Week three of AUSL All-Star Cup begins with wins by Team Coffey and Team Kowalik

Series 3 of the AUSL All-Star Cup kicked off with a doubleheader in Rosemont, Ill. on Sunday, Aug. 25. Team Coffey (Blue) beat Team Ricketts (Orange) 4-2, followed by Team Kowalik (Gold) defeating Team Netz (Purple) 13-5 at Parkway Bank Sports Complex. Kayla Kowalik was the only returning captain from the previous week and her along with three new captains drafted their teams on Friday.

Coffey prevails in team captain debut

After a scoreless first inning to start the first game, the second inning saw Ana Gold of Team Coffey double to the left field followed by Dejah Mulipola smacking a homer to the left field that put the Blue crew ahead by three runs. Orange responded at the bottom when Sharlize Palacios smashed a two-run dinger to get even with a 3-2 score.

Although the third inning went by without scoring, Blue added on to their lead when Danielle Gibson Whorton singled up the middle and earned a run for the team captain Danieca Coffey. As neither team scored in the last the three innings, Team Rickett’s Baylee Klingler grounding out to Blue shortstop Ana Gold ended the game with Team Coffey winning 4-2.

Rachel Garcia was the only Team Coffey pitcher for the day, striking out six batters for all seven innings in the circle. Mulipola and Gibson Whorton were the batting leaders with two hits each, while four Blue players contributed to the offense with one run each.

Keilani Ricketts pitched four innings for her team while Aliyah Binford recorded the only strikeout for Orange. Klingler led the squad with three hits, while Palacios and Binford scored the only two runs.

Team Kowalik had a grand-slam day out

The first inning of the second saw the Gold captain grabbing the first run with a double to take the lead, which Team Netz took away in the bottom when Tiare Jennings homered a double RBI to the left center.  

In the second inning after Team Kowalik tied the game 2-2, another single from the leader earned a run for Jessi Warren to regain the lead with loaded bases. Erin Coffel stepped up to the plate and smacked the first grand slam of the season, propelling Gold to a five-run lead.

Although Team Kowalik had already built a far enough lead to last until the end, they took it further in the fourth inning when Warren nailed a second quadruple slammer to the right center for another carousel of Gold players crossing home plate. Preventing a mercy rule scenario, Sydney McKinney of Team Netz doubled to the left center and cut the run deficit to six.

The slugfest dwindled down in the final two innings, where Warren shined again with a single homer in the sixth and Korbe Otis doubled for the last run in the seventh. A lineout to Team Kowalik centerfielder Megan Clark ended the day with a 13-5 victory over Team Netz with an eight-run margin of victory, the widest so far in the season.

Georgina Corrick led the mound for Gold in her first game on the winning team, striking out four batters across four innings. Coffel led the batting lineup with three hits, while her along with Warren scored the most runs with three each.

Megan Faraimo struck out three players while pitching 2.2 innings on the rubber for the Purple, compared to team captain Devyn Netz who saw 0.2 innings in the circle. Jennings led in hits with two, while five different players scored one run.

All-Star Cup leaderboard top ten after nine games

All four teams will return on Monday. Aug. 25 and remain in Rosemont where Team Netz is taking on Team Ricketts at 5 p.m. CT, and Team Coffey faces Team Kowalik at 7:30 p.m. CT. Both games will be broadcasted on ESPNU.

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