Fairfield Lady Lions fall to Williamsburg in state-ranked showdown

LEESBURG — Two teams entered Monday’s Division III non-conference softball game at Fairfield High School with a combined 31 wins and no losses on the season, and after seven strong innings, one team left the diamond with a loss by a single run.

Those two teams were the host Fairfield Lady Lions and the Williamsburg Lady Wildcats, and with both teams having multi-run-scoring innings and strong pitching, the victors were the visitors with Williamsburg winning by a 4-3 score, en route to handing the Lady Lions their first loss of the season.

Fairfield and Williamsburg each entered the game being ranked in the state, with the Lady Wildcats being the No. 7 ranked team in the state, as the win improved them to 17-0 overall on the year. Fairfield in the loss stands at 15-1 overall, coming off a weekend where they won three games in Akron in a two-day span as they were ranked No. 5 in the state before the game.

“Both teams put the ball in play, and we knew we would, and (Williamsburg) played extremely solid defense today and we did not,” FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. “We had two errors, and that is not characteristic of us and that’s not how we tend to win games. We don’t take care of the little things, it is going to jump up to bite you and you are going to get beat.”

On Monday night in Leesburg, both of the two state-ranked teams not only used their appearances at the plate to keep the game at a competitive level, but the poise of the two starting pitchers in Kaiti White and Madi Ogden of Williamsburg in the circle set the tone in the rumble of the two strong teams.

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The Lady Wildcats, of the Southern Buckeye Conference, gained the edge defensively with the state champions two seasons removed committing no errors, while Fairfield — who have reached the Sweet 16 or better the past four seasons — had two errors, which Williamsburg capitalized on.

The top of the first inning saw the very first at-bat total 11 pitches with a 2-0 count to start things, followed by eight straight foul balls, and the at-bat finally ended on the 11th pitch when Williamsburg’s Faith Golden won the battle with Fairfield pitcher Kaiti White with a single to left field. Next, on the second pitch of the at-bat, Ogden (2-for-4) knocked in Golden with a double to centerfield for the early 1-0 advantage.

The lead jumped to 2-0 when on a 1-1 count with one out, Paige Fisher hit a line drive past third base to left field, scoring Ogden for the two-run advantage. The top of the inning came to a close with a sacrifice bunt and a ball hit back to the pitcher, leaving a runner stranded at third.

Fairfield, of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, didn’t blink in the bottom of the first as they opened their half of the inning with an infield hit by Lyndee Spargur, who beat a throw to first base after the ball hit off the pitcher. Next came an out at right field as a diving catch gave the Lady Lions their first out of the inning. The second out came as Sparger was out at second on a fielder’s choice with White being safe at first base.

Having two outs against them, the Lady Lions didn’t rush. Instead, they showed patience at the plate with Layla Hatten drawing a five-pitch walk to put Harley Flint — the pinch runner for White — on second base and Hatten at first.

Senior Lauren Arnold put the Lady Lions in front on the third pitch of the at-bat as the fifth batter in the order hit a long home run over the left field fence — with two strikes in the count — for a 3-2 Fairfield advantage.The home run was her fourth of the season.

“Lauren launched the ball, and she is seeing the ball really well,” Dettwiller said.

Taylor Lawson followed with a base hit to centerfield field but was left on the bases on a ground out in the ensuing at-bat.

Only Fairfield had a hit in the second inning with Halle Hamilton hitting a one-out, two-strike single past third base, but a fly ball and strikeout ended the inning with Fairfield still in the lead.

The inning that changed the game was the third, and in the top of the third two errors and two unearned runs kept the Lady Lions behind for the rest of the game.

White struck out the first batter of the game, but a passed ball allowed Golden to reach first base safely. Golden moved to third base on a double to centerfield — with the batter getting the green light to swing on a 3-0 count — to put runners at second and third with no outs.

An infield error was in the cards for Fairfield as the throw from third base bounced off the glove on the throw to first, with Golden scoring, tying the score at 3-3. Following the first out on a popup at first base, a run scored on a ground out to third as the out was recorded on the throw to first base, but a throw to home didn’t happen due to contact at first base, allowing Ogden to score the go-ahead run for a 4-3 Williamsburg lead.

Fairfield asked for interference and the umpires huddled, but allowed the run to count as interference was said not to have occurred. The inning ended in the next at-bat on a ground out to the shortstop.

“Kaiti threw the ball really well, and it took us a little while to hit the spot we needed to hit, but they (Williamsburg) can hit. They did very well on the inside fastball, and they were hitting the ball really well. It is still 3-3 without our errors, and we are still playing,” Dettwiller said.

The Lady Lions worked their usually clutch hitting in the lead-off at-bat of the bottom of the third with White hitting a single past the shortstop. Flint was the pinch runner for White, but a fielder’s choice switched runners as the lead runner was out at second on the fielder’s choice and Hatten was safe at first base. She was left stranded after moving to second on a past ball with the next two batters being out.

Williamsburg — who have played in the Elite 8 the past three seasons — threatened to add more runs in the top of the fourth with consecutive one-out singles by Brenna Vining (2-for-3) and JJ Thatcher, but White did what she’s done all season long and gained the second out on a five-pitch strikeout and ended the top half of the inning with another strikeout, with a 3-2 count against her, by using an off-speed pitch.

Fairfield, though, saw their bats turn off as they were unable to gain a hit from the bottom of the fourth inning until the end of the game as Ogden of Williamsburg collected 12 consecutive outs with four strikeouts, three fly ball outs, four ground outs and one line out back to the pitcher. The game ended with Ogden having three straight strikeouts.

Also for Williamsburg, Kara Bailey had two hits in the Lady Wildcats win, finishing 2-for-4.

The loss went to White, her first loss of the season. White allowed two runs (both unearned) on nine hits, and no walks. The ace for the Lady Lions also struck out 11 batters.

Ogden for Williamsburg was credited with the win in the circle as she allowed three runs (all earned) on five hits and one walk, as she collected seven strikeouts.

Fairfield is back on the diamond on Tuesday, April 16 as they are scheduled to face the Fayetteville Lady Rockets in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action at 5 p.m.

“Our girls are tired, they really are. We never dreamed we’d have 16 ballgames at this time of the season because we normally have a bunch of rainouts, but it just hasn’t happened,” Dettwiller said. “We’ve been playing a lot of ball, and we played six games in the past six days. When it is game time, the girls are extremely mentally tough and they are going to show up and be ready to play.”