Nickles-Camarena Winner Lifts Spark Past Cascade 4-3 in Hillsboro

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- Portland Cascade's home magic ran into a late Oklahoma City answer. On June 21 at Hillsboro Ballpark, the Spark erased a 3-0 deficit, tied it on Mia Brady's fifth home run, and won it 4-3 in the seventh when Baylee Nickles-Camarena singled home the go-ahead run. Final: Oklahoma City 4, Portland 3. Both clubs sat 5-4 when it ended. Cloudy, 61 degrees. Start time: 9:32 a.m. Game time: 2:23.

Lyndsey Grein earned the win (2-0) with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief. Rylee Meylan recorded the save. Sam Landry took the loss (2-2) after entering for Kaylin Brown in the seventh and watching the Spark manufacture the winner. For a Cascade club that had just celebrated its first home win three nights earlier, the morning matinee was a reminder that AUSL leads do not hold themselves.

Cascade Jumps, Spark Answers

Portland struck for three in the second. Sierra Sacco-Ferr walked. Kaylin Cahalan doubled her home. After a pitching change from Mikenna Johnson to Payton Goold to Corri Curd, Korbe Otis was hit by a pitch and Mia Grant singled through the right side to score Cahalan. Otis came home on a passed ball -- unearned -- and the Cascade led 3-0 with the bases still busy before Grein entered and escaped further damage when Tori Vidales reached on an error and Ally Newland grounded out.

Oklahoma City answered immediately in the third. Amari Harper was hit by a pitch. Gabby Jenkins walked. Brady singled. Sydney Romero singled home Harper. Delaney Wisz walked to force Jenkins. Two runs, bases still loaded, and suddenly it was 3-2. Brown induced two popups to end the threat, but the Spark had life and the Cascade lead was one.

Brady made it a new game in the fifth. She homered to right -- her fifth of the season -- to tie it 3-3. Brady finished 2-for-4 with two runs and the long ball, raising her average to .517. Wisz singled and stole second in the same frame. Nickles-Camarena and company could not cash another that inning, but the tie changed every pitch that followed.

Seventh-Inning Winner

Jenkins singled to open the seventh. Kinsey Madrey pinch-ran. Landry replaced Brown. Brady reached on a fielder's choice, Madrey moving to second. Romero walked to load the bases. Wisz reached on a fielder's choice to third -- Madrey was out at home, 3B to C, on a challenge Oklahoma City lost. Sherrill lined out to left. Nickles-Camarena then singled to third for the RBI, scoring Brady, with Romero thrown out at third to end the frame. Net: one run, Brady across, Nickles-Camarena the go-ahead knock. Spark 4, Cascade 3.

Portland's seventh had traffic. Otis flied out. Grant walked. Powell pinch-ran. Stewart walked. Meylan relieved Grein. Vidales grounded out, runners moving up. Kiki Torres pinch-ran for Stewart. Maryn Mazon pinch-hit and grounded out. Two on, two out, no run. Meylan's save was secure. Grein's win was earned the hard way -- inheriting a mess in the second and throwing zeros deep into the morning.

Box Score and Pitching

Both sides had six hits. Brady and Otis each had two. Cahalan doubled and singled. Sacco-Ferr doubled later. Grant drove in a run. Oklahoma City drew four walks and one HBP. Portland drew six walks and one HBP. Errors: one, Hannah Lee. Double plays: Spark one. LOB: Spark 7, Cascade 8. Stolen bases: Wisz. Caught stealing: Otis.

Pitching lines told the middle-inning story. Johnson: 1.1 IP, 0 R. Goold: 0.1, 2 R. Curd: 0.1, 1 R (0 ER). Grein: 4.1, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K on 67 pitches. Meylan: 0.2, 0 R. For Portland, Brown went 6.0 and allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts on 108 pitches (ERA 3.11). Landry: 1.0, the loss, inherited the seventh mess. Umpires: Alex Leap, Jim Cooper, Mike Bartling -- same crew as the home opener.

What It Means

Oklahoma City improved to 5-4 and showed the fight that had been missing in the June 18 shutout. Brady's fifth homer and Nickles-Camarena's winner were the headline swings. Grein's long relief outing was the pitching backbone. Meylan closed a morning that started with a Cascade burst and ended with Spark resilience.

Portland fell to 5-4 and saw a five-game winning streak snapped in front of the home crowd that had just discovered Cascade baseball. The second-inning three-spot should have been enough on many nights. Brown's 108-pitch effort kept it close. The seventh-inning free passes and the Nickles-Camarena single were the difference. Otis finished 2-for-3. Cahalan's double and RBI were the early offensive bright spots. The challenge call that stood in the sixth -- Sacco-Ferr out at home -- was another momentum swing in a game full of them.

For Undrafted, the assignment was the rubber-texture of a three-game set: debut shutout midweek, then a morning slugfest that flipped on a seventh-inning RBI single. Same park. Same opponents. Different script. That is AUSL baseball when both lineups can hit and neither bullpen gift-wraps a lead.

The Close

Cascade led 3-0 after two. Spark tied it on Brady's fifth homer. Nickles-Camarena won it in the seventh. Grein threw zeros. Meylan saved it. Landry took the loss. Final: Oklahoma City 4, Portland 3 -- and Hillsboro Ballpark learned that home openers and morning rematches are not the same sport.

Some series give you a shutout and a thriller. This one did both inside four days. Portland will want Landry's next look to look more like June 18. Oklahoma City will take Brady's bat and Grein's arm on the road or at home. Undrafted left with two cards from the same matchup and a reminder that AUSL leads evaporate when Brady is swinging and Nickles-Camarena is due with runners on.

Photo Credit: Aaron Leopold/Undrafted