Lady Lions tune up for districts; run-rule Manchester
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — In what was their final tune-up before they take the field for their district semifinal on Tuesday, the Fairfield Lady Lions took care of some Southern Hills League business on a rainy Monday.
Playing at the home of Whiteoak, where the Division IV No. 3 state-ranked Lady Lions were the home team, Fairfield easily defeated the Manchester Greyhounds, 10-0 in five innings to stay perfect in the SHL, while gaining their 11th run-rule win of the season.
"With the rain and cold, we wanted to get finished with this as quick as possible. What I was impressed with was how we adjusted to the pitching tonight after playing Peebles for one inning last night," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "We made the necessary adjustments, hit the ball well and did the things we needed to do to win."
FHS stands at 11-0 in the SHL but still has two games scheduled against the Peebles Lady Indians, as one of the games is currently suspended after the first inning with FHS leading 1-0.
Overall, the Lady Lions stand at 15-2.
On Tuesday, FHS will face the Eastern Meigs Lady Eagles, who are 12-4 on the season, in the Division IV SE District Semifinals at Minford High School, with first pitch at 6 p.m. This will be the third straight season both teams have met in the district tournament.
"We are vey excited about playing in a district semifinal game. We are playing very well for not having played a week. We got off to a good start over the weekend, won by 10 runs tonight, and the girls are going to be ready and pumped up tomorrow night. Eastern Meigs is a great opponent, but we are ready."
Back to Monday, the Lady Lions had one big inning, when they scored eight runs in the first inning, sending 12 batters to the plate.
Scoring runs in the inning for FHS were Danielle Butler, Abby Thackston, Whitney Hanenkrat, Courtney Huff (courtesy runner for Lauren Larrick), Kortney Paris, Shelby Smithson, Jade Shelton and Heather Huff.
In the first, Butler was hit by a pitch with one out, and Thackston reached first on an error. Hanenkrat, Paris, Shelton, Huff and Butler all had hits, with Huff hitting a double and Butler hitting a double. Larrick and Smithson drew walks.
The lead went 10-0 in the bottom of the second with Hanenkrat and Paris scoring runs. In the second, Hanenkrat led off with a base hit, and Paris reached on an infield error. Hanenkrat scored on the error, and Paris scored on a double by Smithson. Hanenkrat finished 2-for-3, with two runs to lead FHS at the plate.
Manchester threatened in the fifth inning, loading the bases, but the final two outs were recorded via Larrick strikeouts.
"We let down a little bit at the end, and I didn't like that," Zimmerman said. "That's not Lady Lion softball, but we finished it and got the job done."
Also for FHS, Jade Shelton was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, one run and Courtney Huff was 1-for-1.
The win in the circle went to Larrick, where she gained her 15th win of the season. Larrick pitched five innings, allowing just two hits hits and no runs. She walked three and had eight strikeouts. This was her seventh shutout win of the season.
Assistant coach Tom Purtell likes the fact FHS had the opportunity to play on a field with brick dust, which will be similar to the field they will play on Tuesday at Minford.
"It was nice to get used to this type of playing surface," Purtell said. "Also, the weather is going to be very similar tomorrow. Some think we shouldn't have played (in weather) like this before a district game, but this is better than a practice.
"We know Eastern Meigs very well, and I talked to their coach today and she's looking forward to the game as well. The girls are confident right now and are excited to have the opportunity to do something special here, we just have to go and take care of it."
GAME NOTES: FHS sent 27 batters to the plate in four innings … Heather Huff, Abby Thackston, and Lauren Larrick were named All-SHL ... FHS committed one error (MHS had four errors) ... FHS stranded seven runners ... The Lady Lions tallied six RBIs and struck out four times ... Manchester left six runners on the bases ...FHS stole eight bases with Hanenkrat stealing three, Butler two, Kortney Paris two and Smithson one ... The Lady Lions walked five times.
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Playing at the home of Whiteoak, where the Division IV No. 3 state-ranked Lady Lions were the home team, Fairfield easily defeated the Manchester Greyhounds, 10-0 in five innings to stay perfect in the SHL, while gaining their 11th run-rule win of the season.
"With the rain and cold, we wanted to get finished with this as quick as possible. What I was impressed with was how we adjusted to the pitching tonight after playing Peebles for one inning last night," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "We made the necessary adjustments, hit the ball well and did the things we needed to do to win."
FHS stands at 11-0 in the SHL but still has two games scheduled against the Peebles Lady Indians, as one of the games is currently suspended after the first inning with FHS leading 1-0.
Overall, the Lady Lions stand at 15-2.
On Tuesday, FHS will face the Eastern Meigs Lady Eagles, who are 12-4 on the season, in the Division IV SE District Semifinals at Minford High School, with first pitch at 6 p.m. This will be the third straight season both teams have met in the district tournament.
"We are vey excited about playing in a district semifinal game. We are playing very well for not having played a week. We got off to a good start over the weekend, won by 10 runs tonight, and the girls are going to be ready and pumped up tomorrow night. Eastern Meigs is a great opponent, but we are ready."
Back to Monday, the Lady Lions had one big inning, when they scored eight runs in the first inning, sending 12 batters to the plate.
Scoring runs in the inning for FHS were Danielle Butler, Abby Thackston, Whitney Hanenkrat, Courtney Huff (courtesy runner for Lauren Larrick), Kortney Paris, Shelby Smithson, Jade Shelton and Heather Huff.
In the first, Butler was hit by a pitch with one out, and Thackston reached first on an error. Hanenkrat, Paris, Shelton, Huff and Butler all had hits, with Huff hitting a double and Butler hitting a double. Larrick and Smithson drew walks.
The lead went 10-0 in the bottom of the second with Hanenkrat and Paris scoring runs. In the second, Hanenkrat led off with a base hit, and Paris reached on an infield error. Hanenkrat scored on the error, and Paris scored on a double by Smithson. Hanenkrat finished 2-for-3, with two runs to lead FHS at the plate.
Manchester threatened in the fifth inning, loading the bases, but the final two outs were recorded via Larrick strikeouts.
"We let down a little bit at the end, and I didn't like that," Zimmerman said. "That's not Lady Lion softball, but we finished it and got the job done."
Also for FHS, Jade Shelton was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, one run and Courtney Huff was 1-for-1.
The win in the circle went to Larrick, where she gained her 15th win of the season. Larrick pitched five innings, allowing just two hits hits and no runs. She walked three and had eight strikeouts. This was her seventh shutout win of the season.
Assistant coach Tom Purtell likes the fact FHS had the opportunity to play on a field with brick dust, which will be similar to the field they will play on Tuesday at Minford.
"It was nice to get used to this type of playing surface," Purtell said. "Also, the weather is going to be very similar tomorrow. Some think we shouldn't have played (in weather) like this before a district game, but this is better than a practice.
"We know Eastern Meigs very well, and I talked to their coach today and she's looking forward to the game as well. The girls are confident right now and are excited to have the opportunity to do something special here, we just have to go and take care of it."
GAME NOTES: FHS sent 27 batters to the plate in four innings … Heather Huff, Abby Thackston, and Lauren Larrick were named All-SHL ... FHS committed one error (MHS had four errors) ... FHS stranded seven runners ... The Lady Lions tallied six RBIs and struck out four times ... Manchester left six runners on the bases ...FHS stole eight bases with Hanenkrat stealing three, Butler two, Kortney Paris two and Smithson one ... The Lady Lions walked five times.
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