The Carolina Blaze came in needing a win to stop their three-game slide. However, NiJaree Canady and the Volts had other plans. Canady pitched an eight-inning complete-game shutout, as Rylie Boone hit a walkoff sacrifice fly to score Ally Carda for a 1-0 win. Carolina fell to 8-10, while the Volts snapped their eight-game losing streak.
Canady started the game with a leadoff walk issued to Aubrey Leach. Then, Sierra Romero helped her with an unassisted double play off a Reese Atwood lineout to first. Canady retired the side with a strikeout of Dakota Kennedy.
Aleshia Ocasio received the ball for Carolina and retired two batters in two pitches as the Volts came out with an aggressive approach. She followed with a clean inning after a walk issued to Danieca Coffey, who advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Devyn Netz, who started at first base, recorded a one-out single for the first hit of the game in the top of the second. Canady bounced back with a strikeout en route to finishing the inning clean. Canady’s start in this game was better than her first meeting with the Blaze earlier in the season.
Carolina opened the top of the third with back-to-back singles. But Ana Gold wiped herself out in an attempt to advance to third on an Ocasio single, as Rylie Boone threw her out from right field. The Blaze have been on the wrong end of baserunning misfortune recently. Canady finished the inning clean, including a strikeout of Kennedy for the second time to retire the side.
After another shutdown inning from Canady in the top of the fourth, the Blaze turned to Keilani Ricketts in the bottom half. Ricketts has become a fixture in this middle relief role. She proceeded to roll through the side in order, with a leadoff strikeout to Jackie Lis.
Ahead in the top of the sixth, after Ricketts put up another clean frame, Canady pitched around Atwood and lost her on a four-pitch walk. Then, Valerie Cagle pinch-hit for Kennedy and came up with a huge double to advance Atwood to third. Cagle took the first pitch she saw to the right field corner.
The Blaze ended up in a bases-loaded, two-out situation, with Laird up to bat. Canady looked like vintage NiJa and struck out Laird on a curveball to leave the bases loaded. Carolina started the season as one of the best teams with runners in scoring position, but that’s been a test lately.
“I think we’re a little bit tense and just trying, everybody wants to be the one to get it done,” Dill said on hitting with runners in scoring position. “We’ve talked about that, about just freeing ourselves up a little bit to just let it happen, not trying so hard to make it happen. But what I like is that we’re continuing to get runners on. We’re continuing to put pressure on. So we just got to open that floodgate, with one run scored, I think it’s going to open the floodgate for us the rest of the year.”
Alyssa Brito’s defense at shortstop has been some of the best the league’s seen this season. In the bottom of the sixth, she aided Ricketts with a couple of good plays to retire hitters. Ricketts’ relief outing was greatly needed, but Canady kept the run support away. She began the seventh with her fifth strikeout of the game and retired the side in order.
Canady had her best outing of the season, and that could not have come at a worse time for the Blaze.
“I thought she was commanding her stuff really well on both sides of the plate,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said regarding Canady. “She was tough for righties. She was tough for lefties. You could see that in the contact we were making. So her stuff was really good tonight, and we just didn’t barrel a ton of stuff up. When we did hit it, it wasn’t hard, it wasn’t going a ton of places fast. So she was definitely spinning her stuff and locating it well, just commanding both sides of the plate.”
Karlyn Pickens took the ball to begin the bottom of the seventh and sent the game to extra innings with a 1-2-3 inning. Leach started the eighth inning on second base, and after getting behind to a 1-2 count, Atwood reached on a hit by pitch.
Canady responded with a strikeout of Cagle, before Klingler reached on a fielder’s choice to move Leach to third. The Blaze had another opportunity to bring in a run that was 60 feet away, but Canady induced a Netz groundout to get out of the jam. Tiare Jennings made a spectacular play at shortstop, with range across second base to throw to first in time. Carolina fell to 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Carda started at second as the runner in the bottom half, and Leighann Goode advanced her to third with a groundout. Pickens was faced with a runner 60 feet away with one out. That is when Boone got just enough to walk off with an RBI sacrifice fly. After the game, Dill remained optimistic that the Blaze will find their way out of this offensive slump.
“I think what we’re seeing is that our pitching staff is great,” Dill said. “We’re making some good moves on the mound. We’re adjusting to hitters really well. Our defense has been playing really well. It’s just the offense that’s in a little bit of a struggle right now, just a little bit of a dry spell, just not getting the timely hit. But I fully believe we have the right people in place to do that. And once we start scoring again, I think it’s just gonna keep coming.”
