Family Day at Dell Diamond got a walk-off ending: purple on the grass, kids out of their seats, and two Volts who had just decided the game sitting a few minutes later in the press box.
Rylie Boone singled to open the seventh. Jackie Lis drove her in. The Texas Volts beat the Carolina Blaze 4-3 for their second consecutive walk-off win and their second series win of the season — both at home — improving to 5-15, per AUSL postgame notes.
Boone chewed through the questions. Lis answered the clutch ones like she had been expecting them. That was the afternoon, start to finish.
Down 3-0, then back
Carolina scored all three of its runs in the second. Errors by shortstop Leighann Goode and starter Ally Carda put runners on, and catcher Reese Atwood — the former Longhorn, now with the Blaze — hit a three-run homer to left-center for her seventh of the season. All three runs were unearned.
Woodard did not dodge the pitch Atwood hit. She also credited Carda for everything that came after.
“I thought Ally Carda did a great job of keeping us in the ballgame, gave up no earned runs,” Woodard said. “She hung one pitch to Reese Atwood, the one person on that team you don’t want to hang the pitch to, and obviously Reese did a great job with it. But great battle by Ally to keep us in that ballgame as long as she did after that inning.”
Carda went six innings on 112 pitches, allowing four hits and no earned runs with two strikeouts. Aliyah Binford pitched the seventh for the win and evened her record at 3-3.
Texas got on the board in the fifth. Sierra Romero walked, Jalia Lassiter pinch-ran and moved to second on a wild pitch, Boone singled, and Danieca Coffey lifted a sacrifice fly — 3-1.
In the sixth, Dejah Mulipola singled and Lis walked. After Jaydyn Goodwin was thrown out attempting a sacrifice — Texas challenged; the out call stood — Rachel Garcia pinch-hit and doubled to left, scoring Mulipola and Lis to tie it 3-3. Mulipola finished 2-for-2 with two walks. Lis finished 2-for-3 with a walk and the game-winning RBI.
Bottom of the seventh
Boone led off with a single up the middle. Coffey sacrificed her to second. Binford struck out. Carolina intentionally walked Mulipola to get to Lis.
Boone, standing at second, liked the matchup.
“Even when I was on second, just telling Jackie, like, why not you?” Boone said. “In my head, I’m thinking, why not Jackie? Go ahead and walk her. Yeah — you gotta deal with this one.”
Lis had already mapped it with the coaches.
“I had a feeling they were going to put Dejah on,” Lis said. “I was just like, I’m sitting on outside, and I’m gonna drive a ball that way — and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. That’s my plan. I’m gonna stick with it.
“When I was seeing those outside pitches, I was just under a few of them. And then on that last pitch, I was really just trying to get a little bit more on top than the balls I fouled off. And sure enough, did it. And there it went.”
Boone scored from second. Dell Diamond emptied.
What’s in the gum?
Boone is the Volts’ daily energy — first AUSL player this season to start 20 games, team-high six multi-hit games, and a center fielder who treats every blooper like personal business. On Saturday she went after a ball that nearly caused a three-way collision and did not wait for a call.
“As a center fielder, I don’t hear anything. So I’m like, is nobody going to call it? Okay, I go,” Boone said. “Carda’s been throwing a freaking game, and I refuse to let that happen on her behalf.”
In the press box, I asked the question half the park has joked about all season: what’s in the gum?
“One, Jesus,” Boone said. “Two, choice of gum.” She bought “like, five Hubba Bubba” packs at a gas station, switched to Mentos, and admitted a teammate audited her midgame. “Josh was just like, how many do you have in your mouth? And I was like, 11.”
The laughs landed. Then she explained why this team has not quit on itself at 5-15.
“We could have thrown in the towel a long time ago, not gonna lie,” Boone said. “But just not giving up … I think it takes a lot of grit and a lot of will to win, to wake up every day and still punch back.”
What has worked for her through the last two wins? Looking past her own line.
“My main thing is less of me and more of celebrating everybody else’s wins,” Boone said. “If you walk — like Romo had huge ABs, two walks — celebrating the little things, it will eventually turn over in your favor.”
Trusting the big at-bat
Lis has been the Volts’ third baseman since Aminah Vega left for a full-time job outside the league. On Saturday she started, reached base three times, and won it with the game on the line. It is a role she knows from Texas Tech — and she is still getting it here.
“It’s really just trusting my preparation,” Lis said. “I got put in that spot a lot at Tech, and I’ve been getting put in it a lot here. So it’s really just trusting my capabilities as a hitter and not letting the moment get too big to where it clouds my performance in the box — and then once I’m in there, taking a deep breath and just trying to get the outcome that my team needs.”
Woodard is not treating the move as temporary.
“Jackie’s an athlete,” Woodard said. “She was a shortstop before she went to Tech … From bunts to hard-hit balls to double plays, she’s just done a good job of keeping us in the game.”
Lis said the press box still feels new — sitting next to players she used to watch for championships.
“It’s been unreal to take the field with people that I’ve watched for so long,” she said. “Now I’m sitting next to her doing press … There’s not a single easy out or easy pitcher in this league. You literally can’t take a single pitch off, ever.”
The Family Day crowd, she said, stayed in it.
“They’re always bringing the energy,” Lis said. “Our MC is great — he’s always dancing on the dugout, giving us a good laugh. And even when we don’t win reviews, they’re over there booing the umpires.”
Monday closes the Blaze series at Dell Diamond. Three of the four meetings this season have been one-run games. On Saturday, Boone put a runner on and Lis ended it — with 11 Mentos somewhere in the postgame story, exactly where it belongs.
Anthony Rivera, Dell Diamond press box. Stats from the official AUSL box score and postgame notes; Woodard, Boone, and Lis quotes from the July 11 AUSL postgame press conference.