Maya Brady Ties Game With Fifth Homer as Spark Rally Past Cascade 4-3 in Inaugural Home Series Finale

Maya Brady hit her league-leading fifth home run of the season and scored the winning run as the Oklahoma City Spark rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Portland Cascade 4-3 on Sunday at Hillsboro Ballpark, closing out the Cascade's inaugural home series in front of another sellout crowd.

Portland scored all three of its runs in the second inning and held the lead until the fifth, when Brady sent a solo shot over the right-field fence off rookie pitcher Kenzie Brown to tie the game at 3-3, according to the league's official box score. The blast moved Brady into sole possession of the AUSL home run lead and extended her league-record hitting streak to 15 games dating back to last season.

Seventh-Inning Winner

The Spark completed the comeback in the seventh. With the bases loaded, Bubba Nickles-Camarena recorded an RBI infield single that brought Brady home with the fourth and final run of the afternoon.

Oklahoma City had chipped away steadily after falling behind early. Sydney Romero's RBI single and a bases-loaded RBI walk from Delanie Wisz cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third inning, setting up Brady's tying homer two frames later. Brady finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Lyndsey Grein earned the win with 4.1 innings of relief, improving to 2-0, while Brown took the loss to fall to 2-1. Ruby Meylan recorded the save. The victory was Oklahoma City's second series win of the season and moved the Spark to 5-4.

A Milestone Weekend in Hillsboro

The result closed a landmark weekend for the Cascade and for professional softball in the Portland region. The three-game set marked the first home games in franchise history at Hillsboro Ballpark and the first professional women's softball games ever played in the Portland area, according to postgame notes shared by AUSL media relations.

The homestand produced a string of franchise firsts: the first home win in team history, a 3-0 victory on June 18 behind Sam Landry's complete-game shutout; the first home run at Hillsboro Ballpark, hit by Tori Vidales; and the first sold-out home series in franchise history.

Portland fell to 5-4 with the loss, but the weekend established something larger than a record. A new franchise played its first games at home, a new ballpark hosted its first sellout crowds, and a region saw professional women's softball for the first time.