Lady Lions battle way to district finals; defeat Southern

MINFORD — The Fairfield Lady Lions had a whirlwind of a game against the Southern Tornadoes in the Division IV SE District Semifinals Wednesday, but after overcoming an uncharacteristic number of fielding miscues, it was the bats of the Lady Lions that prevailed.

Trailing by three runs after the top half of the first inning, Fairfield cut their deficit down to one run, then in the third collected nine runs on three triples (seven hits), two walks and a sacrifice to take a 11-3 lead, eventually sealing the win by a score of 12-8 at Minford High School.

The win by the Lady Lions (18-1) sends them to the district finals in pursuit of their third consecutive district championship. They will look to defend their title on Saturday, May 20 when they face Southern Hills Athletic Conference rival Peebles. Earlier this season, the Lady Lions defeated Peebles, 8-0 at PHS.

“Intestinal fortitude,” Fairfield head coach Mark Dettwiller said in describing the way his team played on Wednesday. “We were down 3-0 in the first, and I had them look at the scoreboard and said ‘Doesn’t this look like the Danville game from last year?’

“They were all like ‘yeah, we’ve been here before,’ and in the third inning they just battled back. It was a pretty big inning, and they hit the ball really well. These kids have been working their tails off since the summer, and their work is paying dividends now. I’m impressed with them.”

In all, the Lady Lions collected 13 hits, with Kaiti White leading the path to victory at 4-for-4 with five RBIs, two doubles and two singles.

Fairfield’s first inning was good and bad for them, as they turned a three-run deficit into one run, trailing by a 3-2 score once the inning was complete. Getting there saw the Lady Lions begin their half of the first with Sherry Heckathorn hitting a single past the Southern second baseman in the first pitch of the at-bat. She moved to second on a sacrifice off the bat of Carli Reiber but was later the second out of the inning on a fielder’s choice.

Before the fielder’s choice, White, who was also the winning pitcher, had an infield base hit to the shortstop and was replaced on the bases by Molly Thackston. Next, Kourtnie Smith hit into the fielder’s choice.

With Emily Williams at the plate, Thackston eventually scored on a passed ball. The second run of the game for FHS crossed home plate off a single by Williams, sending the ball to centerfield, as Williams finished 2-for-4 with the RBI.

No damage was done in the second, then once it was time for the Lady Lions to come to the plate in the third, they not only tied the score, but roared to a convincing advantage, with the aforementioned three triples and nine runs in the inning.

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Fairfield opened the third with a triple hit to right field off the bat of Reiber. She scored on the ensuing at-bat, tying the game off a single from White, who beat out a hit in the infield. With Thackston running the bases for White, eventually she moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Smith. Next, a bloop hit to centerfield by Williams and a walk forced by Lauren Arnold loaded the bases.

The bases didn’t stay full for long. Rather, the Lady Lions had a vortex of their own against the Tornadoes when Lyndee Spargur cleared the bases with a triple to the right field fence, scoring Thackston, Williams and Arnold for a 6-3 advantage.

Fairfield wasn’t close to being finished in the inning with Spargur scoring a run off an infield base hit from Shania Setty. The lead went to a five-run advantage off the third triple of the game when Megan Gragg tripled to centerfield, scoring Setty. Next came a walk forced by Heckathorn, then a fielder’s choice from Reiber that left all runners safe, loading the bases for a second time in the third. Three more runs crossed the plate when White doubled on a 2-1 count to score Gragg and Heckathorn. Reiber scored on an errant throw to third to make the score, 11-3.

Heckathorn finished 2-for-3 with one walk.

Following a run by Southern in the top of the fifth, FHS answered with a run of their own in their half of the inning with Gragg leading off with a single to left field. Two outs later, White doubled in Gragg for the 12th run of the game for the Lady Lions.

The cushion of runs helped greatly after the top of the sixth was complete as the score went from 12-4 to 12-8 as FHS committed four errors in the inning, leading to four runs by Southern. For FHS at the plate in the sixth, Spargur hit her second triple of the game, as she finished 2-for-4.

After the small bump in the road for FHS, they were able to keep control of the game with White dominating the seventh inning, as she ended the game by forcing Southern into a ground out, followed by a strikeout looking and a swing of the bat for a strikeout that ended the game. White finished as the winning pitcher, pitching all seven innings. She allowed eight runs (two earned) on seven hits and no walks. White struck out seven batters.