Dejah Mulipola is a veteran when it comes to international travel and softball. After all, she's represented Team USA in the Olympics and played professionally overseas, globetrotting to destinations from South America to Southeast Asia in the process.
But one thing Mulipola will not want to experience again is her trek from Yokohama, Japan -- where she finished up her pro season with the Japan Diamond League's Hitachi Sundiva club -- to Wichita, Kansas, for her debut with the Volts of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League on Wednesday.
ATHLETES UNLIMITED SOFTBALL LEAGUE
This is something Dejah hopes never turns into "Dejah vu."
Before she arrived stateside to join her new AUSL squad, which beat the Blaze at Wilkins Stadium on the Wichita State University campus, 6-1, she endured a travel nightmare that spanned 24 hours, touched five cities and ended up covering more than 6,000 miles.
AUSL sideline reporter Savanna Collins got the details from Mulipola before the latter made a pinch-hit appearance in the contest.
"This is what it took for Dejah Mulipola to make it from Japan to this game," Collins said on the telecast. "Stick with me here: Imagine flying 12 hours from Tokyo with a two-hour layover in Dallas; they sat on the second flight for about an hour and a half before takeoff, flew to Wichita -- bad weather -- had to turn around to go to [Oklahoma City] to get more fuel; tried to go to Wichita again and couldn't land; went back to Dallas, talked to customer service and got on the last flight last night to make it to Wichita. And she is here."
After that long and surely exhausting trip, Mulipola pinch-hit in the fourth inning and flew out to right field. But it didn't matter -- she was with her new club and ready to contribute after a stellar collegiate career at the University of Arizona and several pro seasons on her resume, not to mention her exploits for Team USA in the Olympics.
"I know she's got to be relieved to have touched down," Collins said. "She said she's glad to be in a purple uniform."
Indeed, it was a good day to be in a purple uniform -- thanks to a big day at the plate for Danieca Coffey (2-for-3 with a double, a home run and three RBIs), as well as a masterful performance on the mound by Rachel Garcia (7 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 K), the Volts snapped a four-game losing streak and got back in the win column.
Talons 5, Bandits 4
In a thriller that featured a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, Sharlize Palacios -- a teammate of Mulipola's at Arizona in 2021 -- launched a walk-off two-run homer over the wall in center field to lift the Talons to a comeback victory.
It was a pitcher's duel through the first five frames, with the Bandits' Lexi Kilfoyl and the Talons' Megan Faraimo each turning in strong performances -- Kilfoyl surrendered just one run on five hits while walking none and striking out three, and Faraimo tossed five scoreless innings before the Bandits broke through against her in the sixth.
That's when Erin Coffel belted a three-run homer to put the Bandits ahead. A Sydney McKinney RBI groundout added some insurance in the top of the seventh, but it wouldn't be enough.
Two big swings of the bat -- one resulting in a two-run homer by Ally Shipman-Shrout and the other the two-run walk-off blast from Palacios -- snapped the Bandits' four-game win streak and elevated the Talons into a first-place tie with them.