Landry Shutout, Vidales Homers as Cascade Earn First Home Win 3-0

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- The first home game in Portland Cascade history ended the way a sellout crowd wanted it to: with a shutout, a milestone home run, and a 3-0 win over the Oklahoma City Spark on June 18 at Hillsboro Ballpark. Sam Landry threw a complete-game blanking. Tori Vidales launched the first home run in the park's AUSL era. Korbe Otis and Kendra Falby drove in the early runs. Final: Cascade 3, Spark 0. Attendance: a sellout. Streak: five wins and counting.

Hundreds lined up before first pitch. Fans joined the woosh home run celebration, echoed Cas-Cade chants, and stayed loud through seven innings. Landry noticed from the circle. Head coach Tairia Flowers called the support everything you want from a home crowd. For a franchise that opened the season with back-to-back losses and then ripped off a streak, the home opener was the night the league officially felt like it lived in Portland.

Landry's Shutout, Vidales' First

Landry escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first before settling into the third complete-game shutout in AUSL regular-season history. Oklahoma City finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and was shut out for the first time in franchise history. Landry finished with five strikeouts over 6.2 innings, 114 pitches (64 strikes), four hits, three walks, and the win that moved her to 2-1 with a 1.24 ERA. Spark starter Mikenna Johnson (L, 2-2) went 4.2 and allowed three runs on six hits. Rylee Meylan worked 1.1 in relief.

The Cascade scored two in the second. Falby drove in the first run. Otis followed with an RBI double. Sis Bates added a double -- her first extra-base hit of the season -- and the hometown ovation for the University of Washington legend was among the loudest of the night. Oregon jerseys dotted the stands during introductions. Visiting Oregon alumni Lyndsey Grein and Amari Harper drew love from fans too.

Vidales made history in the fifth. After Otis walked and was caught stealing, Vidales homered to left for her first of the season and the first home run at Hillsboro Ballpark in Cascade play. The woosh followed. Meylan relieved Johnson. The Spark loaded traffic later in the frame but Ally Newland struck out looking with the bases busy. Portland led 3-0 and never needed a fourth.

Box Score Texture

Cascade totaled seven hits. Otis went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a double. Vidales went 2-for-3 with the homer. Bates doubled. Falby and Sierra Sacco-Ferr each singled. Mia Grant started at DP. Kaylin Cahalan reached via walk and HBP. Kayla Powell started at third. Landry did the rest from the circle.

Oklahoma City managed four hits -- Mia Brady doubled, Sydney Romero doubled, Delaney Wisz and Brady added singles in later frames -- but never pushed a run across. The Spark left seven on base. Cascade turned a double play in the sixth when Wisz singled and Amari Harper grounded into 2B-SS-1B. Errors: one, Cahalan. Weather: 79 degrees, mostly cloudy. Umpires: Alex Leap (HP), Jim Cooper (1B), Mike Bartling (3B). Start: 6:02 p.m. Time: 2:01.

Portland entered the night with the lowest ERA in the AUSL and held the standard. Landry's escape in the first -- bases loaded, no damage -- set the tone for a night when Oklahoma City's early traffic never became a scoreboard problem. Vidales called a shutout rare in a league full of hitters and labeled Landry's night phenomenal. Flowers praised a crowd that was in it every pitch.

What It Means

The win improved Portland to 5-2 and extended the longest active winning streak in the league. The Cascade had taken a series-capping win over the Blaze, swept the defending champion Talons, and now owned the first home win in franchise history while outscoring opponents 23-8 during the five-game stretch. For Oklahoma City, falling to 3-4 and taking a franchise-first shutout on the road is a film-session problem -- runners in scoring position went quiet, and Landry never blinked after the first-inning jam.

Local stars got their flowers. Bates' double and ovation. Vidales' milestone homer. Otis and Falby producing in the spots the Cascade have come to expect. The lineup showed depth with hits from five different players. The pitching staff kept the league's ERA crown look intact for another night. Series continuation: Friday at Hillsboro Ballpark, 6 p.m. local, ESPN2 -- a chance for Oklahoma City to answer and for Portland to see whether the home magic holds under national lights.

Undrafted was there for the first pitch of Cascade home history. The assignment was the debut, the shutout, and the first ball to leave the yard in a Portland uniform. All three arrived before the seventh inning ended.

The Close

First home game. First home win. First home run at the park. Third complete-game shutout in league regular-season history. Landry from the circle. Vidales to left. Otis and Falby early. Bates doubling into a roar. Spark hitters stranded. Cascade fans chanting. Final: Portland 3, Oklahoma City 0 -- and Hillsboro Ballpark finally had an AUSL memory that belonged only to this franchise.

Some openers are ceremonial. This one was competitive from the first jam to the last out. Oklahoma City will want runs in the rematch. Portland will want another night like Landry's. Undrafted left with a debut story that did not need embellishment -- the sellout, the shutout, and the first home run already wrote the headline.

Photo Credit: Aaron Leopold/Undrafted