Although it took two days to secure the victory, the Talons came away with a Game 1 win over the Bandits in the 2025 AUSL Championship.
On Saturday, they played until the bottom of the sixth inning until inclement weather suspended the game at Rhoads Stadium. The Talons had a 3-1 lead, and on Sunday morning, they closed out the final six outs to be up one in the best-of-three series.
AUSL Pitcher of the Year Georgina Corrick tossed 6.0 innings, allowing only one run on seven hits, one walk, with two strikeouts.
“I think the important part is to always respect your opponents. The Bandits are a really strong offensive team. We knew we were going to have to keep them off time,” Corrick said.
“Shar did a great job behind the plate of knowing what they were going to predict and kind of play that secondary game off of it. We were just having a really great mix of stuff and being able to trust my defense goes a long way in the game like this.”
The Bandits were on the board first after a single to left field from Bubba Nickles-Camarena to score Delanie Wisz.
But the Talons had an immediate answer back. Tori Vidales opened up the bottom of the fourth with a first-pitch swing home run.
They tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Sierra Sacco walked, then Maya Brady followed up behind her in the base path with a hit by pitch. Sydney Romero laid down a well-placed sacrifice bunt that rolled up the first base line to advance both runners.
This set up Caroline Jacobsen to put a ball in play on the ground to score Sacco. Vidales brought in another run, flying out down the right field line, which allowed Brady to score from third.
The two teams came back out at 10 a.m. CT on Sunday morning with fresh pitchers in the circle. Odicci Alexander and Megan Faraimo recorded the final six outs. The Bandits tried to rally but only managed a single from Erin Coffel.
Corrick comes away with the win in the circle, and a save goes to Faraimo.
The pair limited the Bandits to just 5-for-16 in advancement opportunities, along with a 3-for-15 success rate with runners on base. They were also held to just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
While the Talons didn’t excel offensively – Jacobsen, Vidales, and Sharlize Palacios recorded the only hits – they moved runners in key moments to push enough runs across. The loss is logged to Emiley Kennedy, who entered in mid-relief. Lexi Kilfoyl was the starter for the Bandits, tossing the first four frames.
Game 2 will commence Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on X @savannaecollins.
