Monday night brought the beginning of the Carolina Blaze’s nine-game road trip, as they took on the Oklahoma City Spark. After four quiet innings from the Blaze, a two-out grand slam from Baylee Klingler in the top of the fifth gave Carolina the 5-4 lead that stood as the final. Keilani Ricketts pitched 4.0 innings of scoreless ball in relief for the win.
“It was exciting,” Carolina head coach Kara Dill said. “I mean, it’s really the first time that some of those things have happened. The first time Karlyn’s been squared up a little bit. The first time we’ve had to come from behind like that, down 4-0. Brito’s solo home run. And then Baylee’s grand slam was with two outs. Aubrey started all of that with two outs. It just speaks for the resiliency of the team. They don’t get too high. They don’t get too low. They are confident in who they are and what they can do and bring to the team.”
The Blaze got on base off a couple of Spark mishaps in the first inning. But with one out, Sydney McKinney threw out Aubrey Leach at home on a Klingler single, and Maya Johnson went on to escape without damage.
Karlyn Pickens took the mound for the Blaze and ran into immediate trouble. After a one-out single from Sydney Romero, Delanie Wisz cashed in with a two-run home run to left field to give the Spark a 2-0 lead. Pickens had a couple of pitches that remained elevated in the zone, and OKC took advantage.
Johnson was good at keeping the ball down and picking her spots. Other than an Alyssa Brito one-out single in the top of the second, she gave up nothing. Johnson recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Devyn Netz and Aleshia Ocasio to retire the side.
Pickens bounced back and retired the bottom of the second in order. Keirstin Roose lost a seven-pitch battle and struck out swinging in the process.
In the top of the third, Johnson worked a lefty-on-lefty matchup with Leach, kept the ball inside, and recorded her third strikeout of the game to retire the side. Johnson leaned on that inside strike call and took advantage.
Oklahoma City had great intent at the plate, and in the bottom of the third, Romero smashed a two-run home run to center field off a 3-1 pitch to extend the Spark’s lead to 4-0.
Carolina just could not figure out a way to get to Johnson early. The Spark, on the other hand, successfully pushed Pickens out of the game going into the bottom of the fourth. Ricketts took the mound and made it through the inning with only a Sydney Sherrill single allowed.
Brito gave the Blaze a spark with a leadoff solo home run on the first pitch of the fifth inning. That was Brito’s second home run of the season. She knew the pitch she wanted and took it deep. Leach also jumped on the first pitch of her at-bat for a two-out single, and that is where the trouble started for OKC. Reese Atwood followed by reaching on an error to put two on.
“She was kind of carving us up there for four innings,” Dill said. “And the conversations were just about adjusting. Second time through the order, adjusting. Third time through the order, making sure that we adjust, and we’ve been good at that all year long.”
Johnson had her first issue with getting off the field and put Dakota Kennedy on via a hit by pitch to load the bases. That was the last pitch for Johnson, and Amber Flores went to Lyndsey Grein in relief. That is when Klingler greeted her with a grand slam on the first pitch to give the Blaze a 5-4 lead.
“So for Baylee to get in the at-bat and just be on time to the first pitch, that was impressive,” Dill said. “And Baylee’s coming back from Japan too. She’s fighting some of those sleep deprivation and changing time zones, and we’re putting her in the middle of our order because she’s so talented. It was just good to see her come through in that moment.”
Ricketts put up a zero on the board in the bottom half, with only a single given up to McKinney. The momentum was Carolina’s after a five-run inning. What was once an energetic crowd in Edmond, Okla., had completely changed as the Blaze stayed opportunistic and composed.
Ricketts stabilized the game for the Blaze in the circle with 4.0 innings of scoreless ball and finished by shutting the door on OKC’s hopes. While all of the offensive heroics in the fifth inning stole the show, what Ricketts did was even more important.
“That’s what Keilani brings,” Dill said. “There’s no moment that she has never pitched in, multiple times. She just brings a sense of, she is a veteran. When you’re expecting her to give up a ground ball out, and we have a phenomenal infield. We have a phenomenal defense behind her.”
The Blaze will have a day off on Tuesday and return Wednesday night, at 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
