As Week Three of the 2024 Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Championship Season concludes, the race to crown a champion nears. This week saw a shakeup due to the weather of Tropical Storm Debby that led to Games 13 and 14 being moved to the end of the week. Overall, both matchups proved to impact the leaderboard. That being said, here is a recap of the final doubleheader in Week Three of the Championship Season.
Game 13: A Big Start to an Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Career
Photo Credit: Jade Hewitt/Athletes Unlimited
In this game, pitcher Taylor McQuillin and the Blue Team were searching for their first win of the week. On the other side, fellow pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl and Team Orange entered the game at .500 with a win and a loss.
After a scoreless first inning, Team Kilfoyl scored three runs in the bottom of the second. Caroline Jacobsen hit an RBI double to left center while Sydney Romero brought in two runs with a double of her own.
@syd_syd2 🤝🏼 @carolinejacobsn
— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball) August 12, 2024
hits from Romero and Jacobsen bring in 3 runs for Team Kilfoyl!#AUProSB pic.twitter.com/N4PweMrIfB
In the fifth, Hannah Borden stepped up to the plate for Kilfoyl’s squad and went yard to centerfield. For Borden, it was just her third career at-bat in the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Championship Season. Team McQuillin responded with solo homers from Erin Coffel in the sixth and Sierra Romero in the seventh. However, Kilfoyl and Team Orange held on for the 4-3 win.
Borden and Jacobsen won MVP 1 and 2 honors, respectively as Coffel got MVP 3 honors for her effort at the plate for McQuillin’s team.
Game 14: No Shortage of Offense in This Pivotal Game
Photo Credit: Jade Hewitt/Athletes Unlimited
All things considered, Amanda Lorenz and the Gold Team versus Sashel Palacios and the Purple Team saw a combined 20 runs cross the plate. The action began at the bottom of the first as Sashel’s sister, Sharlize Palacios, drove in a run via a walk. Sis Bates would score when Sashel hit into a double play.
Team Lorenz would respond in a big way with four runs in the top of the second. First, Aliyah Andrews hit an RBI double to left field, and Kelsey Harshman scored Andrews on a hit-by-pitch. Lastly, Tori Vidales added the final two runs of the innings on a two-run single. Also, Sashel hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third for Team Palacios to make it a 4-3 game.
Anissa Urtez hit a double for Team Lorenz in their half of the fourth that added to their lead, but a solo home run by Andrea Filler closed the gap. Without question, innings five and six belonged to Team Palacios, scoring a combined nine runs. The fifth inning saw Sashel drive in an RBI and was capped off by a three-run shot by Kalei Harding to left field.
CLUTCH KALEI!!! 💣💥
— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball) August 13, 2024
a 3-run shot from @kaleiharding gives team Palacios the lead!#AUProSB | 📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/Q7AshApdz3
In the sixth, Bates hit an RBI single while Sharlize slammed the third homer of the game for Team Palacios. This one cleared all the bases as the ball went over the centerfield wall at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex. A homer by Lorenz put a small dent but the comeback was not to be as Palacios’ squad swept the week with a commanding 13-7 win.
Harding with her three-RBI game won MVP 1 honors as Sharlize’s five-RBI performance took home MVP 2 honors. Pitcher Megan Faraimo was the MVP 3 as she allowed two hits and a run while striking out four batters in four innings of work in the circle. Additionally, Andrews was the Defensive MVP.
Week Four Team Captains
Lorenz will take the helm of Team Gold for the second straight week and her third straight week as a captain. [Sashel] Palacios leads Team Orange as the gap between her and Lorenz is just four points on the leaderboard. Leading Team Blue in Week Four is Kilfoyl, who is a captain for the third consecutive week like Lorenz. Finally, Faraimo is a first-time captain this season as the pitcher leads Team Purple.
the Week 4 Captains 🫡
— AU Pro Softball (@auprosoftball) August 13, 2024
💛 @amandalorenz18
🧡 @seashel_13
🩵 @lexikilfoyl
💜 @MeganFaraimo #AUProSB pic.twitter.com/58ViQ6g4Lc
Week Four of the 2024 Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Championship Season gets underway on Friday, August 16th in Rosemont, Illinois. Team Kilfoyl faces off against Team Palacios in the first game of the doubleheader at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT. Team Lorenz and Team Faraimo will close out the doubleheader at 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CT.
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