The old saying, “hot as blazes,” may have to be changed to “hot as Blaze.”
That’s “Blaze” as in Carolina Blaze, especially as it pertains to a couple of their players.
Rookie pitching sensation Karlyn Pickens ran her record to 4-0 with a microscopic ERA of 1.47 during an 8-0 run-rule victory over the Chicago Bandits at Parkway Sports Complex in Rosemont on Saturday.
Pickens allowed only one hit, a two-out single to center field off the bat of Mary Iakopo with two outs in the fourth inning. She walked one and hit a batter (also Iakopo) over her five innings of work. The only time she reached a three-ball count came when she walked Erin Coffel in the first inning. Pickens wound up striking out five.
Another interesting factoid is that the Blaze (5-2) have three run-rule victories this season, all having come with Pickens in the circle.
“It’s so funny, because as it was happening, I’m like, ‘The media told me this happened, every time that she pitches’” said Blaze coach Kara Dill. “No, I think what she does is she has a great presence out there. She just commands the field. You always feel like you have a chance to win behind her. She’s super competitive. She can obviously field her position really well, too. She made an incredible play in the fifth.”
Pickens fielded fielding a grounder from Jessica Clements and throwing her out while on the move.
“But yeah, I think her confidence and her presence gives the team a chance to win. We just feel that offensively. We feel that defensively. She is in the middle of the field. Everybody is looking to her – she touches the ball more than anyone. Having that confidence really helps the team behind her.”
Another Blaze player bringing the hot sauce is catcher Reese Atwood. Not only did Atwood have the pleasure of catching Pickens, she continued her hot hitting with a three-run homer in the first inning against Taylor McQuillin, a single in the third and a run-scoring triple in the fifth. The homer was the third of the season for rookie Atwood, who is batting .533.
“I think just surrounding myself with amazing hitters has really helped, just picking their brains, their knowledge about game planning,” she said. “I always like to talk to one of the veterans before my at-bats on coming up with what I want to hunt. Talking to my coaching staff has been really helpful. Just using all the resources we have for this team to help me pick up my plans to go up to bat.”
As far as Pickens losing a possible no-hitter in the fourth, Atwood said there might have been a little letdown when it happened. But she said there might be a no-no or two in Pickens’ future.
“Everybody kind of has that feeling,” Atwood said of being aware of the possible no-hitter. “But you can’t say it because you [might] nix it. I have a feeling she’s going to get one of those pretty soon. You can’t say it.”
The Bandits fell to 3-5 and had their three-game winning streak snapped.
“What I love about the AUSL is we’ve got stars everywhere,” said Bandits coach Shonda Stanton. “You’ve got to tip your cap to Pickens today. She was on. I felt early we kind of extended or chased down (in the strike zone) a little bit. It’s one thing if it’s up a little bit or if you’re extending east to west. But we allowed her to get too comfortable. It was nice to see Mary (Iakopo) get on with the hit by pitch and then breaking up the no-hitter.
“But in this league, when you’ve got stars everywhere, you’ve got to play a little bit cleaner on defense. You’ve got to work ahead of hitters. We didn’t do that in the circle, and when you fall behind in disadvantaged counts, any hitter in this league is going to make you pay. Not a good day at the ball yard. The message there was, ‘Take it like a grown woman on the chin and come back tomorrow and win the rubber match.”
The Blaze finish the series with the Bandits on Sunday, June 21 at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcasted live on MLB Network.
Bruce Miles has covered sports in the Chicago area for 47 years, including baseball, hockey, football and Athletes Unlimited Softball League. 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.
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