Two accomplished pitchers were the story on Sunday as Games 3 & 4 of the Athletes Unlimited as one threw the first no-hitter in league history and the other went the distance in a complete game victory…
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Game 3: Taylor McQuillin pitches complete game in 3-1 win over Team Piancastelli
Happy new season, Taylor McQuillin.
The veteran left-handed pitcher announced she was back at Athletes Unlimited in a big way on Sunday. She tossed a complete-game five-hitter to lead Team Warren (Orange) to a 3-1 victory over Team Piancastelli (Purple).
McQuillin walked two and struck out five. She endured a rough start to the 2020 Athletes Unlimited season before recovering near the end. Her ERA for the season wound up at 8.61.
“I think the Orange team this week has done a great job of keeping me in check, hyping me up, being great defensively and scoring the runs when we need to,” she said. “But this year, my mindset has shifted a little bit to go out there, attack the zone, be myself and just have a different year than last year and show people I’m here to compete.”
McQuillin piled up a whopping 254 points including 60 for being voted MVP 1 of the game by her peers. McQuillin’s battery-mate, Sashel Palacios, earned 40 extra points for MVP 2 honors. Her fourth-inning homer gave her 40 individual points.
But she talked glowingly of her pitcher, both of whom played for Team Mexico in the Olympics. Catching McQuillin was hardly a job Sunday.
“So easy,” she said. “Taylor made my job look so easy. She had a great command of the pitches. She knew what she wanted to throw. Obviously, we have the chemistry coming from Team Mexico, but today was something special. I was so honored to be behind the plate watching it.”
Team Warren (1-1) scored a run in the top of the first. Amanda Lorenz led off the game with a single, and she moved to third on Sydney Romero’s double to the gap in right-center. Captain Jessi Warren then drove Lorenz home with a sacrifice fly to right.
Team Piancastelli (0-2) tied the game briefly in the bottom of the third. Megan Wiggins tripled to right field and came home on Erika Piancastelli’s single to center.
McQuillin shut it down from there, and her mates got her a pair of runs in the fourth. Palacios homered to the bleachers in right field on a first-pitch swing against Taran Alvelo. Amanda Sanchez chased Alvelo from the game with a single. Carrie Eberle replaced Alvelo. Pinch runner Kayla Wedl stole second base and advanced to third on a groundout by Jazmyn Jackson. A single to center by Anissa Urtez brought Wedl home.
Eberle won MVP 3 honors and 20 extra points for her 3.2 innings of two-hit scoreless ball.
“I did it yesterday,” Eberle said of relieving. “I think it’s just getting outs as quick as you can and trying to get the momentum on your side and putting your team in a position where they can go compete and try and win an inning.”
So far in the early going, pitching has dominated the hitting in Athletes Unlimited, a far cry from last year when hitters ruled in Rosemont.
“For the pitchers, I was one of them giving up the 6-7-8-9 runs in a game,” McQuillin said of last season. “This year, we just have more depth in pitching. We have stronger staffs all the way around. I think we have more confidence in each other and in ourselves, going out there knowing that we have a team stacked with players who are going to go out there and compete for us.”
“That’s something that helped me with my mindset, knowing that I have a team behind me and them being able to go out there and support that team. The team win matters. I want to play for them every time. I think that’s what all the pitchers are doing very well right now.”
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
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Game 4: Cat Osterman throws first no-hitter in Athletes Unlimited Softball history
The capricious Chicago-area weather brought the rain and lightning Sunday.
Cat Osterman brought the thunder.
The 38-year-old (but ageless, really) lefty and softball legend tossed the first no-hitter in the history of Athletes Unlimited as the Gold team she captains beat Team Hayward (Blue) in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
The only run Osterman allowed came in the third inning, the result of a walk and a one-out sacrifice fly.
In her seven innings of no-hit work, Osterman walked two, struck out five and hit a batter. She faced 25 batters and threw 97 pitches one day after getting a save. There two errors in the field behind Osterman.
Wait, there’s more.
When Osterman struck out DJ Sanders to end the bottom of the first inning, it was her 100th career strikeout in Athletes Unlimited, which began play last year.
Interestingly, Osterman said she didn’t feel her best at the start of the game. Then she had to wait out a 1-hour, 1-minute rain and lightning delay in the middle of the fifth inning.
“When the game started, I didn’t feel that great,” she said. “I was throwing a little bit inconsistent. But Dejah (catcher Mulipola) was doing a great job back there for me. During the rain delay, I just kind of rested, stretched my arm out a little bit. As you noticed, I took my sleeves off. I felt like they were a little too tight, maybe. I don’t want to blame that.
“I felt looser once I got them off. But (I) just relaxed. I got off my feet. I think sometimes I don’t take into account coaching first base probably tires me out a little bit. Mentally, I just tried to figure out what I wanted to do differently going back out there once the break was over.”
Whenever a pitcher in softball or baseball pitches a no-hitter, she or he is always asked about being aware of it.
“Yeah, I knew that,” she said. “I was just trying to think more of keeping runs scoring more than anything. My defense was going to work behind me.”
It eventually dawned on Osterman’s teammates that something special was happening.
“In the fourth or fifth inning, I kind of looked up at the scoreboard, and I was like, ‘Is that a zero? Wait, has anybody gotten a hit?’” said first baseman Tori Vidales. “So I was just thinking in my own head.”
The Chicago-area weather struck for a second straight day. This time, lightning sirens sounded in the middle of the fifth, forcing players, fans and staff to evacuate. Heavy rain followed.
Before that, Team Osterman (2-0) wasted no time getting on the board, with two in the first inning. Aliyah Andrews and Haylie McCleney opened with singles to start the inning, and they were sacrificed ahead by Sahvanna Jaquish. Vidales brought them both home with a double to right-center for a 2-0 lead.
Team Hayward (1-1) got a run without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the third. Jordan Roberts walked to lead off, and speedy pinch runner Morgan Zerkle stole second and third bases. After Osterman struck out Sis Bates, Hayward drove Zerkle home with a sacrifice fly to center.
It was a tight ballgame until the top of the seventh, when Team Osterman put across four runs, two unearned. A big play was a sacrifice fly and error off the bat of Aliyah Andrews, the game’s MVP 2. Vidales took home MVP 3 honors.
For her part, Andrews said she enjoyed playing left field behind Osterman.
“It’s easy,” she said. “I feel like things are in control. No matter what, I know I need to play behind her and make some plays just because she’s going to get some balls easily hit to us. Just doing my job and knowing she’s going to do her job, too.”
With 234 total points for the game, Osterman moved up to her accustomed top spot on the Athletes Unlimited leaderboard, with 370 points going into Monday night’s play.
— Bruce Miles, Athletes Unlimited
