The Portland Cascade is headed to College Station, Texas, for the 2026 Athletes Unlimited Softball League postseason.
Fate was not in their hands and instead depended on the outcome of the final game of the regular season. Thanks to an 11-1 victory by the Carolina Blaze over the Oklahoma City Spark, the Cascade finished with the league’s third-best record and clinched the No. 3 seed.
The team will face the No. 2 seed Chicago Bandits in Thursday night’s play-in game, with the winner advancing to face the Utah Talons in the best-of-three AUSL Championship Series.
The Talons and Bandits had the same overall record on the season, finishing 16-9, but Utah had the upper hand in the head-to-head matchups to earn the top spot. Portland’s 2026 regular-season record was 14-11, and Tuesday morning’s loss brought the Spark to 13-12, knocking them out of playoff contention.
The Blaze and Spark game was much awaited by the league to determine the No. 3 seed, and that anticipation only grew when the game was delayed over 14 hours and into the next day. It began as scheduled on Monday night, with the Blaze jumping out of the gate to an eight-run lead in the first inning. They hit through the lineup, with the barrage of offense highlighted by a three-run bomb from Valerie Cagle that cleared the right field wall. Reese Atwood also had a three-run swing by way of a double in the right-center gap in the grass.
Thunderstorms rolled in to postpone the game until 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Carolina picked up right where they left off, tacking on three more runs in the second inning. The Blaze cruised to the fifth inning to run-rule with a flash of Spark offense coming from a solo home run by Maya Brady; it was OKC’s only hit of the game.
The upcoming contest with the Bandits will be the seventh time the two teams have met this season; the Cascade picked up its lone win against Chicago in their final meeting on July 12.
The Cascade made its way to the playoffs in its inaugural season as one of the two expansion franchises in the AUSL in 2026. The Bandits and Talons were a part of the first championship series last year, with the Talons winning back-to-back games to secure the 2025 title.
Cascade General Manager Jami Lopbries and infielders Tori Vidales and Kennedy Powell are all alumni of Texas A&M and will head back to their old stomping grounds, which will host the AUSL playoffs at Davis Diamond, home of Aggies Softball.
Tickets for the AUSL Championship are on sale now.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on Instagram @savvyco.