Oxford, AL – Smash It Sports Vipers rookie backs up no-hitter with 3-hitter, and Vipers win WPF semifinal opener. Texas Smoke forces Friday’s Game 3.
By Joe Medley
Ashley Rogers keeps delivering for Oxford’s Smash It Sports Vipers.
The rookie pitcher from Tennessee pitched a three-hitter Friday, and the fourth seeded Vipers beat the top-seeded Texas Smoke 2-0 in Game 1 of their best-of-3 Women’s Professional Fastpitch semifinal series at Choccolocco Park.
Vipers starter Amber Fiser carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of Game 2, but Smoke turned to fire for a 6-4 victory to force Friday’s 7:30 p.m. Game 3. The winner advances to this weekend’s championship series.
The Vipers (10-27) — beset by youth, four draft picks that never showed and an overuse injury from the college season that slowed top draft pick Rogers’ onset — came into the four-team WPF postseason with the league’s worst record and the No. 4 seed. They stand one victory away from championship series.
Rogers could play in the Women’s College World Series and WPF finals in the same year.
“It’s a new season, really, when it comes to postseason, both in college and in this league,” Rogers said. “Just kind of realizing, I’m just like, ‘OK, like, we’re going to go get it and just being out there and competing and not worrying about what’s happened, whether it’s good or bad, and just going out there and taking that approach and being our best selves.”
The Vipers have won three of their past five games, with all three victories shutouts. Two were Rogers starts.
Rogers, who didn’t pitch the first two-thirds of the season because of a stress fracture in his pitching forearm, pitched a no-hitter in a 1-0 victory over the USSSA Pride on Saturday and dealt fire to the Smoke on Friday. She struck out eight batters with two walks, with 78 strikes in 119 pitches.
“Ashley took the ball and really give us a performance,” Vipers coach Gerry Glasco said. “As long as we scored, we couldn’t lose.”
Both Vipers runs in Game 1 came in the fourth inning … one on Makena Smith’s RBI single and the other on Raina O’Neal’s sacrifice fly.
Game 2 saw the Vipers take a 1-0 lead on Brooke Wilmes’ RBI single in the second inning, and that lead carried into the fifth inning.
Fiser, who has four of the Vipers’ 10 victories this season, kept the possibility of a shocking sweep of the WPF’s regular-season champions alive into the fifth inning.
“I was just feeling confident out there, and the defense was making great plays,” Fiser said. “That helps a lot.
“I had my changeup working today a little bit more than I have all year, so I think that was a big factor in that, but everyone was doing great behind me.”
The Smoke broke through with four runs in the fifth. Leadoff hitter Morgan Howe was hit by a pitch, and Charla Echols, Ciara Bryan and Elizabeth Mason followed with singles. A throwing error allowed two runs to score on Mason’s single.
Sierra Hyland relieved Fiser and struck out Marla Gasparotto, but league most valuable player Janae Jefferson singled home another run before Hyland could work out of it.
“They led the league in scoring, and we held them for 10, 11 innings, and then they finally got going,” Glasco said. “Once they got going, give them credit. They made some clutch hits with two outs and got some key runs in, and we just come up short.”
All seven Smoke hits came in the team’s final two at bats.
“We’ve been kind of in an offensive funk for the last 21 innings, and I thought that Charla and CiCi has some quality ABs all day,” Smoke coach Tori Tyson said. “It really came through this game. …
“Honestly, if you date back even to our game before we came out here, we’ve been hitting the ball hard right at people, and that same thing kind of happened. Today, the second game, we found some gaps.”
The Vipers rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game 4-4. Raina O’Neal led it off with a double, took third base on Suzy Brookshire’s grounder then scored on Chelsea Gonzales’ sacrifice fly.
After Mary Iakopo reached on an error, Alissa Dalton doubled her home.
Jenna Kean singled home the final run with two outs, but Kelsey Bennett was out trying to score.
The Smoke retook the lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Bryan and Alyssa Rivera delivered RBI singles.
Smoke starter Autumn Pease, the WPF’s pitcher of the year, worked 5 /3 innings, allowing seven hits, and three earned runs with three strikeouts.
Neither coach named a starting pitcher for Friday’s Game 3. The winner will play the USSSA Pride for the championship this weekend on Choccolocco Park’s signature field. The Pride beat the Oklahoma City Spark 2-0 on Friday to complete a series sweep.
The WPF awarded the league’s semifinals and finals to Oxford, the Vipers’ new home as of this season. The team signed a five-year deal to play in Oxford.
Pease called the Smoke’s experience in Oxford “totally cool.”
“We were at Waffle House (in Oxford) this morning, and there was a man talking to us, asking if we played softball,” she said. “It’s cool to have the community just recognize that we are athletes, and they actually want to support us out here.”
