AUSL crowns inaugural champion as Talons claim softball title with late home run
The inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League championship belongs to the top-seeded Talons, who swept the Bandits in the best-of-three series with a pair of rain-delayed victories in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
After finishing off Game 1 early Sunday morning — a contest halted Saturday in the sixth inning with the Talons leading 3-1 — they sealed the title later that day with a dramatic 1-0 win at Rhoads Softball Stadium.
Sydney Romero delivered the deciding blow in Game 2, launching a solo home run in the top of the sixth to break a scoreless tie. It was just her second homer of the season and first of the postseason.
Game 2 featured a brilliant pitchers’ duel between the Talons’ Montana Fouts and the Bandits’ Taylor McQuillin, later relieved by Lexi Kilfoyl. Fouts — returning to the field where she starred for Alabama — held the Bandits scoreless through seven, including a tense seventh inning where Bubba Nickles-Camarena came inches from tying the game.
The Talons turned a crucial double play on a sharp lineout and Fouts fanned Bella Dayton to seal the shutout and capture the AUSL’s first-ever title.
After finishing off Game 1 early Sunday morning — a contest halted Saturday in the sixth inning with the Talons leading 3-1 — they sealed the title later that day with a dramatic 1-0 win at Rhoads Softball Stadium.
Sydney Romero delivered the deciding blow in Game 2, launching a solo home run in the top of the sixth to break a scoreless tie. It was just her second homer of the season and first of the postseason.
Game 2 featured a brilliant pitchers’ duel between the Talons’ Montana Fouts and the Bandits’ Taylor McQuillin, later relieved by Lexi Kilfoyl. Fouts — returning to the field where she starred for Alabama — held the Bandits scoreless through seven, including a tense seventh inning where Bubba Nickles-Camarena came inches from tying the game.
The Talons turned a crucial double play on a sharp lineout and Fouts fanned Bella Dayton to seal the shutout and capture the AUSL’s first-ever title.