The first-ever Athletes Unlimited Softball League championship goes to the top-seeded Talons.
After winning a rain-delayed Game 1 in the AUSL championship series, the Talons completed the two-game sweep of the Bandits on Sunday, July 27 with another delayed victory at Rhoads Softball Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Sydney Romero’s solo home run with one out in the top of the sixth inning broke a scoreless tie and provided the winning margin in a 1-0 championship-clinching victory. It was the former Oklahoma star’s first homer of the postseason and just her second of the season.
The first game in the best-of-three series was postponed a day earlier in the bottom of the sixth inning on Saturday as the Talons led the Bandits 3-1. `
With the skies clear on Sunday morning, the Talons closed out the victory to put themselves on the brink of a title.
Romero, Fouts star in Game 2
Game 2 was a classic pitcher’s duel between the Talons’ Montana Fouts and the Bandits’ Taylor McQuillin. They matched zeroes through the first four frames before the rain forced another delay in the top of the fifth inning.
Once the skies cleared, Fouts – playing on the same field where she starred collegiately at Alabama – returned to the mound for the Talons. Meanwhile, the Bandits turned to their ace Lexi Kilfoyl, who took the loss in Game 1.
With the game still scoreless in the sixth, Romero caught up with a fastball at the top of the strike zone and deposited it over the wall in left field to break the scoreless tie.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bandits’ Bubba Nickles-Camarena nearly tied the game with a long drive that hit just a few inches away from clearing the wall in left-center field. But she was erased one batter later on a line drive that was snagged by Talons first baseman Tori Vidalis, who dove back to the bag and beat Nickles-Camarena for the double play.
Fouts then struck out Bella Dayton to complete the shutout and the championship-clinching 1-0 victory.