Talons Sweep Bandits for Back-to-Back AUSL Titles; Jadelyn Allchin Named Series MVP

The Utah Talons won their second straight AUSL championship Sunday, beating the Chicago Bandits 6-1 at Davis Diamond in College Station, Texas, to finish a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. Utah won Game 1 on Saturday, 2-1.

Outfielder Jadelyn Allchin was named Series MVP. Montana Fouts pitched a complete game in the clincher.

It was the same final as 2025, when Utah also swept Chicago.

Game 1: Talons 2, Bandits 1

Georgina Corrick pitched all seven innings Saturday. She gave up one run on four hits and struck out five without a walk. The game aired on ABC, the first professional softball game broadcast on network television.

Utah scored first. Allchin came home on a Sharlize Palacios single to left in the first inning. Chicago tied it in the third when Bella Dayton scored on a Morgan Zerkle sacrifice fly.

The winning run came in the sixth. Allchin scored again, this time on a sacrifice fly from Sahvanna Jaquish. Lexi Kilfoyl took the loss for Chicago, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings.

Game 2: Talons 6, Bandits 1

Allchin put Utah ahead in the first inning Sunday with a two-run home run to right field that also scored Jayda Coleman.

The Talons added two in the fourth. Hannah Flippen scored on a throwing error by the third baseman, and Allchin doubled down the right-field line to drive in Aliyah Andrews. Bri Ellis homered to left in the fifth. Jaquish homered to left in the seventh.

Fouts allowed eight hits and one run over seven innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Chicago’s run came in the bottom of the seventh on a Skylar Wallace single that scored Keirstin Roose. Fouts then got the last two outs on ground balls.

“I could feel in the middle of the game a little more intentional with locations,” Fouts said. “They’re obviously a great hitting team, and they’re going to take advantage of any mistake.”

Allchin named MVP

Allchin went 3-for-6 in the series. She drove in three runs, all in Game 2, and scored three times. She was named to the All-AUSL team as an outfielder two days earlier.

In 2025 she was in the league’s reserve pool.

“Even though I was a reserve last year, I was able to celebrate with them on the field, but being on the other side this year…it was all props to them. They still had the same belief in me,” Allchin said. “Being able to just show up as me has taken me a long way.”

Utah’s bats

The Talons scored four runs in the 2025 championship series. They scored eight this time.

“We came out, and we hit today; that’s the difference,” Ellis said.

Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone said the team set the goal before the season started.

“The first time I met all of them on a call in March, I asked them what their mission was, and they said to repeat,” Ball-Malone said. “All I’m gonna say is job well done. Incredibly proud of them, and I’m pinching myself with this opportunity. I feel so blessed.”

Utah finished the regular season 16-9 and took the No. 1 seed on a tiebreaker. Chicago reached the final by beating the Portland Cascade 6-5 in 11 innings in the play-in game.