Palacios homer holds up as Team Klingler edges Team Brown 2-1

The second game of the AUSL All-Star Cup Series 2 brought Team Brown against Team Klingler on Saturday. It was another game of pitching and defense with just enough offense to get the job done for Team Klingler. Sharlize Palacios hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, and that was enough as Team Klingler took a 2-1 win.

Team Klingler started Georgina Corrick in the circle, and it took just nine pitches to get through the top half of the first. Jadelyn Allchin, who is up for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award, showed why she is with a diving catch in center field to retire Morgan Zerkle.

Sydney McKinney jumped on Amber Fiser’s third pitch in the bottom of the first for a leadoff single. That was McKinney’s third hit of the series. Then, with two outs, Palacios connected for a two-run home run to put Team Klingler up 2-0. That also won Team Klingler 10 inning points for All-Star Cup leaderboard purposes.

Corrick recorded two outs, including a strikeout, before Delanie Wisz fought for a single to center. Wisz put up a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off seven pitches. However, Wisz was left stranded at first.

After Fiser retired the bottom of the second in order, with a strikeout included, Team Brown reached base twice with two outs in the top of the third. Corrick put Skylar Wallace on via a hit by pitch and gave up a single to Zerkle. But Corrick stranded them both with a strikeout of Tiare Jennings to retire the side.

The game carried the theme of pitching, defense and getting out of innings. After Kendra Falby led off the bottom of the third inning with a walk, Kenzie Brown called her own number and took the ball from Fiser. She went on to get out of the inning and record her first strikeout of the game.

Then, Corrick remained dialed in and picked up 2 more strikeouts in the top of the fourth inning, en route to retiring the side in order. However, in the bottom half, Brown opened with back-to-back walks issued to Palacios and Bubba Nickles-Camarena. With Gold up to bat, a wild pitch advanced both runners 60 feet.

That put Team Klingler in position to take the inning and 30 win points from the rollovers of the second and third innings. But Brown recorded back-to-back outs on balls that weren’t deep enough to score a run. Then, she turned the ball over to Megan Faraimo. Faraimo attacked Ailana Agbayani and struck her out to escape the jam.

However, Corrick would not allow Team Brown to take advantage of the escape. Rylie Boone did record a two-out single but went no further. Corrick recorded another strikeout in the top of the fifth inning to move her total to 5 on the day. She would finish her day in the top of the sixth inning.

After retiring the first batter, Corrick turned it over to Lexi Kilfoyl, who recorded the save on Friday night. Jennings reached on a throwing error, but the side was quickly retired after Atwood grounded into a double play, turned by Hannah Flippen.

Faraimo did what she was called to do. She returned for the bottom of the sixth inning, and Team Klingler went three up and three down. Faraimo recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

Team Brown didn’t go out without a score. In the top of the seventh, Wisz reached on a one-out throwing error by Ana Gold. She made her way to third on a Jessi Warren single and then scored on a Kenleigh Cahalan pinch-hit sacrifice fly to cut the score in half. But Kilfoyl was able to keep the game intact by striking out Boone to end it. She recorded her third save of the All-Star Cup, with Corrick taking the win.

Palacios took MVP 1 honors, Corrick earned MVP 2 and Kilfoyl earned MVP 3 for the second consecutive game. Flippen also took Defensive MVP for the second consecutive game. Below is the top five of the AUSL All-Star Cup leaderboard.