Fairfield ends season in regional finals
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
PICKERINGTON — For a team who hadn't made a defensive mistake for six consecutive games, the seventh game wasn't so lucky.
Fairfield, who finished as the Division IV No. 2 team in the state, made a couple miscues and the No. 1 team in the state, the Strasburg-Franklin Lady Tigers pounced and didn't let up, defeating the Lady Lions, 9-0 in the regional finals, Saturday at Pickerington Central High School. Strasburg-Franklin advances to the State Final Four.
But one game doesn't make a season, and the Lady Lions had much success in 2011 by winning the Southern Hills League, sectional and district championships and finishing as regional runner-up for the third time in school history.
FHS kept their opponents scoreless for a span of 40 2-3 innings in their final seven games. The Lady Lions wrap up the season at 19-3 overall and 3-1 in the postseason. They went 12-0 in the SHL for their 15th league title, and their sectional title was their 25th in school history.
"We had a successful season," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "This hurts today, but we will be back. We had a great, great run."
Strasburg-Franklin (24-2), who have made the state tournament for the past three seasons, used the long ball to send the Lady Lions out of the tournament, while taking advantage of two-out fielding miscues along with capitalizing on throwing errors by the Lady Lions.
FHS (19-3) hadn't made a miscue in the field for the first four games of the postseason, but in the bottom of the third with two outs, the first fielding error of the postseason came, keeping the inning alive while giving the Lady Tigers an extra opportunity that didn't go to waste.
For the game, FHS had three errors.
"This game is what we have talked about all year … the little things," Zimmerman said. "When one little thing goes wrong, it can not be compounded by more than one, and that's what happened. We lost our confidence, and we've talked about how confident we've been.
"We missed a fly ball, and it seemed to me our faces dropped, our bats weren't as fast … I'm not using the word 'give up' because we did not give up, but we just lost confidence. That's what this game is … we didn't do the little things to end it, but we had a great season, and I'm very proud of young ladies. We have done some remarkable things. We aren't done, and Fairfield softball will be back again."
With two outs, the error allowed the first Strasburg-Franklin run to cross home plate, and after that, two more runs went in favor of the Lady Tigers off a double and single for a 3-0 score after the third inning completed.
In the fourth, Strasburg-Franklin added four more runs, two coming on a double and the other two coming off a home run by Kasey Gerber.
The fifth inning saw the final two runs for the Lady Tigers score, off back-to-back home runs by Niki Cregan and Karly Dibacco.
"This Strasburg team is a force in the state of Ohio. They are a great program, and they were very good defensively. They put the bat on the ball when they needed to, they ran the bases well, and they caught us asleep and advanced bases on us. I wish them the best of luck. All the credit in the world to them."
Fairfield had base runners throughout the game with Heather Huff gaining the first Lady Lion hit in the in the fourth with a lead-off double to the centerfield fence. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Danielle Butler but was left stranded after consecutive strikeouts.
The fifth innings had back-to-back singles by Shelby Smithson and Jade Shelton, but again, they were left on the bases.
The sixth inning had another hit by Huff to lead off the inning, and again, she was left on the bases after three straight outs. In the final inning, Smithson reached the bases with two outs on a single.
FHS stranded a total of five runners.
The loss went to Lauren Larrick (19-3), who pitched six innings, allowing nine runs (five earned) on 10 hits and one walk. Larrick struck out four.
Gerber was the winning pitcher, going the complete game. She allowed no runs on five hits and no walks. She struck out seven.
Playing their final game for the Lady Lions were seniors Heather Huff, Abby Thackston, Danielle Butler, Jade Shelton and Kylie Bates. Since 8th grade, the senior class of FHS has an overall record of 79-17.
"I really thank our senior class. They have done a fantastic job. They have made our program better," Zimmerman said. "Their dedication and work ethic is next to none. They help in the little league, they are umpires, and they make the whole program better."
Assistant coach Tom Purtell also talked about the seniors.
"They are special. We've spent several years with them. Each of them individually, you can't say enough about them. They are a very strong group, gave our team leadership, and we will miss them. We really will miss them."
GAME NOTES: FHS drew zero walks and struck out seven times … Strasburg-Franklin left four on the bases … SFHS had a total of eight RBIs, sending 31 batters to the plate … SFHS walked once … SFHS had three steals and three home runs … This was the first Division IV loss for FHS this season. Their other two losses came against Eastern Brown (Division III) and Unioto (DIvision II) … Strasburg-Franklin will face Covington and Convoy Crestview will face Columbia. The two winners will play for state title on Saturday, June 4 in Akron.[[In-content Ad]]
Fairfield, who finished as the Division IV No. 2 team in the state, made a couple miscues and the No. 1 team in the state, the Strasburg-Franklin Lady Tigers pounced and didn't let up, defeating the Lady Lions, 9-0 in the regional finals, Saturday at Pickerington Central High School. Strasburg-Franklin advances to the State Final Four.
