DURHAM, N.C. – The Carolina Blaze and Portland Cascade returned to Smith Family Stadium for Game 2 of the AUSL season-opening series. The Blaze came out with an 11-2 run-rule win in five innings to capture the series.
The No. 1 overall pick in the collegiate draft, Karlyn Pickens, recorded her first career AUSL start. She pitched a five-inning complete game with two runs on five hits and recorded five strikeouts to one walk.
”It felt really good, just always do my thing,” Pickens said afterward. “Playing with joy is the main thing. I had a lot of fun with Reese back there, getting that battery together. Just an awesome night of softball. It’s just great to be around so many amazing people, amazing fan base. It was electric.”
Pickens immediately struck out the first batter she saw in Sierra Sacco-Ferrie. She went on to pitch a clean first inning and recorded her second strikeout of the inning to Megan Grant. Her velocity sat around 74 mph, and she worked the zone effectively.
Sam Landry took the ball for Portland and gave up an Ana Gold single, and later a Devyn Netz walk before getting out of the inning clean on a Jenna Laird strikeout.
Pickens recorded her third strikeout in the second inning, but got into some traffic with two on and one out after a Kenleigh Cahalan single to center field. Pickens then flashed her glove on back-to-back hitters to retire the side.
Alyssa Brito smoked a leadoff double to right-center in the bottom of the second. After moving over on a groundout, she came home via a Dakota Kennedy RBI single to give the Blaze a 1-0 lead. The Blaze’s contact was hard throughout the game and showed the power they have at the plate.
The Cascade took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. After Ali Newland led off with a single, Megan Grant crushed the first pitch she saw for a 313-foot home run to right field. That was Grant’s first career home run in her first AUSL game. Pickens bounced back and got out of the inning without further damage and recorded her fourth strikeout of the game.
Carolina responded well and strung together hits against Landry. Gold, Kayla Kowalik and Netz singled consecutively, with Netz’s resulting in an RBI to tie the game. The Cascade recorded two outs and had a chance to get off the field, but after a Reese Atwood walk loaded the bases, McKenzie Clark reached on a fielding error that allowed two runs to score.
That drove Landry from the game, and Payton Gottshall took the ball. Aleshia Ocasio greeted her with a two-RBI double, and the Blaze took a 6-2 lead. Then Aubrey Leach reached on a fielding error and stole second, and Gold knocked in two more runs via a two-run double. That wrapped up seven runs for the Blaze in the inning.
Afterward, head coach Kara Dill spoke on that great inning of work that took full control of the game, after Grant’s big swing.
”Yeah, it’s just how we drew it up, you know? That’s exactly what our game plan was,” Dill said jokingly. “ I think in that moment, a lot of things went our way. And like Anna said, we got a lot of contributions from our entire lineup, people getting on base all night, scoring runs. We were aggressive on the bases, which moved us up in the scoring position. We had a couple of things go our way in that inning, too.”
After Pickens and the Blaze retired the Cascade in order, Gottshall returned to the circle and had trouble getting off the field. The Blaze loaded the bases after Valerie Cagle recorded a two-out single, and Clark followed with a walk.
That set up a long at-bat from Ocasio, who dropped a two-RBI double to center. That gave the Blaze a 10-2 lead to put them in run-rule territory. Carolina put together battles at the plate to force the pitcher to be on point. Leach and Gold worked back-to-back walks that resulted in a run.
“ I mean, obviously these pitchers are super talented,” Gold said in response to the offense’s approach. “But we’re really trying to play to our strengths and hunt for pitches that we know we can crush, and just pass the bat. And that’s exactly what we did in this game. I mean, up and down the lineup was hot, and it was so fun, so cool to see.”
Gottshall was pushed from the game, and Mariah Mazon took the ball with bases loaded and two outs. Mazon induced a groundout to get out of the inning, but the Blaze had opened up an 11-2 lead.
Pickens came back to the circle to close the door for her first professional win and did so, including a strikeout of Grant to seal the deal.
