July 3, 2025
By Courtney Oakes
WESTMINSTER | When Ruby Meylan exitedWednesday afternoon’s Triple Crown Colorado Pro Cup semifinal after four innings, her TC Colorado team held a 3-1 lead over the Florida Vibe and had all the momentum.
But a couple of innings later, coachDave King called Meylan out of the dugout to close out what turned out to be a tight ballgame, which she did with an emphatic strikeout to preserve a 6-5victory that sent TC Colorado into Thursday’s 7 p.m. championship game at theAurora Sports Park.
TC Colorado will take on the OklahomaCity Spark, a 10-3 winner over the New York Rise in the other semifinal.
“I really thought my day was done, butDave had really pounded into our heads that if you’re the starting pitcher, you have a chance to reenter in any game,” said Meylan, who plays for OklahomaState. “It’s something I’ve done in college ball quite a bit. I won’t say I was ready, but I did know it was a possibility.
“You’d think with a few All-Americans in the circle like we have that it wouldn’t happen, but it happens on any given day.”
In a matchup with a loaded Vibe team(coached by Dot Richardson) that defeated TC Colorado 7-2 a day earlier, Meylan surrendered the first run of the game when Hannah Adams (Florida) doubled and later scored on a ball in the dirt that got away from the catcher.
That was all Meylan would surrender, however. The right-hander — who worked down in the zone consistently — followed with two more clean innings and came out with a 3-1 lead courtesy of a three-run TC Colorado rally in the bottom of the second that included a sacrifice fly from Kailey Wykoff (Arkansas) and a monster two-run homer from catcher Avery Parker (Indiana).
Against Vibe reliever Jordan Johnson(Central Arkansas), TC Colorado added three more runs to the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with a rally that began when Jess Oakwood (Duke) doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Taylor Pannell (a recent Texas Tech commit).
That brought up Sarah Gordon(Georgia), who had doubled in the second inning, and thought she had another two-bagger when she put the ball in play with Ava Kuszak (Nebraska) aboard, but the ball soared over the fence in left center field.
“It definitely flies a little bit more off the bat, so I love swinging it here,” Gordon said. “I thought it was going to be a ground run double situation and then I was sprinting around second andI saw everyone coming out of the dugout, so I thought ‘oh that must have went over.’ Definitely surprised me.”
But the 6-1 edge built on power almost completely disappeared, as the Vibe chipped away against relievers JessicaMullins, Samantha Lincoln and Courtney May in the top of the seventh inning.
Sara Mosley (Georgia) followed a walk to Jillian Celis (San Diego State) with a two-run home run to cut the margin to6-3, while a two-run single by Kara Canet to (Liberty) off May cut the deficit to 6-5 with two outs.
That brought up Adams with the tying run at third base and the go-ahead run at first with Adams at the plate.
King gave the ball back to Meylan and the move paid off, as she punctuated the victory with a strikeout.
“I told Ruby ‘the way I cycle, I’ve got to reenter you’ and that’s not easy,” King said. “She had to be ready and she did it. She has not been successful most of her career reentering, but that right there was a star on that one. That was a success on a close that was tough.”
With the victory in hand, TC Colorado improved to 3-1 in the tournament and will face the Spark (which it beat 5-4 onJuly 1), while the Vibe will face the loser of that matchup in a 3:30 p.m.third-place contest.
King has been very pleased with the debut of the Pro Cup event, which includes teams that mix professional players with a variety of high caliber college stars.
“Most of the things we built was like the rest of the tournament, built for a coach and to have an experience,” King said. “We don’t have pro tournaments right now. We needed one, so having a pro tournament is a really good thing to have. Being in it keeps me relevant and it’s really good ball.
“These women deserve full pro jobs and a 16-team league with all the jobs. They should be seen every night. They are really good.”
TC Colorado players have certainly enjoyed the experience thus far.
“It’s always cool to play against pros and this is something that people like me graduating next year dream of,”Meylan said. “A league that I want to go into, so to be able to get a sneak peak of that a year early is really cool. When you put a lot of really good softball players together, it’s really fun.”
Added Gordon: “All of us are like-minded, so coming out here is fun. We all just play for each other because we all have the same goal in mind and we all work super hard. It’s easy to bond with these girls for that reason.”
