Fairfield Softball Preview: Lady Lions have lofty goals this season
Losing a lot of their top hitting from last season and their ace pitcher, the Fairfield Lady Lions will greatly miss those players who helped lead them to a district championship last season, but they will look to continue that trend this year with the players they return and those new to the roster.
Fairfield went 18-4 last season, and though they were second place in the Division II of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference with two losses within the conference, they had a tournament run where they won their seventh district championship in program history and their 29th sectional crown, along with their 14th consecutive sectional crown.
To repeat the success of last season, and to achieve their lofty goals, the Lady Lions will consist of two seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen. They also look to get back to the top of the SHAC as well, with the team chasing their 18th conference championship, as they are coached by third-year head coach Mark Dettwiller, 25-year assistant coach Tom Purtell, eight-year pitching coach Marvin Larrick and second-year assistant Kayla Overstake. Also on the coaching staff are JV coach Lesley Hattan and Cindy Michael.
In the coaches’ state rankings last season, the Lady Lions were ranked No. 1 at the end of the regular season.
Seniors for the Lady Lions are second baseman Grace Larrick and first baseman/designated player Casey Carter. Larrick is the team’s returning leading batter, coming off a season where she hit .439, with a .476 slugging percentage and .516 on-base percentage in 22 games. Larrick (who was selected All-District last season) also had the second-most steals on the team last season with 10 and led FHS with 33 runs in ’15.
Carter had 33 at-bats last season, where she totaled 16 hits and a .485 batting average in 16 games.
Juniors for the Lady Lions are left fielder/pitcher Shania Setty, catcher/third baseman Kourtnie Smith and centerfielder Sherry Heckathorn.
The sophomore class of the Lady Lions includes outfielder Macinzey Harvey, sophomore Carli Reiber, outfielder/third baseman Megan Sanderson, outfielder/catcher Jocelyn Ursell and outfielder/infielder Emily Williams.
Fairfield’s four freshmen are third baseman/catcher Lauren Arnold, outfielder/pitcher Megan Gragg, outfielder/first baseman Lyndee Spargur and pitcher Kaitlin White.
“This season will be a process because we are so young, we just don’t know yet,” Dettwiller said of players filling voids left via graduation. “We have some hopes for kids, but we just don’t know who it is going to be.
“We are young. We took off a week after we got knocked out of the tournament, and we’ve been working hard since that loss to Shadyside. We spent our 10 contact days last summer coaching and playing in a league. We worked all winter with pitchers and catchers throwing and were in the batting cages working on our hitting, too. Hopefully all of that will pay off this spring.”
To gain success this season, FHS has to replace a very talented senior class who led the Lady Lions in hitting last year, with their top two batters in Kaitlin Evans and Shaylee Carson now graduated. The players batted .563 and .526 respectively, totaling a combined 85 hits, including a combined 14 extra-base hits. They also have to replace their home run leader from ’15 in Justice Hattan, as she was also a part of that talented senior class with five home runs and a .405 batting average.
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As a team in ’15, FHS batted .394 with 202 runs scored, while their opponents scored 72 runs with a .209 batting average.
“There is no replacing those kids,” Dettwiller said. “We just need to get out on the field and do the little things that made us successful in the past and just keep working hard. That’s all we can do, because there is no replacing those players.”
The Lady Lions also have to replace some top pitching as well, with Arica Melson graduated. Melson pitched 21 games in ’15, where she went 17-4 with a 2.41 ERA. In 125 innings pitched, she struck out 163 batters and held opponents to a .204 average at the plate.
Replacing Melson in the circle will be White, Setty and Gragg, two of whom are freshmen, but talented pitchers in their own right.
“Kaiti is throwing the ball really well,” Dettwiller said. “I expect some good things from Kaiti, and Megan will get some time. We also have Shania, and she’ll get some time as well.”
To get back to where they were last season, Fairfield has a tough non-conference slate to go with their already strong SHAC schedule. FHS will play the following non-conference schedule: Adena, Paint Valley, East Clinton, Dayton Dunbar, Symmes Valley, McClain, Williamsburg, Wilmington and Washington.
The Lady Lions are scheduled to open the season on Saturday, March 26 with a doubleheader vs. Adena at FHS, beginning at 11 a.m.