It’s all right there for the Bandits. 

All they have to do is reach out and grab it. 

Despite a recent run of results not to their liking, the Bandits find themselves in a position to clinch one of the two spots in the AUSL Championship Series, July 26-28 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. 

The Talons have clinched one of those places with their record of 14-4 in the 24-game season. The Bandits sit at 11-7 and have a magic number of two over the Volts (6-12) to assure themselves a berth in the Championship Series. 

It just so happens that the Bandits and Volts will meet in a four-game series beginning Thursday in Round Rock, Texas. 

The road has been a bit rocky for the Bandits of late. After beginning the season with a record of 9-2, they have gone 2-5, having been outscored 47-40 in those seven games. 

Included was a three-game losing streak that began with the final game of the season’s first half and spilled over into a set of games in Rosemont. 

That prompted some soul searching. 

“Our core group of leaders – we don’t have captains per se – are just so mature in their process, in their approach, in their preparation,” said Head Coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz. “If you let this game get you on that roller coaster, it’s going to be a long season. We haven’t gotten the results every day we’ve wanted, for sure. But I think that we’ve got enough maturity and experience that some of the less experienced younger players are learning the right way to handle the ups and downs of the season. Good conversations. And when we don’t like what we see as a coaching staff, we talk about it. We love it. We praise it.”

Even with the recent slump, there has been plenty to praise with the Bandits. 

As a team, they lead AUSL in batting average (.325), on-base percentage (.406), slugging percentage (.575), home runs (28), stolen bases (19), runs scored (115), and hits (171). 

Their team ERA of 4.18 ranks second in the league. 

Individually, outfielder Morgan Zerkle and infielder Erin Coffel are at or near the top of almost every key offensive category. Coffel leads AUSL in slugging percentage (1.200), and Zerkle is second (.797). Coffel, Sydney McKinney and Zerkle are 1, 2, and 4, respectively, in batting average. 

Zerkle and McKinney rank first and second in hits. Skylar Wallace is tied for first in runs scored (19), with Zerkle right behind at 17. Coffel leads in triples (4) and OBP (.683). In RBI, Coffel is at the top with 25, and Zerkle is second at 18. Coffel has been hit by pitches 12 times.

When asked if there was a better 1-2 punch than Zerkle and Coffel in all of AUSL, Nuveman Deniz was emphatic in her answer. 

“No. No shot. Nope,” she said after an 11-6 win over the Talons on Saturday. “There isn’t. It’s kind of insane, almost. Erin is on another level right now. Day in and day out, and if they’re walking her or hitting her, she’s taking her bases. When the top of our lineup is doing what they did today, we’re going to be hard to beat, period. I know that doesn’t happen every day.”

“I think it goes back to not letting a tough day become the narrative of who you are as a player. You’re like, ‘OK, that was a tough day. Tomorrow’s another one.’ It can be a whole different story, really, 24 hours later. Zerk’s had a couple of tougher games in the last week or so. You wouldn’t know it because she just gets right back on it, right back into it. Obviously, (Coffel) has been on fire. I don’t even know if she’s had a game where she’s been bad. She’s been incredible. I like where we’re at with the top of the lineup, for sure.”

Nuveman Deniz has made some significant lineup changes in recent days. The trade for infielder Danielle Gibson Whorton from the Blaze last week gives the Bandits a solid bat in the middle of the order. Mary Iakopo has seen the bulk of the playing time behind the plate ahead of Jordan Roberts recently. And Nuveman Deniz has moved McKinney up from the No. 9 spot in the batting order to the middle. 

The Bandits held a team meeting following a 12-10 loss to the Blaze last week in Rosemont. They are 3-1 against the Volts this season and know they cannot take any team lightly. 

“We had some good meetings outside of the ballfield that I think were really instrumental in us coming together and trying to focus in on the basics because at the end of the day we’re all talented here,” said outfielder Bubba Nickles-Camarena, who is tied with Zerkle for the AUSL lead in home runs, with six.

“Each team is stacked. Trying to hone in on those basics, trying to remind each other, ‘Stick to the plan, stick to our approach.’ I think that overall, doing that can supersede emotions.”

Bruce Miles has covered sports in the Chicago area for 46 years, including baseball, hockey, football and Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball. He covered the Chicago Cubs in their historic run to the World Series title in 2016. He has written stories for Athletes Unlimited since 2020.

Follow Bruce on Bluesky @brucemiles2112.bsky.social and on X @brucemiles2112