But one game doesn't make a season, and the Lady Lions had much success in 2011 by winning the Southern Hills League, sectional and district championships and finishing as regional runner-up for the third time in school history.
FHS kept their opponents scoreless for a span of 40 2-3 innings in their final seven games. The Lady Lions wrap up the season at 19-3 overall and 3-1 in the postseason. They went 12-0 in the SHL for their 15th league title, and their sectional title was their 25th in school history.
"We had a successful season," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "This hurts today, but we will be back. We had a great, great run."
Strasburg-Franklin (24-2), who have made the state tournament for the past three seasons, used the long ball to send the Lady Lions out of the tournament, while taking advantage of two-out fielding miscues along with capitalizing on throwing errors by the Lady Lions.
FHS (19-3) hadn't made a miscue in the field for the first four games of the postseason, but in the bottom of the third with two outs, the first fielding error of the postseason came, keeping the inning alive while giving the Lady Tigers an extra opportunity that didn't go to waste.
For the game, FHS had three errors.
"This game is what we have talked about all year … the little things," Zimmerman said. "When one little thing goes wrong, it can not be compounded by more than one, and that's what happened. We lost our confidence, and we've talked about how confident we've been.
"We missed a fly ball, and it seemed to me our faces dropped, our bats weren't as fast … I'm not using the word 'give up' because we did not give up, but we just lost confidence. That's what this game is … we didn't do the little things to end it, but we had a great season, and I'm very proud of young ladies. We have done some remarkable things. We aren't done, and Fairfield softball will be back again."
With two outs, the error allowed the first Strasburg-Franklin run to cross home plate, and after that, two more runs went in favor of the Lady Tigers off a double and single for a 3-0 score after the third inning completed.
In the fourth, Strasburg-Franklin added four more runs, two coming on a double and the other two coming off a home run by Kasey Gerber.
The fifth inning saw the final two runs for the Lady Tigers score, off back-to-back home runs by Niki Cregan and Karly Dibacco.
"This Strasburg team is a force in the state of Ohio. They are a great program, and they were very good defensively. They put the bat on the ball when they needed to, they ran the bases well, and they caught us asleep and advanced bases on us. I wish them the best of luck. All the credit in the world to them."
Fairfield had base runners throughout the game with Heather Huff gaining the first Lady Lion hit in the in the fourth with a lead-off double to the centerfield fence. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Danielle Butler but was left stranded after consecutive strikeouts.
The fifth innings had back-to-back singles by Shelby Smithson and Jade Shelton, but again, they were left on the bases.
The sixth inning had another hit by Huff to lead off the inning, and again, she was left on the bases after three straight outs. In the final inning, Smithson reached the bases with two outs on a single.
FHS stranded a total of five runners.
The loss went to Lauren Larrick (19-3), who pitched six innings, allowing nine runs (five earned) on 10 hits and one walk. Larrick struck out four.
Gerber was the winning pitcher, going the complete game. She allowed no runs on five hits and no walks. She struck out seven.
Playing their final game for the Lady Lions were seniors Heather Huff, Abby Thackston, Danielle Butler, Jade Shelton and Kylie Bates. Since 8th grade, the senior class of FHS has an overall record of 79-17.
"I really thank our senior class. They have done a fantastic job. They have made our program better," Zimmerman said. "Their dedication and work ethic is next to none. They help in the little league, they are umpires, and they make the whole program better."
Assistant coach Tom Purtell also talked about the seniors.
"They are special. We've spent several years with them. Each of them individually, you can't say enough about them. They are a very strong group, gave our team leadership, and we will miss them. We really will miss them."
GAME NOTES: FHS drew zero walks and struck out seven times … Strasburg-Franklin left four on the bases … SFHS had a total of eight RBIs, sending 31 batters to the plate … SFHS walked once … SFHS had three steals and three home runs … This was the first Division IV loss for FHS this season. Their other two losses came against Eastern Brown (Division III) and Unioto (DIvision II) … Strasburg-Franklin will face Covington and Convoy Crestview will face Columbia. The two winners will play for state title on Saturday, June 4 in Akron.[[In-content Ad]]