ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SOFTBALLAMERICA.COM (Photo courtesy of Jade Hewitt/Athletes Unlimited)
In the Athletes Unlimited Series One finale, the rookies showed out. Lexi Kilfoyl achieved back-to-back complete games leading Team Romero to a large win over Team Svekis in game one. Skylar Wallace’s grand slam set the tone for Team Denham’s victory.
Team Romero 6, Team Svekis 0
In yet another pitcher’s duel, Lexi Kilfoyl for Team Romero and Megan Faraimo for Team Svekis were lights out.
It was a copy-and-paste performance of Kilfoyl’s professional debut on Friday as she went the distance again. This time a shutout with four strikeouts. Faraimo put up similar numbers with 6.2 innings thrown and five strikeouts.
A rare Jessi Warren error at third was followed by a Rachel Garcia RBI single in the second inning. That was the only offensive action until Team Romero got ahold of Faraimo late in the seventh.
An insurance run rally began for the ‘Purple’ as Kelsey Stewart-Hunter singled, Sydney Romero doubled. Haylie McCleney ripped her 100th career hit to add four more runs to the board. And while battling a bit of a slump at the plate, Sierra Romero broke through for a double driving in the final run to secure the 6-0 victory.
100th career hit for the legend herself 👑@hayliemac8| 📺 ESPN2pic.twitter.com/tj0oh1IPtu— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball)July 28, 2024
MVP honors were awarded to Kilfoyl (508 total points), Delanie Wisz (340 total points) and McCleney (310 total points).
Team Denham 11, Team Alexander 2
The University of Florida’s career record holder in batting average and slugging percentage certainly carried over her talents to Athletes Unlimited. In her debut weekend, Skylar Wallace was presented with a two-out bases-loaded situation and she absolutely crushed an inside pitch over the center field wall for the ninth grand slam in championship season history. Team Denham used that momentum and soared to a 11-2 win over Team Alexander.
GRAND. SLAM. 💥@Wallace2Skylargets all of this ball and Team Denham takes the 6-1 lead!#AUProSB| 📺 Bally Sportspic.twitter.com/64HaroQFWA— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball)July 28, 2024
Jadelyn Allchin started the show for Team Alexander with a single to center field followed by a double from Bubba Nickles to drive Allchin home.
BUBBBBBBBA 🔥Bubba gets the scoring started in Game 6!@madilyn_nickles| 📺 Bally Sportspic.twitter.com/KAM4dPFIkH— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball)July 28, 2024
But the fourth inning quickly turned into a six-run affair for Team Denham. Erin Coffel doubled to center field and advanced to third on the throw at home that allowed Erika Piancastelli to score. Sashel Palacios singled to score Coffel, taking the lead over Team Alexander.
The bats continued to stay hot from there which made captain Alexander pull herself from the circle. Mariah Mazon entered and with bases loaded and two outs, Skylar Wallace’s grand slam put Team Denham on pace to success.
Nickles came in clutch again for Team Alexander with an RBI single, but that was the last of the scoring for the ‘Gold’.
The runs continued to trickle in for Team Denham though. Amanda Lorenz singled up the middle to score Morgan Zerkle and Megan Wiggins ripped a two-run home run to right field. Kelsey Harshman added a two-RBI double to add a bit more cushion to the scoreboard before heading into the bottom of the seventh.
MEGAN WIGGINS OMG@TheMeganWiggins| 📺 Bally Sportspic.twitter.com/FlgyPwG6ZX— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball)July 28, 2024
With the win, Alyssa Denham has collected 12 straight wins as a captain.
MVP honors were awarded to Wallace (450 total points), Coffel (426 total points) and Wiggins (380 total points).
Athletes Unlimited Leaderboard
1. Lexi Kilfoyl – 508 points
2. Taylor McQuillin – 466 points
3. Amanda Lorenz – 450 points
4. Skylar Wallace– 450 points
5. Kelsey Harshman – 440 points
Kilfoyl, McQuillin, Lorenz and Wallace will be captains for Series Two starting on August 2nd.
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