Saturday’s AUSL action began with an early one in Rosemont, Ill., as the Chicago Bandits hosted the Carolina Blaze for game two of this series. The Bandits took game one on Wednesday night, 4-3, but the Blaze captured this one 8-0 in five innings.
“I thought what we did process-wise, we got a lot of leadoff outs on defense, which was a big deal, just keeping traffic off the bases,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said. “I thought we handled business on all sides, just taking care of the details and, you know, the small things that help you win a game.”
Reese Atwood hit the game’s only home run with a three-run homer in the of the first inning. Atwood finished the day 3-for-3 with that homer, four RBIs, and three runs scored, with a triple.
Karlyn Pickens picked up her fourth win of the season, with a complete five-inning shutout game. Pickens gave up one hit, allowed one walk, and struck out five in 71 pitches.
“I mean, just to go out there and have the performance that she did today, one-hitter against some of the best hitters in the country, is just unheard of, especially as a rookie,” Atwood said after. “So she’s so amazing. I’m so glad I don’t have to face her ever again.”
Carolina got out to a fast start with three runs scored in the opening frame. After Aubrey Leach and Dakota Kennedy reached, Atwood jumped on the first pitch for a one-out three-run home run. Atwood used Wednesday night’s experience vs. Taylor McQuillin and capitalized on her pitch.
“I think, going into that, I talked about the catching stuff a little bit yesterday for our practice, and it was just taking that first pitch,” Atwood said. “Yesterday’s game [Wednesday], the seventh inning, was kind of what got me, then I had to fight off.
“I mean, she’s an amazing pitcher, and sometimes when you take that first pitch that’s in the zone, then you have to fight off some of her junk, which I didn’t want to do. So my game plan, this game, was to go in and attack early.”
Pickens took the ball and retired the side in order, including her first strikeout of the game to Tianna Bell.
After a quick top half of the second, Pickens shut down the bottom half with three consecutive strikeouts, after putting the leadoff on with a hit by pitch. Her first-pitch strikes were on the mark early, and Pickens had great swing-and-miss stuff, especially with her changeup.
“I mean, she has three speeds, so as a hitter, that’s just really hard to hit,” Atwood said. So, she’s being able to use all three of them and all three of them on, it’s just really hard for a hitter.”
Ana Gold jumped on a 3-2 pitch for a leadoff double to start the top of the third. Leach followed with her second walk drawn in as many at-bats. Then, with one out, Atwood loaded the bases on a first-pitch single. Her plate approach was aggressive and paid off. Kayla Kowalik followed with a two-RBI single to make it 5-0.
McQuillin was chased from the game, and Amber Fiser took the ball and struck out the first batter she saw. However, Jala Wright, who pinch-ran for Kowalik, stole second. That forced Mary Iakopo’s throwing error into the outfield and allowed Atwood to score from third to make it 6-0. Fiser retired the side with her second strikeout.
Pickens used just 10 pitches to retire the bottom of the third. Chicago had no success against her, as she did a good job of keeping them off balance.
After Pickens retired two and recorded her fifth strikeout of the game, Iakopo came through on an 0-2 pitch for the Bandits’ first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth. She was left at first after a Jocelyn Erickson groundout to end the inning.
Leach singled to lead off the top of the fifth and, with one out, came home on a fielding error. Atwood lifted a fly to deep right, and Elon Butler dropped in at the wall. Atwood found herself standing at third and then came home to make it 8-0 on Kowalik’s RBI single.
“I think just everything’s clicking,” Leach said on her performance. “I don’t think the beginning of the season it necessarily wasn’t, just was getting at ’em balls. But there’s, you know, some feel in Rosemont, just being comfortable being back here. It seems to take care of itself.”
That put the game in run-rule territory, and in the bottom of the fifth, Pickens shut the door to take her fourth win of the season, and another one in run-rule fashion. There seems to be some correlation with that so far.
“That’s so funny, because as it was happening, I’m like, the media told me this happens every time that she pitches,” Dill said on Pickens’ run-rule wins. “I think what she does is she just has a great presence out there. She just commands the field. You just always feel like you have a chance to win behind her. She’s super competitive. She can obviously field her position really well, too. She made an incredible play there in the seventh, in the fifth.
“But yeah, I think just her confidence and her presence gives the team behind her a chance to win. We feel that offensively, we feel that defensively. I mean, she is in the middle of the field, everybody’s looking to her, she touches the ball more than anybody. So having that confidence really helps the team around her.”
The Blaze and Bandits will settle this series in a rubber match Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on MLB Network.
