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Weekend 3 of the Athletes Unlimited softball season saw another pair of exciting games take place in Rosemont, Illinois (Chicago area) at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex!
Here are recaps of the games done by Bruce Miles for Athletes Unlimited and photos courtesy of Jade Hewitt Media.
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Game 13: SAHVANNA JAQUISH’S GRAND SLAM LIFTS TEAM PIANCASTELLI PAST TEAM SANDERS IN 7-4 WIN
There was no shrouding this one in either mist or mystery.
The hitters on Team Piancastelli brought their power game Saturday.
Megan Wiggins and Morgan Howe each took turns hitting home runs over the scoreboard in right-center field, and Sahvanna Jaquish added the clincher with a fifth-inning grand slam to deep left-center as Piancastelli’s Team Orange slugged past Team Sanders (Purple) 7-4.
The game began with a light mist falling from the Rosemont sky, and it ended in a steadier drizzle.
There seems to be a little competition going as far as taking aim on that 36-foot-high board at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex. Howe has two that have cleared the board this season, and now Wiggins has one.
“Yeah, I totally asked her that after she hit her home run, that she was trying to hit it farther than I did,” Wiggins said of Howe. “It’s all fun. We’ve just been working hard in the cage and really trying to be the best we can be. It was really fun to see her be able to be successful off J.B. (pitcher Jessica Burroughs).”
A five-run bottom of the fifth for Team Piancastelli erased a 3-2 deficit.
Wiggins got things going in a big way in the bottom of the third as Team Piancastelli broke a scoreless tie with a two-out rally.
Kelsey Jenkins led off the inning with a single, but she was erased when Howe grounded into a 6-3 double play. Nicole Pendley kept the inning alive with a single to right field. Wiggins followed with a two-run blast that cleared the 36-foot-scoreboard in right-center. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Howe accomplished the same feat last Saturday.
Team Sanders took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Kelsey Stewart dropped a double between the infielders and outfielders in left field. She took third on Jazmyn Jackson’s groundout to the pitcher. After AJ Andrews walked, Kylan Becker bounced one to second baseman Caleigh Clifton, who elected to throw home instead of taking the easy out at first base and conceding the run. Catcher Piancastelli could not come up with the ball, and a run scored on the fielder’s choice.
Team Sanders scored twice more, on an RBI groundout by Nerissa Myers and a throwing error by third baseman Jaquish.
The five-run fifth inning happened with two outs. Howe sent one over the board with nobody on base, and later in the inning Jaquish hit her slam.
“The weather conditions, I think it was a little misty, but there was no wind,” Jaquish said. “They (relieved with Morgan) Foley and put J.B. back in. I felt like I was seeing her really well. So I kind of just trusted what I was seeing before. Also, I made a throwing error, so I was like, ‘All right, you got to do something big here for my team and step up in a big way.’ So I just swung for the fences and that’s what happened.”
Not to be overlooked was the pitching performance of Team Piancastelli’s Haylie Wagner.
Wagner tossed a complete-game five hitter, giving up four runs (two earned). She ran her record to 3-3 for the season. With the way she has carried the workload for her teams, Wagner has been an unsung hero of the competition, as she has operated in the long shadow cast by Cat Osterman, who has dominated hitters in the early going.
For Saturday’s efforts, Wagner earned MVP 1 honors for 60 additional points to the 100 win points and 64 stat points. Wiggins was MVP 2 for 40 additional points, and Jaquish picked up 20 extra points for being MVP 3.
“Every day is a chance to get better,” Wagner said. “I think as I keep going I just want to continue to do that and do my part for the team. As a pitcher, all I want to do is get my team back in the dugout so the offense can produce.”
The conditions definitely presented a challenge.
“Mist is definitely the worst for a pitcher as I personally think,” she said. “But being able to play college in the Midwest (at Michigan), I’ve learned how to have a different windup and keeping the ball dry, (using) rosin and having a towel to keep you hand dry is key. You just have to adjust to it.”
Burroughs, who was inactive last weekend, pitched 5.1 innings in her return to action. She gave up eight hits and six earned runs. Kelsey Stewart had a double and a walk for 30 stat points for Team Sanders to go with the 20 innings points her team won.
As far as the “longest-drive” competition between Wiggins and Howe, Wiggins put it in perspective.
“I’d rather have the most home runs rather than the furthest home runs,” Wiggins said with a smile.
Here are the Game 13 video highlights:
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Game 14: Team Osterman puts up six runs in the second and never looks back against Team Reed
For Team Osterman Saturday night, it was a “big six” in the second inning against Team Reed.
Osterman’s Gold team fell behind Team Reed in the first inning but put a 6-spot on the board in the bottom of the second, sending 10 batters to the plate. Team Reed scored three in the fifth to make it interesting, but Osterman’s squad held on for a 6-4 victory at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont.
Osterman has been the star of the show so far in Athletes Unlimited softball, and indeed, she was solid again Saturday, working the first four innings and then coming back to close things out in the seventh. She ran her record to 6-0 in this competition by allowing two hits and one run while walking one and striking out six.
But the beauty of the Athletes Unlimited scoring and MVP voting is that any player can be the star of the show and add to her points total in any given game.
Say hello to Mandie Perez. She had only three at-bats for the season entering Saturday night. But she hit a two-run homer in the six-run second inning. She also made a diving catch of Amanda Sanchez’s fly to left to end the game with a runner on base. That earned a big wave from Osterman as she walked off the field victorious.
“It all felt great,” Perez said. “We’ve been working as a team and individually. I’ve been just trying to get into the cages as much as I can and work with my facilitators. It just felt awesome, and it just felt good to contribute.”
Perez earned MVP 3 honors for her night. That gave her an additional 20 points in addition to her 40 for the home run and 80 for innings and win points.
Asked if she preferred the homer or the catch, she replied: “Oh, probably my home run. I’ve just been wanting at-bats. I’ve gotten time on defense. Knowing that Sami (Fagan) was on second and she got in and (the ball) went over as far as it did, I was just excited.”
Fagan had just doubled home a pair before Perez’s at-bats to really get the line moving.
“I try not to think about what I needed to do in that moment, like, ‘I need to score for my team right now,’” Fagan said. “I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do the best I can on the best pitch that I can.’ I really just wanted to swing with intent and put the best swing on the best ball that I saw. And I did that. I waited for a good pitch. I was 2-0 in the count. I got the pitch that I wanted, and I did what I should have done with it.”
There was just one more bit of intrigue and a bit of deja vu in the inning. Aubrey Leach hit a ball down the left-field line and came all the way around to score on what looked like an inside-the-park home run. However, the hit was ruled a double and a two-base error on Janie Reed, who couldn’t come up with the ball on a sliding attempt. It was Reed who last Monday hit an inside-the-park homer while playing for Team Osterman. That helped her earn a captain’s spot for this weekend.
Leach didn’t know how the play was ruled until after the game.
“I didn’t know it got ruled a double, but yeah, Janie had the first one,” she said. “I was actually on defense when that happened. So it’s funny that it was roles revered.”
Naturally she wanted the homer
“Right,” she said. “For sure.”
Osterman earned MVP 2 honors and an additional 40 points. MVP 1 went to Danielle O’Toole, who came on in relief of Team Reed starter Randi Hennigan and pitched three scoreless innings to earn 60 additional points.
Team Reed got a first-inning homer from Hannah Flippen, who added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Here are Game 14 video highlights: