Patient hunters: Carolina Blaze bats set the early tone in AUSL play

Just two games into the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s short 25-game season, the Carolina Blaze have hit the ground running.

Identities are always great to see take form, and with the Blaze, it is evident they have the ability to win in multiple ways. Given the season is still fresh, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, but if you are a fan of this group, you have to feel good about what you have seen in two nights.

It always starts in the circle, and this team has a talented staff that can get it done. We have witnessed that, as they’ve allowed just three runs in 12 innings of ball. They deserve much of the credit for sure, but I would like to look at the offense here.

Carolina has an approach at the plate that will win ball games. They are hunters, but patient ones. That is the key for them. I don’t see this as a team that will allow the pitcher to dictate the speed of the game, and that will carry them forward throughout the season if they stay true to their philosophy.

“These pitchers are super talented, but we’re really trying to play to our strengths and hunt for pitches we know we can crush, and pass the bat,” Ana Gold, who went 3-for-3, said after Wednesday night’s win. “That’s exactly what we did in this game. Up and down the lineup was hot. It was so fun and cool to see.”

That type of patience is a veteran approach from seasoned hitters. Gold, only in year two of the AUSL, has made the necessary adjustments from a year ago.

“I’ve faced most of these girls before, the pitchers, and I’m just trusting my swing, trusting my plan,” Gold said. “I feel like I’m much calmer in the box this year, which allows me to slow things down a lot and use that to my advantage.”

What was cool to see is seven of the 11 hitters recorded hits. This lineup is intentional, and even in game one, a 4-1 win, you could see them working at the plate.

Game two’s 11 runs scored, in a five-inning run-rule win, saw seven runs in the third inning. That was the most scored in an inning in team history. In 2025, they plated six runs in an inning on three occasions. A huge part of that was the capitalization on Cascade miscues and being able to prolong innings. 

Devyn Netz got the rally going with an RBI single, a Cascade error kept the frame alive, and Carolina poured it on from there, capped by two-run doubles from Aleshia Ocasio and Gold. Carolina was 13-of-21 in advancement opportunities, while hitting 7-for-19 with runners on base.

Those are stats to be excited about if you are within the Blaze fold. Another thing to like is that leadership allows the players to do what they are good at. Ocasio can not only spin it on the mound but also swing it at the plate. Through two games, she is slashing .500/.500/.667 with a 1.167 OPS, a double and a team-best five RBIs. Small sample size, yes, but those numbers aren’t a fluke. Ocasio does it all and will not be outworked.

“She’s so much fun to watch at practice, just working,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill said. “She runs everywhere in practice. She’ll throw a bullpen, then go get fly balls, come in for infield ground balls, run bases, hit, bunt, and slap.”

Ocasio is a veteran in this game, and sometimes that can be missed in the important details. She knows the ins and outs of the game at this level just as much as anyone, and that shows.

“Her plate discipline has been great,” Dill said. “She’s such a competitor and a veteran in this game. Her confidence in those moments really shows up when she can make that immediate adjustment in an at-bat.”

Depth might be the most encouraging part of these two nights. This is a lineup stacked top to bottom, and the production is spread out in a way that tells you nobody in this order is a free out.

Gold is slashing .600/.750/.800 for a 1.550 OPS with three RBIs and a pair of stolen bases, and her 3-for-3 night was the sixth three-hit game of her AUSL regular-season career. Ocasio is right there, carrying that 1.167 OPS and the team lead in RBIs while still taking the ball in the circle. 

Netz has been every bit as impactful, hitting .400 with a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 1.500 OPS, a home run in the opener and an RBI in both games. Kayla Kowalik has been steady at .429 with a .858 OPS. That is a handful of bats producing at a high level, and the order does not fall off after them.

Aubrey Leach is the best example of why a two-game line can lie to you. She came up with a huge two-RBI hit in the opener, and even with her average sitting at .143, that number does not reflect how she has swung it. Leach hits the ball hard, and her outs have a way of finding a glove instead of grass. The approach behind it is as good as anyone’s in this lineup. She works counts, gets on and puts quality at-bats together. The hits are coming.

The bench has chipped in too. Dakota Kennedy delivered a pinch-hit RBI single, the first hit and RBI of her professional career, to plate Carolina’s first run on Wednesday. Valerie Cagle came off the bench and singled in her only at-bat. Even the bats with no hits are affecting games, such as McKenzie Clark, who carries a .500 on-base percentage with three runs scored. Clark’s hard infield contact went down as an error in Wednesday night’s game, but the two-RBI damage is what matters.

Seven players accounted for all 10 of Carolina’s hits in the run-rule win, with the RBIs spread across the order. That is what a deep lineup looks like.

“The lineup one through nine and our two pinch hitters, just everybody doing a great job,” Dill said.

Two games is two games. The Blaze know that better than anyone. But this is a lineup of hunters, and right now there are no soft spots.