Recap: Flippen launches grand slam in 6-0 victory for Team Alexander
ROSEMONT, Ill. — The only bad thing about the performance Team Alexander put together in Week Four of the 2023 Athletes Unlimited Softball season is the fact the week ended and new teams will be drafted on Monday.
Led by stellar pitching from Alyssa Denham and Odicci Alexander along with home runs from infielders Danielle Gibson and Hannah Flippen, Team Alexander capped off a nearly perfect week with a 6-0 victory over Team Nickles to end Sunday’s doubleheader at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
Team Alexander, which finished the week with a 3-0 record, authored its second shutout of the weekend while Team Nickles closed the slate with a 1-2 mark.
Gibson earned MVP 1 honors and finished with 228 leaderboard points after blasting a solo home run in the fourth inning to give Team Alexander a 1-0 lead it did not relinquish. Flippen, meanwhile, followed with MVP 2 commendations after her grand slam in the sixth inning completed the scoring to give her 210 points.
Denham, the game’s MVP 3 honoree, secured her fifth win of the season after throwing four shutout innings with just one hit allowed and three strikeouts. Alexander collected her second save of the campaign after scattering two hits in the final three frames with four strikeouts.
Middle infielder Kelsey Harshman authored two of Team Nickles’ three hits in the setback. Rookie Kathryn Sandercock (2-3) suffered the loss after giving up two runs on six hits in 5.1 innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gibson gave Team Alexander a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning with a solo home run before the squad erupted for five runs in the sixth frame, including Flippen’s grand slam.
LEADERBOARD IMPACT
Flippen’s performance vaulted her into third place on the leaderboard with 1,476 points, while Alexander remains the league lead with a 246-point advantage over Gibson, who also entered the top four spots after her MVP performance. Denham, meanwhile, rose nine spots and will start the final week of the season in fourth place.
GAME NOTES
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Team Nickles and Team Alexander combined to score six runs in Sunday’s opener, raising the league’s season runs total to 167 through 24 games … Aspiration is committed to planting 10 trees for every run scored this season as part of its ‘Round the Bases’ initiative.
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Team Alexander was 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position and 4-of-10 in advancement opportunities.
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Team Alexander won 19-of-21 innings during its three-game sweep with a pair of inning win sweeps.
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Denham has won her last three decisions in the circle and has conceded just one unearned run in those appearances, which span 13.0 innings of work.
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Gibson has hit safely in six consecutive games after blasting her solo home run in the fourth inning.
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Flippen hit the third grand slam of the season with her blast in the sixth inning … Catcher Mia Davidson hit the first grand slam on July 28 against Team Denham, while corner infielder Sydney Romero had a grand slam against Team Garcia on August 6
GAME MVPS
- #1 – Danielle Gibson (Team Alexander, +60)
- #2 – Hannah Flippen (Team Alexander, +40)
- #3 – Alyssa Denham (Team Alexander, +20)
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