Week 5 of the 2021 Athletes Unlimited softball schedule is the final one of the season and one of the stories of the year has been the emergence of pitcher Carrie Eberle who continues to impress and win.
Carrie pitched a complete game in the opening Saturday contest and, in the late contest Alicia Ocasio helped her team win once again.
Here’s a closer look at the pair of games including video highlights…
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Game 25: Carrie Eberle Tosses Second Straight Complete Game Victory in 5-2 Win
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Carrie Eberle couldn’t have scripted a better week or so for herself.
The rookie right-handed pitcher earned a captaincy for herself with three straight strong starts last weekend.
That meant Eberle would be drafting her own new team for this week. She looked like a genius on all fronts Saturday as her team (Blue) scored a well-played 5-2 victory over Team Chidester (Orange).
Eberle tossed her second straight-complete-game victory with seven innings of seven-hit ball.
What’s more, her in-game strategy and her table-setting draft picks at the top of the batting order set the tone for a weekend-opening victory.
“It’s been awesome,” said Eberle, who improved her record in the circle to 3-1 with 17 outs via groundballs Saturday. She also earned 60 bonus points for being voted MVP 1 of the game. “I’ve just found such a great group that I’ve loved playing with these past two weeks. It’s just helped me be able to become my best self. It’s been a whirlwind for sure, but it’s been a lot of fun.
Team Eberle got things going right away against Team Chidester starting pitcher Amber Fiser. Ali Aguilar opened the game with a walk, and she went to second when Victoria Hayward beat out a grounder for an infield hit.
Click below to see highlights from the early game Saturday…
A groundout off the bat of Anissa Urtez moved the runners ahead. Aguilar slid home safely on Bubba Nickle’s fielder’s-choice grounder. After Kelsey Harshman struck out, Lilli Piper pinch hit for Riley Sartain-Vaughan and lined a single to right to score two runs and make it 3-0.
Piper was not at all surprised to pinch hit so early in the game.
“No, we talked a lot about it before the game,” she said. “Just kind of the game plan what was needed in that situation. Carrie’s been super awesome and a great leader, setting us up for success. That’s what she did. I got my job done.”
There was no scoring until the fifth, when Team Eberle added one against Cat Osterman, who came on in relief off Fiser in the fourth. Aguilar led off the fifth with her third walk of the afternoon. Hayward sacrificed Aguilar ahead, and Urtez followed with an RBI double to the gap in right-center.
“It was really important, I think, just keeping the pressure on her (Osterman),” Urtez said. “I was down 0-2 in the count. I was looking for something high, something that was going to be elevated. It’s pretty much sticking to my own plan and then producing it. It came my way, and I’m really, really happy about that and excited for the team to be able to get that win today.”
Team Eberle won 10 points for winning the first inning, but Team Chidester was able to take 40 points, including rollover points, by winning the fifth inning with two runs in the bottom half. Pinch hitter Jordan Roberts accounted for that with her first home run of the season, a booming opposite-field drive to right-center.
Roberts was voted MVP 2 (40 points) for her big hit, with Urtez taking home MVP 3 (20 points) for her performance.
Eberle’s team added a run in the top of the seventh. Hayward opened with a walk and a stolen base. She went to third on Urtez’s fly to center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bubba Nickles.
Second baseman Aguilar and center fielder Hayward combined for four runs, four walks, a hit, a sacrifice and a stolen base. Eberle drafted Aguilar in the second round and Hayward in the seventh after making shortstop Urtez her top pick.
“I’m so fortunate,” Eberle said. “My strategy was that I wanted to lock down the defense, especially up the middle because it’s so important to me as a pitcher. It just brings a lot of options to the table. Having (Hayward) right behind Ali worked out really well.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
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Game 26: Team Ocasio Cruises to 7-1 Victory over Team Jaquish
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Familiar faces in familiar places doing familiar things.
That was the story of Team Ocasio’s 7-1 victory Saturday over Team Jaquish in the second game of Saturday’s Athletes Unlimited doubleheader at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
Aleshia Ocasio is captain for a third straight week, and her Gold team looks very much like her Purple squad of a week ago. That’s because Ocasio was able to draft nine of the players she had last week.
Her team finished strong Week 4 on a high note, and her Gold squad rode her starting pitching and some timely hitting to victory Saturday over Sahvanna Jaquish’s Purple team.
Getting that many players back for another week requires some luck of the draw, but there’s an element of design in it, too.
“It’s funny, someone mentioned that earlier,” said Ocasio, who improved to 5-4 on the season and increased her first-place points total on the overall leaderboard from 1,558 to 1,808. “It’s absolutely by design. I’m a firm believer that you have to have a cohesive unit and have comfortability with each other to be successful.
“Yeah, it was for sure by design I drafted players who I felt comfortable (with) on defense because that’s what’s most important to me. We have a pool of players who can rake, but for me, defense is really important, and I just feel really comfortable with this group.”
Team Gold did its damage from the third through the seventh innings, winning all 70 innings points an addition to the 50 for the team victory. Ocasio also won MVP 1 honors for an additional 60 individual points.
Check out the video below to watch highlights of the game…
Hannah Flippen’s RBI single against Team Jaquish starter Alyssa Denham gave Team Ocasio a 1-0 lead in the third.
Kelsey Stewart and Gwen Svekis opened the top of the fourth with doubles. Center fielder Morgan Zerkle made a diving attempt on Stewart’s ball but couldn’t come up with it. Stewart could advance only to third on Svekis’ double because it looked like right fielder Jaquish might catch it at the wall.
With runners on second and third, Erika Piancastelli singled home Stewart. A single by Amanda Sanchez scored Svekis to make it 3-0.
Svekis had an RBI single in the fifth. Jazmyn Jackson hit her first homer of the season, a two-run drive over the wall in right in the sixth to make it 6-0 against reliever Odicci Alexander.
“It was really cool,” said Jackson, the MVP 2 of the game. “I was trying to swing first pitch. Odicci was throwing some good pitches. I just wanted to jump early because it’s no fun to get deep in the count to anybody. So I was trying to swing early. I was really excited to get my slap down on the hit before that (a fifth-inning single), honestly. I was really excited to be there for the team and do my job.”
Team Jaquish scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Tori Vidales before Piancastelli homered in the seventh. It was her third homer of the season.
Piancastelli is a catcher by trade, but she has been behind Svekis (the game’s MVP 3) at that position. The adjustment, she says, has not been difficult.
“I feel like my whole life I’ve been either catching or playing DP (designated player),” she said. “On the (Italian) national team, it’s the same role. I like doing whatever the team needs. If I need to just hit that day, if I need to catch, if I need to play somewhere in the infield, I’m just going to do whatever I need to do. It’s not different for me. I’m very used to it. The hard part for me is just staying focused the whole game. It’s super easy on this team.”
Team Jaquish managed just six hits in the game, two against Ocasio and four against reliever Randi Rupp.
“I actually didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, to be honest,” Ocasio said. “I got behind a lot in counts. But our defense was still working. Gwen again called a great game. It’s by design that I picked her for my first pick. We’ve been working well together for the past few weeks. Yeah, I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, but we made it work, and our offense really turned it on today. So I’m really happy about that.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
