DURHAM, N.C. – The Carolina Blaze returned to Smith Family Stadium on Sunday hoping to snap the nine-game losing streak. After a resilient performance, the Blaze fell to the Oklahoma City Spark, 6-5. The Blaze’s losing streak moves to 10, with one more game left on Monday night, while the Spark are one win away from clinching a spot in the AUSL postseason play-in game.
Everything started with solid pitching and defense. Ruby Meylan worked with a rise ball that gave OKC trouble, and she retired the opening frame with a strikeout of Maya Brady. Maddie Penta responded by retiring the side in order, striking out Reese Atwood. Sydney Sherrill ended the inning with a nice diving grab at second base.
In the bottom of the second, Alyssa Brito hit a one-out double for the Blaze’s first hit of the game. Then with two outs, Brito came home to make it 1-0 as Ana Gold reached on a fielding error by Spark left fielder Bubba Nickles-Camarena.
Meylan worked through the third inning without damage. The Spark reached on a Sydney Romero two-out single and Sydney McKinney walk, but were left stranded.
Dakota Kennedy, who’s been hitting well since returning off the road trip, got on with a one-out single in the bottom of the third. Atwood followed with a walk, and the Blaze were in position to add insurance, but Penta and the Spark found their way out of the inning unscathed.
Penta dealt a good game in her own right. She bent but didn’t break for the most part. In the bottom of the fourth, she opened with back-to-back strikeouts to take her total to 4. Then, Gold and McKenzie Clark reached on a single and a walk, respectively.
That gave Aubrey Leach a chance to extend the inning, but she flied out to center field. Penta got out of trouble, and once again kept the Blaze hitless with runners on.
“She commands the zone really well,” Dill said on Penta. “She throws a hard arm-side pitch and then two different speeds on the outside to righties. So if you get caught in the middle, if you’re not super committed to one location and one speed, you can get yourself out.”
Carolina went to Emma Lemley to begin the fifth inning. Meylan left with 71 pitches thrown and had kept the Spark lineup to just 3 hits.
“I thought Ruby had a great game, which was good to see for our organization,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said. “Every time that she has pitched, she’s gotten better each time. And she was commanding her rise and drop today, getting lefties out, getting righties out. She’s just super competitive, so that was a huge bright spot.”
Then, OKC made a move. Sarah Gordon and Brady led off with back-to-back singles. Then, with one out, McKinney reached on a fielding error by Lemley to load the bases. After responding with a strikeout of Delanie Wisz, three runs came across for OKC on an Amari Harper three RBI double, giving OKC a 3-1 lead.
“I think it’s just luck sometimes, but also just not really caring what the outcome is and focusing on where I’m at and what I need to do,” Harper said about her big at-bats this series. “And then just letting things happen.”
After that, a 91-minute weather delay followed as a storm cell moved into the area. Then, in the bottom of the fifth inning began and Penta remained in the circle for the Spark. She finally ran into a Blaze breakthrough. After Kennedy reached on a leadoff single, she came home on a two-out two-run homer from Valerie Cagle to tie the game at three apiece.
“I thought we did a great job after the rain delay of keeping composure and coming right back and attacking,” Dill said.
But the Spark answered in the next half. Keilani Ricketts came on to pitch and Nickles-Camarena led off with a double to right field that bounced off the wall. She then moved to third on a wild pitch as Haley Lee reached on a walk. Nickles-Camarena came home on a Romero RBI sacrifice fly to retake the lead for OKC.
Then, with two outs, the Spark scored two more runs on a fielding error by Leach at second as McKinney reached. Nickels-Camarena had a nice response on Sunday, after going 0-for on Saturday.
“There’s been a lot of different challenges for me personally throughout this season, but just trusting in my teammates and the preparation, it really does pay out,” Nickles-Camarena said. “It’s just trusting that it will fall eventually.”
OKC went into the bottom of the sixth with a three-run lead and turned to Alana Vawter in the circle. Carolina battled and led the inning off with back-to-back singles from Devyn Netz and Gold. However, the Blaze went down in order. The Blaze were hitless with runners in scoring position, and 3-for-14 with runners on.
In the bottom of the seventh, Carolina made one final push. After Baylee Klingler reached on a one-out single, Cagle smashed her second home run of the game to bring the Blaze within one. But that was all the Blaze could get. Netz reached on a two-out single, but was left stranded.
“Today’s one of those days where you just walk away and think, man, we grinded this one out,” Spark head coach Amber Flores said. “We gave ourselves every opportunity to win, and we never got rattled when they came back. They always answered, but we made the big-time plays and got the big-time hits in the right situation.”
