After coming off a series victory against the Blaze, the Volts ran into a wall against the Bandits. The team in purple and green was swept and have now lost four straight. Here’s how it happened:
Game One: Volts 5, Bandits 6
Thursday’s matchup was the best-played game of the series for the Volts. The Bandits jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but then in the top of the third inning, the Volts answered back. McKenzie Clark showed her offensive prowess with a solo home run to put the team on the board. A few batters later, Tiare Jennings used her power to put the ball over the wall, which brought home three more runs and gave the Volts the lead.
The Bandits tied it up in the bottom of the fourth. Both teams scored in the 7th to make it 5-5 and send the game to extra innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Bandits’ Delanie Wisz hit a single up the middle to score Devyn Netz from second base to win the game for her team.
Game Two: Volts 1, Bandits 6
The second game of the series was pretty much dominated by the Bandits. They scored five runs in the first two innings, and the Volts never really recovered. The Bandits scored six runs on 11 hits, and Devyn Netz was fantastic in relief, throwing 3.1 innings and allowing just one hit.
Sis Bates was a bright spot for the Volts, going 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Game Three: Volts 0, Bandits 6
The Volts’ bats struggled in the series finale. They had only four hits through seven innings and struck out six times as a team. Sierra Romero had two of the four hits; she was 2-for-3.
On the contrary, the Bandits bats were alive as ever. They scored six runs in the first two innings. Morgan Zerkle was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and seven Bandits players had at least one hit on the night.
Sarah Willis and Taylor McQuillin combined for the complete game shutout, beating the Volts 6-0.
TAKEAWAYS
1. The bats went quiet.
A big reason for the Volts’ success in their series against the Blaze was that they generated runs through a variety of different ways and in big moments. It was the opposite in their series against the Bandits. The Volts went 17-81 (.209) on the series in Sulphur.
Game one was the only game where they were able to get timely hits. In the second two games of the series, they scored one run in fourteen innings of play.
2. Bandits’ offense is very good, but big innings killed the Volts.
No matter how good pitching staffs are (and the Volts have a very good staff, as we saw in series one), sometimes teams just run into offenses that are firing on all cylinders. That’s part of what happened in Louisiana. The Bandits are just hitting like crazy one through nine.
However, in games two and three of the series, the Bandits scored five or more runs in the first two innings, which caused the Volts to play from behind. The Bandits found a way to get to every Volts pitcher. Rachel Garcia, who was the pitcher of the series last week, was pulled in the first inning of game three without recording an out.
3. Defense is solid and versatile.
A bright spot in the series for the Volts was that they showed that they have good defensive players who can play multiple positions. Tiare Jennings, who has been stellar at short, spent some time at first base.
Sis Bates got more time at shortstop this weekend and did Sis Bates things.
Overall, the defense was solid and the Volts can build on this moving forward.
Their next series begins on June 17th against the Blaze in Wichita, Kansas.
Maria Trivelpiece is currently the Director of Video Communications and Reporter at the American Athletic Conference and a softball color analyst. Trivelpiece was an outfielder at Fordham University and still stays involved with the game through coaching and covering the sport. You can follow her on X M_Trivelpiece or Instagram @_mariatrivelpiece
