The Portland Cascade began their homestand with a win over the Carolina Blaze, 4-2. Both Kenzie Brown and Karlyn Pickens threw complete games, making it the second time in AUSL regular-season history both starting pitchers have gone the distance in the same game.
Both pitchers also set an AUSL record with 18 combined strikeouts. This was a clear pitcher’s duel, with a game decided mostly on mistakes.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said. “I mean, that’s what we just talked about as a staff. Karlyn threw a great game. Brown threw a great game. She was really sharp tonight, throwing multiple speeds. It was tough for our offense to deal with. Their offense, it was tough to deal with Karlyn. A couple of bad bounces on the turf here and there, a couple of miscues on defense. Yeah, that one hurts, you know, but the great thing about our team is we get a chance to do it again tomorrow and we’ll bounce back and be better for it tomorrow.”
Brown got right to work with an 11-pitch first inning to retire the opening side in order. Then, Pickens tossed 23 pitches and made it out of the inning clean with two runners left on. Both worked with solid defense behind them for the first couple of innings. Brown had the Blaze’s number in the first meeting this season, and did the same Tuesday.
After the game, Brown credited the offenses in the AUSL for being very good, but Tuesday was about staying true to herself. It was also somewhat different from her first time against the Blaze.
“Just staying true to myself,” Brown said. “That was my biggest thing going into today is, I don’t have to be more than what I already am. I think the last game was my first outing. I don’t know if it was nerves or what it was, but sometimes I forget the things that make me intrinsically really special. So being able to lock that in and hone in on what I’m really good at is just what worked, and, you know, having defense and offense work behind me, that’s always really, really important.”
In the top of the third, the Blaze put minimal traffic on. Then, with two outs and Aleshia Ocasio on second, Brown recorded her fourth strikeout of the game to retire the side. The duel continued, and Pickens endured some traffic again but made it out clean in the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, after Brown shut down the top half in order with two additional strikeouts, the Cascade capitalized on a couple of mistakes to push across the first run. After Pickens put Sis Bates on via a hit by pitch, Kendra Falby singled and reached third on a fielding error by Dakota Kennedy in left field. That allowed Bates to come home to make it 1-0.
Then, Sierra Sacco-Ferrie reached on a fielder’s choice and recorded an RBI, and Falby scored. Atwood could bring in Jenna Laird’s throw from second, which allowed the score. That inning turned into one opportunity after another for Portland. Tori Vidales followed with an RBI on a fielder’s choice that scored Sacco-Ferrie, who had moved to third on a Pickens wild pitch.
After walking Korbe Otis, Pickens bounced back with a strikeout of Megan Grant for the second time this game and followed that by fanning Kenleigh Cahalan to get out of the inning. Three runs in that inning were set up by miscues, and with the stakes at this point of the season, that is really unfortunate for the Blaze.
Alyssa Brito broke up Brown’s no-hitter with a one-out single in the top of the fifth inning. Then, with two outs, Ana Gold hit one off the left-field wall. Sacco-Ferrie misplayed the awkward bounce off the wall, and that allowed Gold to come all the way around for an inside-the-park two-run home run to cut the Cascade’s lead to 3-2. Ocasio followed with a single, but Brown stranded her with another strikeout to retire the side.
Pickens went right back to work and retired the bottom half in order, including a strikeout of Falby. She went on to throw a complete game and finished the night with nine strikeouts. On most nights, her outing would have been enough for a win, but the mishaps were too much to overcome. Carolina outhit Portland 4-3 but could not get the extra hits needed to put more runs on the board.
Portland brought across another run in the bottom of the sixth, and that was the result of another miscue. Sydney Stewart crossed the plate after a failed pickoff attempt by Atwood. Brown tossed her second complete-game win over the Blaze. The Blaze just couldn’t quite figure Brown out.
“She just commands multiple speeds, and I think when hitters get stuck trying to hit all of the speeds at the same time,” Dill said about facing Brown. “They’re not on time for anything. So you have to be willing to sell out for one or the other. Her speed differential is just what makes her so good.”
The two teams return Wednesday night, with Aleshia Ocasio set to go against Carley Hoover. I asked coach Dill about preparing for Hoover, who recently returned from Japan.
“She throws hard, and we know that she competes well,” Dill said. “She throws some hard down, she throws some stuff up, she’s got a change of speed, so it’s gonna be a very similar plan where you just have to be sold out and committed to swinging at one thing or the other, not trying to hit all the things at the same time.”
Game time is set for 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
