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On a somber day in our country’s history, the softball world got to enjoy some comforting action as the offenses were definitely dialed in.
There were 28 runs scored in the two games and many came on home runs as young players like Amanda Lorenz, Dejah Mulipola and Bubba Nickles showed the future of the sport is bright….
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Game 11: Athletes Unlimited Sees Bubba Nickles Debut with First Pro Homer in Team Jaquish’s 14-6 Victory
How’s this for a fine how-do-you-do? Or should we say a fine “aloha?”
Bubba Nickles stepped into her first day of Athletes Unlimited in a big way Saturday. She hit the first pitch see saw as an Athletes Unlimited player for a leadoff home run in the second inning to help Team Jaquish (Blue) slug its way to a 14-6 victory over Team McCleney (Orange).
Nickles later added an RBI single and a walk, making her debut a memorable one. She finished second in game MVP voting for 40 bonus points. A U.S. Olympian and silver medalist this summer, she signed with Athletes Unlimited to replace the injured Sami Williams.
“It was pretty quick,” Nickles said of her journey to get to Rosemont. “I was actually in Hawaii watching my boyfriend playing football. Then I got a phone call. After Hawaii, I went home. Four-hour drive home, and then I flew out 6 a.m. the next morning and made it here just in time for the draft.
“It was just an exciting experience just to be a part of this atmosphere, being a part of Athletes Unlimited. I know a majority of the girls here. It was really fun to just play softball again on the same field together.”
All in all, there was no time wasting by Team Jaquish players. Hitters saw their pitches and hit them – far, early and often.
Check out these highlights from the early game on Saturday:
Home runs by Nickles, Kelsey Harshman, Amanda Chidester and Dejah Mulipola helped Jaquish’s team jump out to a 9-0 lead by the third inning. The homers by Nickles, Harshman and Chidester all came on the first pitch of their at-bats.
For her part, Mulipola hit a pair of homers. She added a three-run blast in the top of the seventh.
Mulipola credited teammate Chidester with helping her at the plate.
“She’s just getting me back to my own groove,” said Mulipola, the MVP 1, good for 60 extra points. Chidester was third in player MVP voting, for 20 points. “She’s been a relentless teacher with everything. She’s just knowledgeable about the game as well as many of the athletes here, so you’d almost be a fool not to kind of listen and learn.”
Jaquish’s started quickly, with Aliyah Andrews walking and stealing second base to lead things off. After Jaquish walked, Harshman hit a three-run homer in the first pitch she saw from Sara Groenewegen for her first Athletes Unlimited home run. Harshman and Groenewegen were Team Canada teammates in this year’s Olympic Games.
Nickles led off the top of the second with a shot to left-center on the first pitch she saw.
Not to be outdone, Chidester picked on a first pitch from reliever Danielle O’Toole for a three-run homer in Team Blue’s five-run second. It was Chidester’s Athletes Unlimited-leading fifth home run of the season and the longest home run this season at 279-feet-3-inches.
Harshman and Groenewegen have been college rivals in addition to Olympic teammates, so there may have been a familiarity factor at work.
“I’ve had a lot of AB’s off Sara G as teammates and as rivals in college,” Harshman said. “It feels a little bit at home when I hit off her.”
As for the aggressive approach, Harshman said that’s important against good pitchers.
“You want to be aggressive early in the count,” she said. “Sara’s an elite pitcher, and she gets a lot of success when she gets ahead in the count. If we can get ahead and get some barrels to the balls, I think that’s what we ultimately wanted to do, and we were able to do that today.”
Carrie Eberle started for Team Jaquish and worked three-plus innings before being relieved by Taylor McQuillin, who shut the door on Team McCleney when they were threatening. McQuillin earned the victory to improve to 2-0 with four innings of two-hit, two-run ball to finish things off. Ali Aguilar hit a two-run homer (40 points) off McQuillin in the seventh. Aguilar earlier picked up 20 individual points with a double. Team McCleney scored all of its runs in the bottom of the third.
“We were mixing speeds a lot,” Mulipola said. “Taylor’s a gamer. Obviously I know her, and she knows me very well. We just work well together. She was attacking the zone, attacking the batters. She wasn’t fearful against their powerful lineup. They had a lot of great hitters in their lineup, but we just went right at them.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
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Game 12: Amanda Lorenz Goes Yard Twice as Team Ocasio Defeats Team Osterman 6-2
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Aleshia Ocasio has been an Athletes Unlimited captain before, so when she was thrust into that role for this weekend, it was no problem.
Far from it.
Ocasio also knows a little something about fellow Florida Gator Amanda Lorenz. When Ocasio took Lorenz with her fourth-round draft pick for this weekend, it shouldn’t have come as a total shock.
Lorenz more than justified Ocasio’s faith in her Saturday by blasting her first two home runs to help lead Team Ocasio (Purple) to a 6-2 victory over Team Osterman.
“Amanda is the GOAT,” Ocasio said matter-of-factly. “I’ve obviously played with her at Florida and know what she can do, what she’s capable of, know what she brings, even in the locker room, not even on the field, but in the locker room, the energy she brings, the person that she is. I know that she was struggling, and that’s the conversation that we had.”
“I texted her after the draft, and I was like, ‘Just have fun. I know what you’re going to do.’ I was like, ‘Are you ready to hit in the leadoff spot?’ She’s like, ‘I’m ready.’ So automatically I knew she was going to have a big contribution to this team. I think she broke out of her shell tonight. I’m excited to see what she does the rest of the weekend.”
There was no score until the bottom of the third inning, when Lorenz homered with one out against Cat Osterman, a drive over the all-in center. She hit a three-run homer in Team Ocasio’s four-run sixth inning to give her mates a 6-0 lead.
Here are highlights from the second of the day…
“Honestly, I’ve been really struggling, and just to do anything for my team positively contribute to a win just feel so, so good,” said Lorenz, who gained 60 points for being named MVP 1 of the game in addition to 80 stats points for the homers.
“Obviously, hitting against an incredible pitcher like Cat is exciting, but all my focus is on my team, and I was really excited to do something for a team.”
This is Lorenz’s first year with Athletes Unlimited. It was a big day for newcomers in both of the day’s games. Earlier Saturday Dejah Mulipola and Bubba Nickles enjoyed breakout games.
“It’s just been an incredible, professional environment, surrounded by other amazing women who are really inviting and rooting for everyone’s success,” Lorenz said. “They really have something about them that makes everyone better.”
Ocasio (3-2) was the game’s MVP 2, good for 40 extra points. With the team’s win and the points she earned during the game, Ocasio vaulted into top spot in the overall leaderboard, with 951 points. She pitched six-plus innings, giving up seven hits and two runs.
They came on back-to-back homers by Gwen Svekis and Kelsey Stewart to start the seventh. After Ocasio walked Jordan Roberts, she took herself out of the game in favor of lefty Haylie Wagner, who gave up one hit but otherwise shut the door.
Osterman (2-2) worked six innings, giving up six hits and all six Team Ocasio runs. She went from 830 points to 852, but she dropped to fourth overall.
One of the hits off Osterman was a pinch-hit single by Taylor Edwards in the fourth.
“I have hit off Cat a long time, and internally, I’m very comfortable off of her,” said Edwards, the MVP 3.
“I spent the last two years training with her. Just to be able to remember those good at-bats I’ve had off of her before in whatever role it is – pinch hitting, catch, DH, whatever it is – just being able to be ready in that situation and control me and my breathing and be ready for my opportunity.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited