Although the Carolina Blaze and Texas Volts find themselves at the bottom of the AUSL standings, all is not lost. As of now, the defending champion Utah Talons are the lone team to have clinched a playoff berth. Without question, the Volts and Blaze series is important as it kicked off last Friday at Dell Diamond.
Carolina Blaze – Texas Volts
All things considered, Game One of this series was all about the circle. For the Volts, rookie NiJaree Canady faced off against veteran Aleshia Ocasio of the Blaze. Ocasio went three innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts. Next, Keilani Ricketts tossed three shutout innings for Carolina as the ball went to Karlyn Pickens in the bottom of the seventh.
Here, the game went to extra innings in Round Rock as the scoreboard read 0 – 0 after seven innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Rylie Boone stepped into the box versus Pickens as she hit a sacrifice fly and drove in teammate Ally Carda to win it for Texas 1 – 0. Canady went the distance as she allowed five hits while sitting down five Blaze batters in the win.
By and large, Game Two of this saw much more offense in comparison to the opening game of the series. Carolina found the scoreboard first via the bat of Reese Atwood in the top of the second. Atwood slammed three-run home run to give the Blaze the early lead. However, Texas got their first run of the contest in the bottom of the fifth on a Danieca Coffey RBI sacrifice fly.
Photo Credit: AUSL
The Volts would tie the game at three runs apiece in the sixth on a two-run double by Rachel Garcia. Once again, Texas set themselves up for another walk-off victory as Carolina went scoreless in the top of the seventh. With this in mind, Jackie Lis provided said walk-off victory for the Volts on an RBI single.
Photo Credit: AUSL
Carolina Blaze – Texas Volts (Game Three)
Given that the Volts took the first two games of this series versus the Blaze, a sweep was not out of the question. That is to say, the bats for Texas decided to accomplish just that in Round Rock. In the opening inning, four runs came across the plate for the Volts. Firstly, Dejah Mulipola hit an RBI double while Lis hammered a three-run homer to left field in the inning.
Speaking of the long ball for Texas, Tiare Jennings hit a solo homer in the third as Sierra Romero had one in the fourth. A two-run single by Aliyah Binford in the fifth put a bow on the offense for the Volts and the game.
It’s important to note the Volts got the 8 – 0 victory in five innings. Additionally, Rachel Garcia tossed a complete game shutout for Texas as allowed just three hits while having eight strikeouts.
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