Kaiti White pitches perfect game; Fairfield Lady Lions clinch SHAC championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — There were a number of accomplishments to celebrate for the Fairfield Lady Lions following their 10-0, five-inning victory over the Ripley Lady Blue Jays Monday night, including the senior career of Grace Larrick, clinching the Division II of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference and freshman Kaiti White stealing the show with a perfect game.
White pitched all five innings of the run-rule SHAC victory, facing the minimum 15 batters, where she allowed no hits, no walks and no runs, while striking out eight batters in the win.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened earlier because she’s really throwing the ball well, and our defense stepped up behind her as well and made some good plays,” FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. “As for winning the SHAC, it is step one in our goals, and we are just happy the kids got it done.”
There was also the offensive play of Larrick, who as the lone senior for the Lady Lions finished 3-for-4 (all base hits), with two runs coming in the second and fourth innings and one RBI.
“Grace has been our lead-off hitter for four years, and she’s a very important part of this team,” FHS assistant coach Tom Purtell said. “She had a good day at the plate today, as she was our only senior.”
And don’t forget the clinching of the SHAC Division II championship, a title the Lady Lions have now won 18 times in their school history, dating back to their first one 40 years ago in 1976. Since 2000, the Lady Lions have clinched a conference title nine times.
Back to the perfect game pitched by White.
The freshman ace struck out the second and third batters she faced (the first batter was out on a ground ball hit back to White) in the first inning and made it three consecutive strikeouts by having her third strikeout come at the start of the second inning. That out was followed by a pop up to first base and a ground out back to the pitcher.
White (15-2) retired nine in a row with a ground out to third base, a fly ball to right field and the third out of the third inning came via strikeout, her fourth of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]
In the top of the fourth, the first out was recorded with a fly ball to right field, followed by a strikeout and a line drive out to first base. White’s final inning in the circle saw the freshman strike out the side, retiring all the batters with a total of 14 pitches in the inning, including a couple crafty off-speed pitches that forced the opponent to swing and miss.
The offense of the Lady Lions (11-0, 15-4) was on-target, totaling 15 hits, beginning with their first run of the game being scored by Carli Reiber in the bottom of the first inning, while FHS added three more in the second inning with Larrick, Megan Gragg and Lyndee Spargur all rounding the bases, making it a 4-0 lead.
The third inning saw FHS tack on two more runs with Emily Williams and Kourtnie Smith scoring runs for a six-run advantage. From there, FHS scored two runs in the fourth with Larrick and Megan Sanderson adding to the Lady Lion advantage, and the game ended with Spargur and Sherry Heckathorn scoring the final two runs for the run-rule win.
Williams finished the game 3-for-3 with one run, and Spargur was also 3-for-3 with two runs (two RBIs). Reiber had two hits (one RBI), and with one hit each were Sanderson, Smith, Gragg and Macinzey Harvey.
Fairfield plays at home again on Tuesday as they host the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors at 5 p.m. in SHAC play.
As for the Division IV postseason tournament, in the sectional finals the Lady Lions received a No. 1 seed and will play a home game on Thursday, May 12 at 5 p.m. against the winner of Green vs. Western Latham.
White pitched all five innings of the run-rule SHAC victory, facing the minimum 15 batters, where she allowed no hits, no walks and no runs, while striking out eight batters in the win.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened earlier because she’s really throwing the ball well, and our defense stepped up behind her as well and made some good plays,” FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. “As for winning the SHAC, it is step one in our goals, and we are just happy the kids got it done.”
There was also the offensive play of Larrick, who as the lone senior for the Lady Lions finished 3-for-4 (all base hits), with two runs coming in the second and fourth innings and one RBI.
“Grace has been our lead-off hitter for four years, and she’s a very important part of this team,” FHS assistant coach Tom Purtell said. “She had a good day at the plate today, as she was our only senior.”
And don’t forget the clinching of the SHAC Division II championship, a title the Lady Lions have now won 18 times in their school history, dating back to their first one 40 years ago in 1976. Since 2000, the Lady Lions have clinched a conference title nine times.
Back to the perfect game pitched by White.
The freshman ace struck out the second and third batters she faced (the first batter was out on a ground ball hit back to White) in the first inning and made it three consecutive strikeouts by having her third strikeout come at the start of the second inning. That out was followed by a pop up to first base and a ground out back to the pitcher.
White (15-2) retired nine in a row with a ground out to third base, a fly ball to right field and the third out of the third inning came via strikeout, her fourth of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]
In the top of the fourth, the first out was recorded with a fly ball to right field, followed by a strikeout and a line drive out to first base. White’s final inning in the circle saw the freshman strike out the side, retiring all the batters with a total of 14 pitches in the inning, including a couple crafty off-speed pitches that forced the opponent to swing and miss.
The offense of the Lady Lions (11-0, 15-4) was on-target, totaling 15 hits, beginning with their first run of the game being scored by Carli Reiber in the bottom of the first inning, while FHS added three more in the second inning with Larrick, Megan Gragg and Lyndee Spargur all rounding the bases, making it a 4-0 lead.
The third inning saw FHS tack on two more runs with Emily Williams and Kourtnie Smith scoring runs for a six-run advantage. From there, FHS scored two runs in the fourth with Larrick and Megan Sanderson adding to the Lady Lion advantage, and the game ended with Spargur and Sherry Heckathorn scoring the final two runs for the run-rule win.
Williams finished the game 3-for-3 with one run, and Spargur was also 3-for-3 with two runs (two RBIs). Reiber had two hits (one RBI), and with one hit each were Sanderson, Smith, Gragg and Macinzey Harvey.
Fairfield plays at home again on Tuesday as they host the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors at 5 p.m. in SHAC play.
As for the Division IV postseason tournament, in the sectional finals the Lady Lions received a No. 1 seed and will play a home game on Thursday, May 12 at 5 p.m. against the winner of Green vs. Western Latham.