Sydney Stewart sparked what became a home run-hitting clinic by Team Landry Friday night at Parkway Bank Sports Complex when she launched a towering two-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the second frame.
The homer scored Alyssa Brito, who reached on a single earlier in the inning, and put Team Landry up 2-0 as the squad broke out what turned into its signature mop celebration for the first time in the contest.
“Just gotta be patient, especially with Karlyn [Pickens]. She throws really hard,” Stewart said after her at-bat. “I eventually got my pitch… Clearly, our team is really hyped up about our cellies. So you’ll see a little bit of those later on too.”
Stewart’s statement proved correct, as Team Landry got not one, but three more opportunities to break out the mop celebration in the very next frame.
Megan Grant led off the bottom of the third with a solo shot over the scoreboard in right field for her league-leading third home run of the All-Star Cup. Sydney Sherrill followed two batters later with a solo homer to center before Brito went back-to-back with another shot to center, extending Team Landry’s advantage to 5-0. Stewart later scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Bella Dayton to cap the four-run inning and make it 6-0.
“Oh my gosh, it’s infectious,” Brito said after blasting the team’s fourth homer of the night. “I think that’s the biggest thing, is we all were just taking our hacks and getting after it, and that’s what you saw. And we’re having so much fun.”
The four home runs marked the most by a team in a game this All-Star Cup season after just five total homers were hit across the first six games.
Team Palacios began chipping away in the fourth when Bubba Nickles-Camarena broke up Landry’s no-hit bid with a solo homer to center field. The squad added one run in both the fifth and seventh innings, but could not overcome the early deficit as Team Landry secured the 6-3 victory.
Landry earned the win in the circle after allowing just one run on two hits with four strikeouts across four innings, and improved to 3-0 this All-Star Cup season. Rachel Garcia worked the final three frames to earn the save.
Stewart earned MVP 1 honors after going 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Landry claimed MVP 2. Kenzie Brown earned MVP 3 for Team Palacios after tossing 3.2 scoreless innings of relief, and Kenleigh Cahalan was named Defensive MVP.
With the win, Landry moved into the top spot on the individual leaderboard with 690 points. Sherrill climbed 14 spots into sixth place with 500 points.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.
