Volts’ Win Clinches the No. 1 Seed for the Talons
Volts Save Best for Last in Round Rock
Tonight was the final game of the series in Round Rock, Texas, and the Volts were looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Bandits. Last night’s game ended in heartbreak for the Volts, but today they got a little revenge, defeating the Bandits 7-5. Let’s get into the details.
The Volts went at Emiley Kennedy early on, with Amanda Lorenz leading the game off. Kennedy bounced back with a strikeout to Ciara Briggs, but Danieca Coffey and Tiare Jennings followed with back-to-back singles, with Jennings bringing in Lorenz.
Kennedy has had an up-and-down season, struggling through a tough rookie campaign. She tallied another strikeout, this time to Dejah Mulipola, but walked Sierra Romero to load the bases. Kennedy escaped the inning when Jessi Warren grounded into a fielder’s choice.
That was a busy top half of the first, with just one run coming across. Kennedy and the Bandits avoided a larger deficit.
In the bottom of the first, the Bandits jumped on Rachel Garcia. Morgan Zerkle led off with a single, and Skylar Wallace followed with a first-pitch, two-run homer to take a 2-1 lead. Garcia would settle in, recording a strikeout to Erin Coffel to end the inning.
The Bandits have shown all season, and most recently last night, that they can strike at any time. This team is dangerous for that reason.
Kennedy looked to improve in the second inning, and it started well with a strikeout to Michaela Edenfield. Then, Mia Scott walked and moved to second on an Amanda Lorenz single.
Lorenz has been one of the most consistent Volt hitters this season, and she started 2-for-2 in the game.
Kennedy struggled with command again, walking Ciara Briggs to load the bases with one out. Then came the chaos. Danieca Coffey reached on a throwing error by Kennedy, clearing the bases. Another throwing error allowed Coffey to make it all the way home, giving the Volts a 5-2 lead. Things would not get better, as Tiare Jennings followed that with a solo home run, making it 6-2.
Rachel Garcia limited the Bandits to nothing in the second inning. After Sydney McKinney reached on a leadoff single, the Bandits just couldn’t put the ball where the Volts weren’t.
Odicci Alexander replaced Kennedy in the third and kept the Volts scoreless. Then Payton Gottshall entered in the bottom of the third and pitched a clean inning as well. Both pitchers seemed to have calmed things down a bit, until the fifth inning.
Jessi Warren, who had been heating up late in the season, smacked a solo shot down the left-field line in the fifth to extend the Volts’ lead to 7-2.
Gottshall started the bottom of the fifth with a strikeout to Cori McMillan, but Bella Dayton doubled, though she was stranded there along with Skylar Wallace at first. The Bandits hadn’t scored since the first inning and had only four hits in five innings, tonight belonged to the Volts.
Sarah Willis entered in the sixth for the Bandits, and while traffic reached base, she ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to Tiare Jennings and Dejah Mulipola. Willis’ changeup is good, and it even confuses me just watching her throw it.
Sam Show took the circle in the bottom of the sixth for the Volts. Gottshall had an impressive outing, keeping the Bandits off the board, allowing only one hit with two walks in three innings.
Delanie Wisz cracked a solo homer off Show with one out in the sixth, cutting the lead to 7-3. That would be all the Bandits would manage in that inning. The Volts did a good job tonight of limiting the Bandits and not allowing them to string together hits to go on runs.
Sam Landry came on to close things out in the seventh. She struck out Jordan Roberts for the first out. With two outs, Morgan Zerkle reached on an error. Skylar Wallace then smacked a two-run home run to make it 7-5, keeping the Bandits alive. Erin Coffel followed with her first hit, but Landry finished it off with a strikeout to Danielle Gibson Whorton.
Great finish to the game for Sam Landry. It was nice to see her come on and close it out, especially after the way her night was derailed last night.
The Volts had a good team win, keeping the Bandits off balance throughout the game. The five-run second inning they scored, due to the Bandits’ self-inflicted errors, set the tone. The Bandits scratched late, never giving up, but it was too little, too late.
The Volts know they only have a couple of games left in the season, and Tiare Jennings is taking it all in, enjoying being with her teammates while she can. After the game, she was asked how they were able to keep the energy up from the opening night of this series through to tonight.
“I just think knowing that we don’t have many games together left. We don’t know what next season’s going to hold. So I think for me personally, it was just another day, but as well as just making it count with my teammates. I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to play with Danieca, so just taking that all in and kind of just coming in a new day and resetting and kind of just playing some ball and having fun.”, said Tiare Jennings.
Tonight’s Volts’ win clinched the overall number one seed for the Talons. Talons will have home field advantage in Tuscaloosa next weekend against the Bandits. With the way these two have played each other in eight games, home field advantage just may be huge.
Follow along with Fastpitch Wire, as we continue to bring you firsthand coverage of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.
