The Dallas Charge made history on Thursday with their first franchise win against the Rebellion. Head Coach Jennifer McFalls says the team “got through some jitters and tonight we played more like I thought we were capable of playing. I knew we could hit and we decided to be patient enough and let that come through for us.” Come through for the Charge it did with excellently executed defensive plays mixed with remarkable at bats scoring early and often leading to the 9-5 victory.
The Rebellion took the lead first in the top of the second inning with a solo homerun from Peterson, but the Charge didn’t waste any time in putting their bats to work in the bottom of that very same inning. Right fielder Brianna Cherry singled to right field and first baseman Ashley Burkhardt beat out the bunt for a single setting left fielder Angie “Q” Quiocho up for an RBI single. Q would advance to second on an error where the Rebellion’s third baseman Cheyenne Cordez’s miscue would score Burkhardt. A Molly Fichtner single scored Q followed by a former Texas Longhorn Taylor Thom 2 run homerun blast put the Charge up 5-1. This homerun marked the first ever franchise homerun for the Charge and Thom’s first career homerun.
In the third, the Charge threatened again with bases loaded, but couldn’t add any more to the lead. After the Rebellion’s designated player Amber Parrish bunted for a single in the fourth, center fielder Courtney Seenas would hit a 2 run homerun to cut the Charge’s lead to 5-3. In the bottom of the fourth, no runs would be scored, but Thom would add a successful bunt and then a steal with no Rebellion covering second base.
Bats were once again quiet until the sixth inning. A Seemas single to right field, a Sammie Garcia single to left field, and an Olivia Watkins single set up the Rebellion for a 1 out rally. With third baseman Danielle Henderson over throwing home plate in an attempt to get a runner out, two runners would score for the Rebellion tying the game. A double rundown advanced a runner to second, but caught Watkins out between third and home.
Much like the rest of the game, it didn’t take the Charge lineup too long to respond. After a lead-off triple put short stop Renada Davis in position for the go-ahead, Q was walked bringing in a pitching change for the Rebellion. A Fichtner ground out scored Davis. Thom then singled to score Q and advanced to second on the throw home. Pinch hitter Nicole Morgan popped out and Henderson took a walk to set up Nadia Taylor for a 2 RBI triple to right field giving the Dallas Charge a 9-5 lead.
The Rebellion were unable to answer back in the top of the seventh as Vanessa Stokes , who came in to relieve Bailey Watts in the fourth, took the win for the Charge.
Player of the game was Taylor Thom who was 3 for 4 on the night with the first Dallas Charge homerun and 3 RBIs. “It’s kind of an amazing honor to be the first person to ever hit a homerun on the Dallas Charge. That’s super exciting, I think. You know, my first at bat I was kind of struggling, wasn’t seeing too good of pitches and then the second at bat I really just wanted to make sure I got a pitch in the zone and lucky enough, I did,” Thom said after the exciting game against the Rebellion.
Next up, the Dallas Charge will close out the series against the Rebellion on Friday at UT Arlington’s stadium located at Allan Saxe Field at the Univeristy of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. and can also be viewed on the Dallas Charge website.