GREENVILLE, N.C. – Wednesday night, the AUSL Pro Game was played as part of its collaboration with the Little League Softball World Series. Max R. Joyner Family Stadium was packed with fans as Team Fernandez and Team Watley took the field.
Team Watley claimed the 6-2 win after falling behind in the bottom of the first inning on a Devyn Netz two-run home run. Kyleigh Sand pushed across the first run for Team Watley in the top of the second with an RBI single up the middle to score Keirstin Roose.
Then in the top of the third, Kailey Wyckoff reached on a leadoff walk and scored on a one-out RBI single from Ali Newland to tie the game at 2. With the bases loaded after Roose reached on a fielder’s choice, Team Watley took a 3-2 lead on a Sarah Gordon sacrifice fly that scored Sahvanna Jaquish.
They never looked back and pushed across three more runs. Sand recorded an RBI single in the top of the fifth to score Roose. Then in the seventh, Team Watley produced runs. After Gordon reached on a walk, McKenzie Clark singled to put two on with two outs. Then the last two runs came in as Sand reached on a fielding error that allowed Clark and Gordon to score.
Odicci Alexander-Bennett took the win after 2.0 innings of one-hit ball with no runs allowed, striking out 1. Maddi Penta recorded the save with 2.0 innings of scoreless ball with 1 hit allowed and 2 strikeouts. Before either of them touched the circle, Jailyn Ford pitched effectively after that first inning. Ford recorded 5 strikeouts with 1 walk, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits.
For the players on the field, the night meant more than just the game. They played in front of young girls from all over the world competing in the Little League Softball World Series.
“I think it’s just more of giving back to the community,” Netz said. “I think we started at this age, and it’s almost a way for us to see ourselves and where we wanted to be at this point in our career when we were that young.”
“It’s really fun to give back, and also just see, almost like looking at myself in the mirror and be like, ‘You know what? That’s exactly what I wanted to do, and now I get to live the dream, and now I get to inspire other girls,'” Netz said.
Wyckoff, who is in her first year as a pro, is part of something that she didn’t believe was possible just a few years ago. Now, she is a role model for young kids in the game.
“I think it’s really huge just for these teams to get together and just play each other and just play really good softball in front of all the little girls who can now have dreams to be at this level one day,” Wyckoff said. “Whereas, like Devyn said, when we were younger, this wasn’t achievable to a certain extent. And so I think they just have something to look forward to, and they’ll know that their hard work pays off in the end, and I think it’s just awesome.”
One name tied the field to the stands. The general manager of Wyckoff’s AUSL champion Utah Talons, Lisa Fernandez, also coached in this game. After the game, Fernandez’s signature was the only one on a young fan’s softball.
That fan was Taylor Davis, there with her family, part of a Twin Rivers Little League team whose organization was presented with a $25,000 check from Dick’s Sporting Goods and Little League.
When asked how it felt to watch the pros up close, Taylor was clearly excited and a bit starstruck. The name on her ball, Lisa Fernandez, is one of the all-time greats, and one her mom, Alli Davis, watched closely in her playing days.
For Alli, who played the game herself, the night was proof of how far it had come and the future her daughter could have.
“Twenty years ago, none of this existed,” Alli Davis said. “When I played, this was a dream, and now these girls have a chance to do it. It’s at their fingertips. So just seeing the game evolve has been amazing to watch.”
Alli brought up the support the AUSL is getting, particularly from Major League Baseball.
“They’re finally getting the support with Major League Baseball backing them,” she said. “So I really think five, 10 years from now, it’s just going to continue to grow.”
What was once an unimaginable future is here, and on Wednesday night in Greenville, the girls in the stands saw exactly what they can grow up to be.
