Lady Lions win for 15th time; defeat Miami Trace
The Fairfield Lady Lions defeated the Miami Trace Lady Panthers Saturday by an 8-2 score in one of their most complete games of the season. The Lady Lions offense was is high gear pounding out 14 hits in the non-conference game.
FHS ran the bases aggressively, played errorless softball and received another dominating pitching performance by junior Kaiti White who struck out 15 Lady Panther batters.
The Lady Lion offense put pressure on the Miami Trace defense from the very start of the game. In the bottom of the first inning, Fairfield leadoff hitter Lyndee Spargur dropped a bunt in front of the Miami Trace third baseman for a single. Carli Reiber singled to right field advancing Spargur to second base. White hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop, but Spargur was forced out at third base. Layla Hattan followed with an infield single to load the bases. Lauren Arnold also had an infield single scoring Reiber, but Olivia Wolfe of Miami Trace struck out the next two Lady Lion hitters to leave the bases loaded.
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Fairfield added another two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Megan Gragg led off the inning with a single to the left side of the infield and Madi Fox was hit by a pitch. Spargur hit into a fielder’s choice as Gragg was forced out at third base. Fox scored on a wild pitch and Spargur scored on an RBI single by White.
The Lady Lions increased their lead to 4-0 with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Taylor Lawson singled to right field to lead off the inning and Megan Crum entered as a pinch runner for Lawson. Molly Thackston laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt, advancing Crum to second base. Gragg then singled, scoring Crum.
White and the Lady Lion defense was dominating through the first five innings retiring the 15 of 16 Miami Trace batters. Kaylee Hauck tripled to lead off the fourth inning, but White struck out the next three batters to strand Hauck at third.
FHS scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Lawson again led off the inning with a single to the right side of the infield. Crum again entered the game to run for Lawson. Thackston again laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving Crum to second base. With outfield defense playing in for Miami Trace, Gragg laced a line drive over the centerfielder’s hit for a stand up triple that scored Crum.
Miami Trace finally dented the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning. Dawson led off the inning with a single to centerfield and one out later, Hauke hit a home run over the centerfield fence to make the score 6-2.
Fairfield answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hattan singled up the middle with one out and Arnold stepped to the plate to hit a towering home run over the left field fence.
Leading hitters for Fairfield included: Spargur (1-for-4, one run, one RBI), Reiber (1-for-3, walk, one run), White (1-for-3, one RBI), Hattan (3-for-4, one run), Arnold (2-for-4, home run, one run, three RBI), Lawson (2-for-3), Crum (two runs), Thackston (1-for-2, two sacrifice bunts) and Gragg (3-for-4, triple, one run, two RBI).
White (14-5) was the winning pitcher for Fairfield, pitching seven innings and allowing five hits, two runs (two earned) no walks and 15 strikeouts.
Fairfield is scheduled to host the East Clinton on Monday, May 7 at 5 p.m. in a non-conference regular season game. The Lady Lions will begin the Southeast District Division III tournament on Tuesday, May 8 as they host the North Adams Lady Green Devils in a sectional semifinal game at 5 p.m.