Five Takeaways From Athletes Unlimited Season 3 Week 3

As season three of the Athletes Unlimited championship campaign hit its midway point, stars shined and the leaderboard continued to shift.

Despite the games' wild results, the captains' chairs will remain the same in Week Four, making the race to the top a little more interesting.

Before this week's draft, we recap Week Three’s top storylines below.

Comeback Queens

The motto for Team Jaquish this week was the comeback machines. The squad was able to string together multiple rallies to pick up two come-from-behind victories against Team McCleney and Team Chidester.

In the Week Three opener against Team McCleney, the team faced an early 2-0 deficit before Team Jaquish tied the contest on a DJ Sanders two-run homer. The game was tied going into the seventh inning until the captain delivered a three-run shot, while her squad was able to tack on two insurance runs on its way to a 7-2 victory.

They were not done there, however, as Sunday night featured another emphatic comeback. Team Chidester took a commanding 7-1 lead into the fifth inning, but Team Jaquish put on an offensive clinic by plating 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The offense put the game out of reach in the sixth inning by adding seven more runs.

Team Chidester was able to get a run back, but it was not enough, as Team Jaquish won the contest 12-8.

Sam Fischer Shows Out

While Friday’s opener between Team McCleney and Team Jaquish featured excellent pitching and late offensive rallies, the nightcap was all about the defensive gems and Sam Fischer going yard twice to propel Team Chidester to a 4-2 victory over Team Mulipola.

Trailing 1-0 after two innings, Fischer went yard and tied the contest at 1-1 apiece in the second inning. Team Mulipola was then able to get a run in and took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning, but Fischer came up huge by delivering a go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning to put Team Chidester ahead for good. Fischer collected three RBIs in the game and was named MVP1 for her efforts.

Redemption Saturday

After coming up short on Friday night, Team Mulipola and Team McCleney were able to turn the tables and secure victories on Saturday behind offensive outbursts.

On Saturday, Team McCleney's offense plated 10 runs against Team Chidester, led by home runs from Amanda Lorenz and Victoria Hayward. Rachel Garcia went the distance for Team McCleney, as she fanned six batters while only allowing two runs. With the outing, Garcia became just the second pitcher to throw a complete game this season.

In the nightcap, Team Mulipola had to battle Team Jaquish in an offensive thriller. After falling behind early, they were able to mount a seven-run rally and turn a 4-1 deficit into an 8-4 lead. Team Mulipola was able to come out on top 12-7, as both squads combined to go yard four times while cranking out 25 hits.

Pitchers' Reign Ending?

A new champion will be crowned later this month, but there is plenty of action to get through before we reach the final weekend, including whether or not a pitcher can make up some ground and reach the top of the leaderboard again.

A pitcher won both previous championship seasons as well as the AUX season in June. Cat Osterman won the league's inaugural season in 2020, while Aleshia Ocasio is the defending champion from 2021. Danielle O’Toole came out on top in San Diego during AUX earlier this summer.

O Captain! My Captain!

For the very first time, all four captains from the previous week will get another shot to lead a team for a consecutive week. To make things even more interesting, all four captains will lead the same teams from the previous week, with some roster adjustments after Monday’s draft.

Dejah Mulipola remains at the top of the leaderboard with a league-leading 1,084 points and will oversee the Gold Team for the second consecutive week. Meanwhile, the rest of the captains also remained the same, as Haylie McCleney will be the captain of the Orange Team, Sahvanna Jaquish will lead the Blue Team and Amanda Chidester will captain the Purple Team.

Odicci Alexander Stays True To Herself To Become AU Champion

Odicci Alexander was the champion of Athletes Unlimited's fourth softball season.