The Bandits crawled back from behind on Saturday to take Game 3 of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League series at the Dell Diamond against the Volts 4-3 in some late-inning drama.
“Some days it’s getting ahead and just extending the lead, taking care of business that way, like yesterday, and then there’s days like today, where we’ve got to grind it out a little bit,” head coach Stacey Nuveman-Deniz said. “I’d like to think a signature to our club is not letting the game — the ups and downs — bring us down, even (when) we’re not getting the results. We’re that good. We’re gonna figure it out.”
Down by three runs, the Bandits found themselves with bases loaded and no outs. So they sent outfielder Morgan Zerkle, who had dominated at the plate Friday.
Zerkle’s pop fly almost cleared the wall, bringing home infielder Delanie Wisz from third. The Bandits didn’t stop there, as infielder Skylar Wallace hit an RBI single and cut the deficit to one run.
Sealing the deal for the Bandits, former Razorback and infielder Danielle Gibson Whorton hit a double RBI to score two runners and take the lead for the first time in the game. This is Gibson Whorton’s first series with the team after being traded from the Blaze on July 11.
“She has some relationships with some of our players (and they) are really comfortable together, but I mean, it was an absolutely seamless transition,” Nuveman-Deniz said. “I think that’s a gift at this level, to be extremely intense and very competitive, but not so much that you lose yourself in the failures or the moments that you don’t get the job done.”
Despite being dominated yesterday and taking the loss today, the Volts looked like a completely different team thanks to the prowess of starting pitcher Sam Landry. The former Sooner and first overall pick was a game changer, throwing five strikeouts.
However, the Bandits were able to adjust to Landry’s lethal speed and variety in the last half of the game.
“Sam (Landry) has really dynamic stuff — she goes down, she goes up, she’s got a curve,” Gibson-Whorton said. “She goes (to) all different zones and everything was just really sharp, so it was just crucial for us to be really particular with our plan and in sticking to it, and as things didn’t work out, getting little wins early within our first couple of at bats, and then taking our next couple of at bats was huge.”
In a packed house of more than 6,500 fans, the crowd erupted when former Longhorn and utility Mia Scott hit a single to the catcher and advanced to second off of a throwing error by pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl, McQuillin’s replacement in the circle for the Bandits. Infielder Tiare Jennings hit a single RBI to score Scott and tack on another run at the top of the fifth inning.
The Volts attempted to force a second half of the seventh inning, but Kilfoyl shut down any chance of a comeback and took her fifth win of the season.
The Bandits are now 6-1 against the Volts this season and will look to sweep the series in the final game tomorrow.
