Fairfield Lady Lions earn 3rd district title in 5 seasons

MINFORD — Though the Fairfield Lady Lions faced some adversity when the Portsmouth Notre Dame Lady Titans rallied to tie the score in the top of the sixth, they didn't break down.

In fact, they put together their most clutch half inning of softball in the bottom of the sixth, looked adversity straight on and slammed the door shut with a two-run inning, en route to gaining their third Division IV SE District championship Saturday afternoon by a 7-5 score.

In three postseason games in '15, the Lady Lions have collected 45 hits, 32 RBIs and 36 runs.

"We had all the confidence in the world the girls would keep battling with them, and I was fairly confident we were going to score in the sixth ourselves," FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. "We talked about who we had coming up in the order, and we knew we were capable of scoring runs."

Fairfield's win against the Lady Titans at Minford High School showed what this team is made of. They never trailed in the game and led for most of the game, but hit a slight bump in the road to allow the No. 4 seeded Lady Titans to tie the score at five, only to see themselves play their aforementioned clutch bottom of the sixth inning.

Though the Lady Lions began their half of the sixth with a ground out, senior Shaylee Carson, who currently has a 29-game hitting streak, followed with an infield base hit past the third baseman.

Carson eventually ended up at third base, as fellow seniors Kaitlin Evans and Heather Sanderson loaded the bases with one out off base hits.

That's when senior Justice Hattan took base on an infield error, allowing Carson to score standing up and the Lady Lions to regain the lead at 6-5. Still with one out, senior Arica Melson, who is known more for her pitching than her hitting, gave her team an insurance run with a long sacrifice fly to center field to score Evans for a two-run advantage.

"We work on a lot of situations in practice," FHS assistant coach Tom Purtell said. "When we don’t, our seniors ask us about working on situations, and that was one of those situations we've worked on. We also talk about the importance of having a two-run lead over a one-run lead."

Leading by two runs entering the top of the seventh, the Lady Lions geared up and dominated the final half inning behind pitching and defense. Junior Grace Larrick fielded the ball a little off the mark, but never stopped with the play, eventually gaining control of a ground ball, diving to first base before the runner reached the bag for the first out of the seventh.

"Before we went back out to the field for the top of the seventh, I told the girls, 'Whatever it takes … keep it in the infield and knock it down,’” Dettwiller said. “She absolutely did that, dove for the bag and that was just a great plate."

From there, Melson forced two grounders back to her in the circle for the final two outs, and Sanderson caught outs two and three at first base to seal not only the third trip to regionals in five seasons, but for six of the current players, their second district title in three seasons.

As she sealed the district final win, Melson recorded her seventh career postseason victory as well. The senior ace of the Lady Lions pitched all seven innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and six walks. She struck out nine of the 34 batters she faced.

On April 22 of the regular season, the Lady Lions defeated Notre Dame, 8-6 in a non-conference game at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.

The earlier portions of the game were full of a lot of good fortune for the Lady Lions as well.

In the bottom of the first, they set the tone by scoring the first run of the game with Larrick taking the bases with a single. From there, Carson reached first on an infield base hit, and Evans batted in Larrick with an infield base hit of her own.

Larrick, Carson and Evans combined for 11 hits in 12 at-bats. Larrick finished 3-for-4 with three runs, while Carson went 4-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Evans ended her game with a 4-for-4 performance at the plate with one run and four RBIs.

The Lady Lions (18-3) added two more runs in the bottom of the second with designated hitter Casey Carter hitting a line drive down the first base line into right field. Emily Williams followed with a infield single, and Larrick came back with a infield base hit of her own.

Carson doubled to knock in a run, and Evans batted in Larrick with a two-out single to make it a three-run lead.

In the fourth, Notre Dame (15-10) scored their first run, but the Lady Lions doubled that amount with a two-run fourth, beginning with a base hit by Williams, followed with a hit of the bat of Larrick. Carson loaded the bases with a hit to right field. Williams finished the game 2-for-3 with one run.

Evans pushed the Lady Lions' lead to 5-1 with a two-RBI single, scoring Williams and Larrick, with Evans hitting the ball over the head of the Lady Titans’ shortstop.

The best inning for Notre Dame came in the top of the sixth, where they scored four runs off four hits and two walks. Two of those four hits went for two RBIs apiece.

Also with a hit in the game for FHS was Kourtnie Smith.

The loss went to Maggie Whitman (14-8) of Notre Dame. She allowed six earned runs off 16 hits and no walks. She struck out four.

This postseason, Fairfield has defeated Paint Valley in the sectional finals, 16-1, and in the district semifinal round, the Lady Lions defeated Trimble, 13-0, both five-inning run-rule wins.

The six current players from the previous district champion team in 2013 are Grace Larrick, Shaylee Carson, Kaitlin Evans, Heather Sanderson, Arica Melson and Justice Hattan.

Fairfield will now play in the Sweet 16 on Wednesday, May 27 at 5 p.m. against the Shadyside Lady Tigers, who are 18-5 overall. The regional semifinal game will be played at Pickerington Central High School.

Shadyside defeated Tuscarawas Central Catholic, 6-1 in their East District Final game.

"This is our seventh district title, and though we would have really liked to have had more (FHS has played in the district final four of the past five years, seven out of the last 10), we're going to the regionals. No matter who comes, we will be ready to play," Purtell said. "Arica told the girls the last time we were there it was not a good feeling. We don't want to be happy to just be there … we want to win."