The Athletes Unlimited Softball League season continues to bring excitement each day. Thursday night, the Utah Talons bounced back with a 4-3 win over the Portland Cascade to remain atop the AUSL standings. Megan Faraimo turned in a gritty performance with a complete-game win. Faraimo became the first pitcher to throw multiple 10-strikeout games in AUSL history.
“I think my intention was set from the moment I woke up, especially after a game like last night,” Faraimo said. “It’s easy for teams to get down on themselves, but I just take so much pride in wearing this uniform, so I wanted to give my best for my teammates, for our coaches, and especially for Coach Lisa.”
It took Faraimo 146 total pitches to complete this game, and the will to do it was never in question. Talons general manager Lisa Fernandez, Faraimo’s collegiate coach, instilled that in her years ago.
“When you mention the amount of pitches I threw today, I look at it and I just think of her telling me at UCLA, man, the amount of pitches you could throw is unlimited,” Faraimo said. “You could truly do this if you put your mind to it. So that’s what I was really thinking of in that last frame, because it was a little dramatic, my bad. They are a really good team, but I was just like, man, I have to fight. I have to take pride in this uniform.”
That pride and determination was felt throughout the team, especially coming off the run-rule loss Wednesday night to the Cascade. That was not what the Talons or even their fans were accustomed to seeing, and they knew that it needed to be flushed and moved on from.
“Last night we were upset, because this team loves to win,” Talons head coach Cindy Ball-Malone said. “At the same time, we’re like, what a great opportunity to bounce back and play our game. Sometimes the game tells you what you need to know, and that game did. Outside of yesterday’s game, we have been in every single game, one swing away from tying it up or winning the ball game. And so that’s kudos to every single woman on this team. They’re just so talented.”
However, Portland didn’t go down easy. They pushed and pushed some more, coming across three runs in the game with the last two in the bottom of the seventh. Faraimo faced a test. After giving up a one-out single to Korbe Otis and a walk to Sierra Sacco-Ferrie, Megan Grant brought them both home with a two RBI double. Then, Faraimo put Sydney Stewart on with a walk to give the Cascade a shot at the walkoff win.
After a minute to get settled back in, Faraimo struck out Tori Vidales after she fell behind in the count 3-1. Then, Kendra Falby took an aggressive approach and jumped on the first pitch and ended the game on a groundout.
“You watch any of our games, everyone’s bringing their A game to us, because they want to beat us,” Ball-Malone said. “So we just kept saying, what a great opportunity to answer back, what a great opportunity to show us who we are, and what a great opportunity to flip it and get that momentum going towards us at the right exact time, like we’ve been talking about.”
The Talons answered to stay atop the AUSL with the Chicago Bandits. Faraimo, of course, didn’t do it alone. Sahvanna Jaquish and Bri Ellis came up with huge moments in the batter’s box. Jaquish started the scoring with a two-run home run in the second inning. Ellis followed with a two-out solo home run in the fourth and wrapped up the scoring in the sixth with an RBI single to bring in Jadelyn Allchin.
“I think what we did tonight is really the identity of the team,” Faraimo said. “We talked about it immediately after last night’s game. Jayda Coleman was bringing this up, that once we leave the field, we’re going to truly reset. We’re not going to bring this into the next game. That is something that’s actually really hard to do, so I’m really impressed that we did exactly that, and we showed out.
“I think it was closer to Talons softball, and we’re even still working to improve. One of the things to me that I think is so cool is seeing Wyckie [Kailey Wyckoff] behind the plate tonight, and seeing different people get it done, seeing different plays and all the hits and stuff. We truly just returned to who we are. Especially after doing that after a game like last night, that’s pretty professional to me.”
The Talons will face the Bandits with AUSL postseason seeding on the line. Both teams are tied atop the standings at 15-8, and there are two games to decide who will go into College Station as the No. 1 seed. Due to bad air quality in the Chicago area, the series will actually be played in Portland. It is another opportunity for the Talons to get better and go into Davis Diamond the best they’ve been all season.
“We’re still working on getting to hitting our stride, and we know that,” Ball-Malone said. “All of these moments are just testing us for College Station, and we’re not done, we’re not finished. We are going to play our best softball as we keep going, and I think we’re finding more and more confidence in different skills within our team, and then our team as a whole. We’re starting to speak the same language, we’ve got the same flow going together, and that’s so huge to be playing our best softball once we’re in College Station.”
