AUSL Opening Day recaps: Bandits top Talons, Volts outlast Blaze

The 2025 Athletes Unlimited Softball League held its Opening Day on Saturday with a pair of matchups between star-studded rosters.

The Talons and Bandits kicked off the action in Rosemont, Ill., while the Volts and Blaze met in Wichita, Kan., in the second game of the day.

It’s the first two of 24 games for each of the league’s four teams, who will compete in 10 different cities until the end of the regular season on July 23. From July 26-28, the top two teams will face off in the best-of-three AUSL Championship at the University of Alabama’s Rhoads Stadium.

Here are the results from Saturday’s Opening Day action.

Bandits 3, Talons 1

Erin Coffel’s two-run triple stood up as the winning hit for the Bandits in the first ever AUSL regular-season game, played at The Stadium at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Ill.

With two outs and two strikes in the third inning, Coffel ripped a ball to right-center to drive in two runs and give the Bandits a 2-1 lead. Sydney McKinney helped add some insurance, reaching on an infield single in the fifth and scoring on an error.

Starter Lexi Kilfoyl (four innings) and reliever Taylor McQuillin (three innings) limited the Talons to a single run. That came courtesy of outfielder Sierra Sacco, a Mississippi State product who received one of 12 “golden tickets” for the AUSL’s inaugural College Draft. Sacco hit the first home run in AUSL history, an opposite-field solo shot off Montana Fouts to start the scoring in the top of the third.

But Coffel responded quickly for the Bandits, and the Talons stranded a baserunner in each of the final four innings in the loss.

The two teams will meet again at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday in Rosemont as the Bandits seek a 2-0 start to the season. You can watch Sunday's game on MLB.com, MLB.TV and in the MLB App.

Volts 5, Blaze 1 (8)

The Volts were in need of a jolt, and they got one thanks to McKenzie Clark.

Clark launched a mammoth three-run homer over the scoreboard in left field to put an exclamation point on a four-run eighth inning that lifted the Volts to victory in their AUSL opener in Wichita, Kan.

Seven innings weren't enough in this one, as a pitching duel broke out between the Volts' Rachel Garcia and the Blaze trio of Aleshia Ocasio (5 2/3 innings), Emma Lemley (1 1/3) and Brooke McCubbin (1).

The Blaze got on the board early thanks to an RBI double by Danielle Gibson Whorton in the first inning. But although she dealt with traffic again in the fourth, Garcia did not yield another run the rest of the way, closing out the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, stranding the automatic runner at second.

Overall, Garcia gave up one run on four hits, walking three and striking out eight.

The Volts' first run came in the third inning courtesy of a Jessi Warren RBI single that scored Amanda Lorenz, who doubled to lead off the frame.

The Volts and Blaze will rematch Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in Wichita, Kan. You can tune in on MLB.com, MLB.TV and in the MLB App.