There was history at Dell Diamond on Thursday night — the first true home game in Texas Volts history — and for two innings it belonged to the home team. Then Montana Fouts took over.
The Utah Talons ace authored an AUSL single-game record with 12 strikeouts and retired 16 Volts in a row at one stretch, carrying Utah to a 4-3 victory in the opener of the teams’ three-game series. Fouts allowed three hits in a shaky first inning, then shut Texas down for the next six frames while the Talons climbed back in front with back-to-back doubles in a decisive fifth.
“It was really nice to be in a crowd where there’s a lot of purple,” Volts head coach Ricci Woodard said afterward. “Great atmosphere, a great crowd for opening night — couldn’t ask for much more except a win.”
The early lead did not last. Utah tied it in the third on Jadelyn Allchin’s RBI double, then broke the game open in the fifth when Allchin and Jordan Woolery doubled in consecutive at-bats to score three runs and chase starter Rachel Garcia. From there, Fouts was untouchable — 12 of her 26 batters faced went down on strikes, and every Volts hitter was retired at least once.
Fouts said she did not realize she was piling up K’s, let alone rewriting league history.
“No, I did not know that,” Fouts said of the record. “It’s a huge credit to — I know that Charlize started calling some pitches for me, which was awesome, and SJ was great behind the dish.”
Woodard was blunt about what flipped the night.
“Hats off to Montana Fouts,” Woodard said. “She threw a great ballgame against us today.”
The Volts’ own issues compounded the problem. Woodard said Texas was competitive to open the game and found a late spark, but gave away too much in between.
“We gave away some at-bats in there that I wish we could take back. We gave away some pitches I wish we could take back,” Woodard said. “We’ve just gotta be more competitive one through seven innings. I thought we started well and finished well, but didn’t do a great job in between.”
The middle-inning fade traced back to the plate. Texas was aggressive early, then started taking too many pitches against one of the game’s best arms — and Fouts made them pay once the count got to two strikes.
“Early on, we were real aggressive, and then we started taking way too many pitches,” Woodard said. “You’re trying to hit against Montana Fouts with two strikes, and that’s going to be hard to do. They changed their game plan after we got a couple runs, and I’m not sure we made adjustments fast enough with their change, just to be honest.”
There were flickers of life. Catcher Michaela Edenfield ended the top of the fourth by hauling in a foul pop behind the plate, and Woodard hoped the defensive spark might carry over.
“Sometimes on defense, that momentum can carry you over to offense,” Woodard said. “We just never really were able to do that after the first inning.”
Tiare Jennings provided the lone late offensive answer with a solo home run in the seventh — her team-leading third of the season. In the circle, Binford continued her strong work out of the bullpen, tossing three scoreless innings and trimming her league-best earned run average to 0.75.
Woodard praised Binford as the reliever Texas leans on when it needs a completely different look from the starter.
“She’s kind of the first in relief behind everybody, because she is totally different than any other pitcher we have out here,” Woodard said. “Aliyah’s a competitor. Whether she’s in the batter’s box or she has the ball in her hand, we know that she’s gonna give us a competitive chance to win a ball game.”
Garcia absorbed the loss, but the story of the night belonged to Fouts — and to a home opener that felt right even in defeat.
“It did feel a little bit weird to begin with, just because we have not got to be the home team yet,” Woodard said. “But it was fun. It was a great atmosphere.”
The Volts were back at Dell Diamond the very next evening, still searching for their first win on their own field.
Recap compiled from the official AUSL box score, postgame notes, and the June 18 postgame press conference.