TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- "What a day," Talons manager Howard Dobson said. "What a day to make history."
The ball sailed over the left-field fence, Sydney Romero flapped her Talon wings as she crossed home plate, and an inning later, her team had won the first ever Athletes Unlimited Softball League Championship. The final foray in a women's professional league we'd always been hoping for, but had finally seen in 2025. A 1-0 win in Game 2 and a series sweep.
After the Talons won a rain-suspended Game 1 of the AUSL Championship earlier in the day on Saturday, the Talons’ Montana Fouts -- pitching at the University of Alabama’s Rhoads Stadium (her alma mater) -- looked incredibly comfortable in Game 2.
Her former coach Patrick Murphy threw out the first pitch, little girls in Fouts jerseys yelled her name and the Crimson Tide legend delivered -- a shutout, holding the Bandits to five hits, while striking out seven.
Fouts felt the love all day.
"This is home to me," the 2023 Alabama alum said postgame. "This is the place that's helped shape who I am. Fans continue to come out. I've seen people that I haven't seen in the last five years that were in this crowd. I'm very appreciative of that."
Even after a rain delay -- yes, another hour-and-a-half rain delay before the fifth inning -- Fouts had no doubts she would continue on to close out the championship.
"Everybody stayed locked in, you know that you're gonna go back out there," Fouts said. "You just do whatever you need to do, so that when you step back out on that field, you're ready to go."
The Bandits, who'd battled all year with the Talons and finished in second place, also limited the opposing hitters to just three hits. Pitchers Taylor McQuillin and Lexi Kilfoyl were nearly lights out. But one of those hits, in the sixth inning, was that Romero home run.
"I was just looking for something over the plate and [she threw] a changeup that stayed elevated and it went right for my barrel," Romero said after the game. "I knew it was gone. I was super excited. Emotions kind of just took over and, I don't know, it felt good."
Fouts gave up a single off the wall to Bubba Nickles-Camarena in the seventh -- just inches from being a home run -- but got out of the jam by getting the last three batters. The final out on a thunderous strikeout.
The Talons had talent this summer, but they also had fun -- in a league that continually embraced it. You could see it in their champagne celebration, in their "caw-caw" rallying call, you could even see it in their GM -- and USA softball icon -- Lisa Fernandez.
"I'm kind of like a mom, I feel like," Fernandez said. "Just to be able to see the growth of our game and all the struggles we had early on. These guys have the opportunity to truly reap the benefits and it's going to continue to grow. I look forward to the future."
And with record-setting attendance numbers, stars with giant social media followings and the sport experiencing maybe its peak of popularity, there's no telling where it might go in the years to come.
"This league is going up," Dobson said. "It'll continue to rise. There's no ceiling. And we're really proud of the opportunity to be the first champion."