammates jumped on Team Sanders for eight runs in the first inning on the way to a 12-9 victory in the day’s second game at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont.
During the first three weeks of Athletes Unlimited softball play, Osterman’s teams are 8-0.
The upshot is that Athletes Unlimited has a delicious prime-time matchup ready for Monday night (8 ET/7 CT, CBS Sports Network) as Team Osterman will take on a power-packed Team Piancastelli, also 2-0 this weekend. Captain Erika Piancastelli’s team staged a dramatic four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning earlier Sunday to stun Team Reed 8-7 on Caleigh Clifton’s walk-off three run homer.
The likely pitching matchup Monday night will be a pair of rested lefties: Osterman vs. Haylie Wagner.
In Monday’s first Game, Team Reed will take on Team Sanders (4 ET/3 CT, ESPN3).
In Sunday’s nightcap, Team Osterman sent 12 batters to the plate in the first, chasing starting pitcher Jessica Burroughs after two-thirds of an inning.
The big hits were three-run homers by Katiyana Mauga and Victoria Hayward. Hayward’s homer came in her second plate appearance of the inning. She led off the game with a walk. For Mauga, it was the first of two homers in the game. She hit a solo shot in the second and later added an RBI single, giving her 90 stats points. She then picked up 60 more points for being voted MVP 1 of the game.
Hayward is making a bid to be a captain for the second time this season. She had 70 stats points in the game. Michelle Moultrie also homered for Team Osterman.
“As you saw throughout the game, they were just chipping away,” Mauga said. “We just made sure that since we were visitors to come out ready to go right off the bat and score as many runs as we can. Especially from yesterday, my performance wasn’t that good, so I just came into this game making sure that that I was calm and was doing it for the team.”
In the circle for Team Osterman was right-hander Kelly Barnhill, who enjoyed her best performance of the season. She worked 5.2 innings and gave up eight hits and six runs (five earned).
Most important, she ate up innings and allowed Osterman a day off.
With rare exception, the hitters have been ahead of the pitchers in Athletes Unlimited play, and that can take a toll on confidence in the circle.
“Today I did my job; I did what Cat needed me to do,” Barnhill said. “I was supposed to eat innings for her so she could have a day of rest to be fresh. She’s been throwing a lot the last couple of weekends. Today was really good for me. I felt my pitches were working really well. I had time to be on the mound and settle in a lot more than I have had in the past two weeks.”
About that confidence, Barnhill said it’s a matter of perspective.
“I think one of the things you have to remember is that these are literally the best hitters in the entire world,” she said. “And there is no lull in the lineup.”
As it turns out, there was plenty in this game for Team Sanders as well. After the first, Team Sanders players picked up 60 innings points each as their attempt at a comeback fell just short with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Captain DJ Sanders homered and doubled to pick up 60 individual points, and Samantha Show homered and walked for another 50. Sanders was the game’s MVP 2, earning 40 additional points. Show received 20 more points for being voted MVP 3
Hayward was a captain for the second weekend of competition. Another good performance Monday night could have her drafting a new team Tuesday.
She enters Monday ranked fifth in total points (1,010) behind leaders Osterman (1,458), Sanders (1,090), Piancastelli (1,050) and Janie Reed (1,030). The top four points earners after this round of play will serve as captains for next weekend.
“It was fun; it was a challenge, just not being able to focus solely on your own performance and being responsible for everybody,” Hayward said of being captain. “There’s definitely added pressure that comes with that. But I’m in this league because I like that pressure and I love a good challenge. There’s a lot of good hitters in there right now, a lot of great pitchers in the mix. So I’m not sure it will happen for me this week. But obviously I’m just trying to do the best I can.”
Here are Game 16 video highlights: