Recap: Team Davidson's late rally seals 8-4 victory
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Pitcher Mariah Mazon has been nearly unstoppable as a reliever during the 2023 Athletes Unlimited Softball season and her talents were on full display in Saturday’s clash between Team Davidson and Team Nickles.
The second-year professional shut the door on Team Nickles with 4.1 innings of no-hit relief as Team Davidson secured an 8-4 victory in the first game of the Week Four doubleheader at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
The win allowed Team Davidson to even its record at 1-1 for the penultimate week of the season, while Team Nickles owns a similar 1-1 mark.
Mazon, who earned her fifth win of the season in the circle, struck out three hitters and allowed just one walk after entering the game in place of Haylie Wagner in the third inning. The former Oregon State standout earned MVP 2 honors for her efforts and collected 192 leaderboard points.
Middle infielder Sierra Romero took home MVP 1 distinction and 228 leaderboard points after going 2-for-3 with a double and a home run while driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Corner infielder Nadia Taylor finished the MVP triumvirate for Team Davidson after blasting her second home run of the season in addition to adding two singles, giving her 180 leaderboard points in the victory.
Outfielder Morgan Zerkle authored a two-hit performance for Team Nickles in the loss while seven other players registered one hit. Pitcher Kathryn Sandercock dipped to 2-2 on the season after giving up five runs, including two earned runs, on five hits in 3.2 innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the score tied at 4-all, Team Davidson plated four runs over the final four innings to secure the victory. Corner infielder Sam Fischer got the rally started by scoring on a single by outfielder Victoria Hayward in the fourth inning before Romero’s solo blast to lead off the fifth stanza upped the margin to 6-4. Captain Mia Davidson added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run homer in the seventh to make it an 8-4 game.
LEADERBOARD IMPACT
Mazon’s winning effort in the circle lifted her into 12th place on the leaderboard, while Taylor also rose 13 spots to 13th place in the league standings. Despite the loss, Nickles remains in second place with 1,348 leaderboard points.
GAME NOTES
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Team Davidson and Team Nickles combined to score 12 runs in Saturday’s opener, moving the league’s season total to 141 runs through 21 games … Aspiration is committed to planting 10 trees for every run scored this season as part of its ‘Aspiration Round the Bases’ initiative.
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Team Nickles became the second team this season to lose a game despite scoring four or more runs … Team Garcia suffered a 13-4 loss against Team Zerkle on August 5.
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Seven of Team Davidson’s 10 hits came with runners on base … In addition, the squad went 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and 13-of-20 in advancement opportunities.
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The teams combined to leave 17 runners on base.
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Hayward authored the 99th hit of her Athletes Unlimited career (AUX and Championship Season) with her single in the fourth inning … She has now hit safely in 43-of-56 career Championship Season contests.
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Team Davidson became the fourth team to score four or more runs in a single inning after opening the game with four runs on two hits.
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Mazon, who has allowed just four earned runs over her seven appearances, has shut out opponents in five of those outings … She has also thrown 4.0 or more innings in three of her last five games.
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Romero authored 200 or more leaderboard points in a game for the second time in her Championship Season career.
GAME MVPS
- #1 – Sierra Romero (Team Davidson, +60)
- #2 – Mariah Mazon (Team Davidson, +40)
- #3 – Nadia Taylor (Team Davidson, +20)
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