Bandits hold off Blaze in Carolina’s first road test

The Carolina Blaze went on the road for the first time to Rosemont, Ill., to face the Chicago Bandits. The Bandits came away with the 4-3 win, with Amber Fiser taking her second win of the season.

Fiser began with a quick first inning, where she retired the Blaze in order on 12 pitches. Fiser picked up her first strikeout of the game in the inning.

Jala Wright picked up the start for Carolina, and Morgan Zerkle immediately got on base with a walk. With one out, Zerkle came in to score on a Tianna Bell RBI to give Chicago the 1-0 lead. Sami Williams got on via a two-out single and reached third but was left stranded.

Carolina began the second with Reese Atwood and Kayla Kowalik aboard but could not cash in. Fiser bounced back to retire the side after that and recorded her second strikeout of the evening on a 1-2 pitch to Devyn Netz. Not finishing innings were an issue in this one, as the Blaze hit just 2-for-13 with runners on and 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“Talking to the staff afterwards, the good thing is we’re getting runners on,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said. “We just need to find some ways to get those timely hits and score some of those runs with those runners that we have in scoring position.”

The Bandits capitalized on what they were given. Wright did not survive the inning, as she put two on with a hit by pitch and a walk. Wright recorded a strikeout in the inning, but with runners on the corners and one out, Netz relieved her in the circle and got out of the jam cleanly.

Aubrey Leach jumped on with a one-out triple down the left-field line. Jessica Clements in left field thought the ball was foul and played it slowly. That bought Leach the extra time to make it to third. Leach then came home on an RBI fielder’s choice from Ana Gold to tie the game.

The Blaze kept it on, and after Dakota Kennedy reached on a hit by pitch, Atwood loaded the bases with a single to right. That allowed Kowalik to execute an RBI fielder’s choice to score Gold and take the lead, 2-1.

The Bandits responded in the bottom of the third. After Erin Coffel reached on a leadoff walk, Williams brought her home on a one-out two-run home run to regain the lead.

“I swung at a drop ball in the dirt, so I figured she’d probably come back to that eventually,” Williams said. “I was just looking for something in the zone and trusting myself to get the bat head out.”

With Chicago ahead in the bottom of the fourth, Netz recorded two quick outs before Ailana Agbayani tripled to right field. Netz went on to get out unscathed. In the top of the fifth, Leach evened the game with a leadoff solo home run.

After several games of hard hits finding opponents’ gloves, Wednesday night’s were able to come through.

“She’s been squaring the ball up, she’s on time, she knows her plan, she sits her plan, she has such a high softball IQ,” Dill said. “We talked about this a couple games ago, we’re like, at some point these are gonna fall.”

Keilani Ricketts took the ball to begin the bottom of the fifth for Carolina. Ricketts put a couple on with two hit by pitches. Kowalik and Alyssa Brito wiped out Bri Copeland on a caught stealing of second. With two outs, Mary Iakopo singled to keep the inning going for Chicago.

Ricketts just could not get off the field and loaded the bases with a walk issued to Jocelyn Erickson. Then Taryn Kern came on for a pinch-hit RBI single on another ball that didn’t leave the infield, to take the 4-3 lead. Ricketts avoided further damage with a strikeout of Elon Butler.

“She was out of the lineup. She comes in to pinch hit, fought in that AB, kind of gets out in front of it on the ground ball and hustle play down the line,” Chicago head coach Shonda Stanton said. “That was pivotal for us there.”

Fiser remained in the game into the sixth inning, and Kowalik opened with a single. Then, with Netz reaching on a fielder’s choice, Kowalik slid into second safely but left the game because of an injury.

“She just slid, and it kind of pulled her hamstring a little bit, but she was gonna go back in to hit,” Dill said. “I don’t anticipate any issues moving forward with her, and she’s tough physically and mentally, too.”

After a Brito foul-out, the Bandits went to Taylor McQuillin in the circle. McQuillin fought some traffic but came out of the inning cleanly to hold the lead.

Ricketts held the lead in the bottom of the sixth and retired the Bandits in order. Agbayani put together a good 10-pitch at-bat but went down swinging for Ricketts’ second strikeout. Then, Carolina was down to its last three outs. McQuillin was big in the moment and went on to close out the game. She recorded two strikeouts of Gold and Atwood in the inning.

“So we got the clutch hit when we needed it, made enough plays defensively behind our great pitching, and when you make a couple miscues, it’s nice to see our pitching just step up and shut it down,” Stanton said.

“We’re showing ways to win multiple ways, whether it’s winning big, whether it’s a one-run ball game, coming back after being down. That makes a great ball club, when you can win numerous ways and be confident in your ability to come together as a team. So, I really like what I saw tonight.”