Talons fend off Bandits to claim Game 1 of AUSL Championship Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Players and fans have waited decades for a pro circuit like the Athletes Unlimited Softball League to come along, and unfortunately, due to some harsh Alabama summer rainstorms, they had to wait a bit longer to see the entirety of Game 1 of the 2025 Championship Series.

Rain delayed the start of Saturday’s first game of the best-of-three-set between the Talons and Bandits, and then stopped action completely after the top of the sixth inning ended with the Talons up, 3-1. The game resumed at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday and the Talons held on by the same score for a huge Game 1 victory at University of Alabama's Rhoads Stadium.

Montana Fouts will start Game 2 for the Talons, returning to her alma mater with a chance to seal the championship. Taylor McQuillin gets the ball for the Bandits.

The first three innings of Game 1 was a pitchers' duel between two of the best pitchers in the league (and possibly, the world) in Georgina Corrick and Lexi Kilfoyl. Neither gave up a run through three frames.

Then, in the fourth inning, the bats woke up.

The Bandits’ Bubba Nickles-Camarena, who torched the Talons this year during the regular season with five of her seven homers, knocked in a run with an RBI single in the top of the inning. 1-0, Bandits.

But then, Tori Vidales -- she of one home run all season -- stepped up to the plate as the first batter in the bottom of the fourth inning. And now, well, she has two home runs. Including the first in AUSL Championship history.

"For me, I was just really trying to find my swing, and somehow my dad shows up and my swing just shows up with him," Vidales said postgame. "It was fun to do that in front of my parents and my grandma, who's also here. And really just do that in a moment where we needed it most."

The Talons rode that momentum by scoring two more in the bottom of the fifth once Kilfoyl came out of the game, one on a Caroline Jacobsen fielder’s choice and the other courtesy, once again, of Vidales. She hit a sacrifice fly into foul territory down the right-field line.

Corrick, the AUSL Pitcher of the Year, stayed in the game and settled down -- giving up just that one run through six. She struck out two and walked one, helped, in part, by some amazing defense by Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Flippen.

"I think it's very freeing as a pitcher when you have the kind of defensive prowess that I have behind me," Corrick said. "Obviously, Hannah Flippen behind me, Defensive Player of the Year, I think she's the best shortstop in this league. It gives Sharlize Palacios behind the plate a lot of freedom to call what we want. We don't have to feel like we need to strike everyone out."

Megan Faraimo, second in the league in strikeouts during the season, came in to shut the door with two K's. Or, as Talons coach Howard Dobson said, "slam the door." The Talons know they have an advantage after taking the first game of a best-of-three-series, but their coach also knows they can't dwell too long on the victory.

"We'll have a debrief here in a minute for the things we did well and things that we could do better," Dobson said after the game. "And then we'll figure out what the strategy is to face the next pitcher. You're only as good as the next pitcher you face, anyway. We want to make sure we're prepared for whatever. We got Game 1, now we gotta prepare for Game 2 and worry about what happens in Game 2. We'll break it up in thirds and try to win three innings at a time."