Big plays, big inning lead to Lady Lions win over Fayetteville
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Though the visiting Fayetteville Lady Rockets took the early lead, it was the Fairfield Lady Lions who defended their home field, then sang “Happy Birthday” to head coach Mark Dettwiller Tuesday night after a 3-2 win.
Fairfield kept their Southern Hills Athletic Conference undefeated mark by overcoming a 1-0 deficit after the first inning by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second. Fayetteville made the game game interesting with one run in the fifth, but the Lady Lions had Lyndee Spargur make a game-changing play at first base, plus a play at the plate in the bottom of the fifth kept the Lady Lions ahead for good.
The lone out that wasn’t a strikeout in the top of the sixth came off a play by Spargur at first base, when she dove to her right, knocked down a ground ball, picked up the ball into her glove, then slammed the glove onto the base for the out.
[[In-content Ad]]
Not only the defense of the Lady Lions, but the pitching from sophomore Kaiti White kept FHS in front. White finished by allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks in seven complete innings. She ended the game with 13 strikeouts.
At the plate, the Lady Lions totaled six hits with Shania Setty leading the way at 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Finishing with one hit apiece were White, Kourtnie Smith, Lyndee Spargur and Megan Gragg.
“Fayetteville is very good and very well-coached,” Dettwiller said. “They have kids who can hit and a quality pitcher in Paige (Vilvens), and they are a good team.
“We had some big plays, and Kaiti threw the ball pretty well. This is a big week for us with four games in four days. Our kids stayed mentally tough. They could have easily folded up, but they didn’t and played tough.”
As for the second inning for the Lady Lions where they scored all three runs, the inning began with Smith taking the bases on a walk. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Emily Williams. From there, Lyndee Spargur walked. Setty followed with a base hit to knock in Smith to tie the score.
Spargur scored on a wild pitch, and the third run scored when Megan Gragg singled to score Setty.
After the Lady Rockets scored their second run in the fifth inning, the sixth and seventh innings wasn’t as kind with White not allowing a base runner, striking out five of the final six batters, including the side in the seventh inning.
Next for the Lady Lions is a home game Wednesday vs. West Union in SHAC play, followed by a game on the road Thursday at Whiteoak.
Fairfield kept their Southern Hills Athletic Conference undefeated mark by overcoming a 1-0 deficit after the first inning by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second. Fayetteville made the game game interesting with one run in the fifth, but the Lady Lions had Lyndee Spargur make a game-changing play at first base, plus a play at the plate in the bottom of the fifth kept the Lady Lions ahead for good.
The lone out that wasn’t a strikeout in the top of the sixth came off a play by Spargur at first base, when she dove to her right, knocked down a ground ball, picked up the ball into her glove, then slammed the glove onto the base for the out.
[[In-content Ad]]
Not only the defense of the Lady Lions, but the pitching from sophomore Kaiti White kept FHS in front. White finished by allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks in seven complete innings. She ended the game with 13 strikeouts.
At the plate, the Lady Lions totaled six hits with Shania Setty leading the way at 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Finishing with one hit apiece were White, Kourtnie Smith, Lyndee Spargur and Megan Gragg.
“Fayetteville is very good and very well-coached,” Dettwiller said. “They have kids who can hit and a quality pitcher in Paige (Vilvens), and they are a good team.
“We had some big plays, and Kaiti threw the ball pretty well. This is a big week for us with four games in four days. Our kids stayed mentally tough. They could have easily folded up, but they didn’t and played tough.”
As for the second inning for the Lady Lions where they scored all three runs, the inning began with Smith taking the bases on a walk. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Emily Williams. From there, Lyndee Spargur walked. Setty followed with a base hit to knock in Smith to tie the score.
Spargur scored on a wild pitch, and the third run scored when Megan Gragg singled to score Setty.
After the Lady Rockets scored their second run in the fifth inning, the sixth and seventh innings wasn’t as kind with White not allowing a base runner, striking out five of the final six batters, including the side in the seventh inning.
Next for the Lady Lions is a home game Wednesday vs. West Union in SHAC play, followed by a game on the road Thursday at Whiteoak.