It started with a bang and ended with a whimper.
The Blaze pounded out 16 hits in a 12-6 win over the Bandits on Tuesday night in Rosemont, Illinois, then were held in check by the Bandits’ pitching staff the next night in the last game of their inaugural season, a 5-1 loss.
With a final record of 7-17, the Blaze finished at the bottom of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League standings, one game behind the third-place Volts. They did play better in the second half, winning four out of seven games before Wednesday night.
Gold, Leach lead way in slugfest
The Blaze and Bandits have played their fair share of high-scoring games this summer in both Wichita, Kansas, and Rosemont. Tuesday night was another high-scoring affair. AUSL Rookie of the Year Ana Gold homered twice and drove in five runs, while veteran Aubrey Leach was 5-for-5 with a double and three runs scored, recording the first five-hit game in league history.
Leach finished the season with 15 walks, tied for the most in the AUSL with the Bandits’ Delanie Wisz.
“Every at-bat, [Leach] looks so confident,” Gold said. “She also takes a lot of pitches, which is helpful for the whole lineup to be able to see what the pitcher’s arsenal is. She’s just always so confident no matter what, which trickles down to the rest of the lineup.”
The Bandits (15-9) nearly escaped the first inning with a zero on the scoreboard, but Gold’s two-out pop fly caught a gust of wind. First baseman Danielle Gibson Whorton could not bring it in, allowing Leach to score all the way from first. Kayla Kowalik followed with an RBI double to give the Blaze an early two-run lead.
But the AUSL’s best offense roared back against Aleshia Ocasio, starting the home half of the first with four straight hits. Erin Coffel’s two-run single tied the game, and Jordan Roberts put the Bandits in front with an RBI groundout.
All that did, though, was set the stage for the Blaze’s third six-run inning of the year. McKenzie Clark led off the second with a walk and later scored the tying run on a fielder’s choice. Leach’s RBI single gave the Blaze the lead for good, and Baylee Klingler followed with a gapper to right-center for a two-run double. That brought up Gold, who hit a towering fly ball over the fence in left-center for her fourth homer of the season.
“You have to out-slug the Bandits. That’s just how it is,” Blaze Head Coach Alisa Goler said. “We knew that. We knew coming in we were going to have to hit.”
The Bandits got one of those runs back on Morgan Zerkle’s solo shot, then pulled closer in the third on Cori McMillan’s two-run single. But after rookie Aliyah Binford relieved Ocasio in the fourth, those mighty Bandits bats came to a screeching halt.
Binford, selected from the Reserve Athlete Pool for the second half of the season, earned the win with four scoreless innings of relief. She allowed four hits but struck out five batters without issuing a walk, working her way out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the seventh.
“Her drop curve to righties (was working), and the changeup is always there,” Goler said. “She’s just a dog. She’s here the entire game, good or bad, and that is what makes her her.”
Gold hit her second home run of the night leading off the fourth, then came through again with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, hitting a two-run bloop single to drive in the game’s final runs.
Bandits take regular-season finale as Blaze can’t contain McKinney
Sydney McKinney was a one-woman wrecking crew for the Bandits on Wednesday night, securing the AUSL batting title with a 4-for-4 performance that included a two-run homer. Meanwhile, the Blaze were unable to score until there were two outs in the seventh.
Left-hander Keilani Ricketts struck out six batters in a three-inning start, but issued three straight walks with two outs in the first, forcing home the game’s first run. The Bandits added on in the fifth against Devyn Netz, with Coffel and Wisz each hitting an RBI double, before McKinney put the game even further out of reach with her two-run blast in the sixth off Alana Vawter.
The Blaze left the bases loaded in the second, but their best scoring chance came in the fifth, when Korbe Otis singled to start the inning and Leach bunted for a hit. Klinger hit a sharp line drive to third that was snagged by a leaping Wisz, who threw to second to double off Otis and extinguish the threat.
Otis hit a one-out double in the seventh, and with the Blaze down to their final strike, Klingler punched a single into right that brought Otis home to avoid the shutout.
“Our back half has been phenomenal,” Goler said. “This is a group that, after the first half, could have just cashed it in when they came back. Instead, they have done this the entire time.”
Benjamin Rosenberg is the Blaze beat reporter for the AUSL this season. He has more than seven years of experience covering college, professional and high school softball, and graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 2021.
