Bandits win 4-3 in Dallas

ARLINGTON, Tex. - In the top of Thursday's fourth inning, with her team down by a run, Megan Blank stepped to the plate and blasted a three-run shot, the first of her NPF career, to give the Chicago Bandits a 3-1 lead on the road against the Dallas Charge. The Bandits would go on to defeat the Charge, 4-3, thanks in large part to Blank's home run,

Kirsten Verdun got the call for the Bandits against Morgan Melloh of the Charge.

Scoreless through the first two innings of play, it was the Charge who broke through first in the bottom of the third when a Lauren Haeger single to left center scored Eri Yamada who walked to start the inning.

The Bandits took charge the next half inning off Blank's home run, but the Charge took a run back in the bottom of the inning off a Renada Davis double that scored Taylor Thom to make it 3-2.

The back-and-forth continued in the fifth and sixth innings with the Bandits scoring their fourth run of the night on a wild pitch that allowed Emily Allard, hit by a pitch earlier in the inning, to cross home plate. Back-to-back hits for the Charge in the bottom of the sixth cut the Bandits lead to just a run once again and it looked like the Charge would tie it up in the bottom of the seventh, but Emily Allard caught a ball hit by Heager on the warning track to keep the lead.

Relief pitcher Lacey Waldrop shut down the next two batters to pick up the save while Verdun got the win, improving her record this season to 3-0. In four innings of work, Verdun allowed just two runs on three hits with two strikeouts.

Both teams return to action tomorrow for game two of the series at 7:05 p.m.