Lady Lions win twice over Manchester
For the second day in a row the Fairfield Lady Lions found themselves in a must win situation to keep their Division II Southern Hills Athletic Conference Championship hopes alive. The Lady Lions were dominating Wednesday sweeping two games from the Manchester Lady Greyhounds by scores of 11-0 and 11-1. The Lady Lions offense broke out by totaling 25 hits on the afternoon.
Game 1 was the completion of a game that began in Manchester on April 3 as the game was suspended in the bottom of the fifth inning with Fairfield leading 8-0. Fairfield (10-3, 14-6) quickly retired the Lady Greyhounds (7-6, 11-6) in the bottom of the fifth inning then proceeded to score three runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Lauren Arnold singled and Molly Thackston was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Both advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Megan Gragg grounded out scoring Arnold and Madi Fox grounded out as Thackston scored. Lyndee Spargur was safe on an error then stole second base, and Carli Reiber singled to drive home Spargur.
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Kaiti White and the Lady Lions defense blanked the Lady Greyhounds in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 11-0.
Eight different Lady Lions had hits with Reiber and White leading the way with two hits each. Emily Williams had a double to drive in run.
White scattered 5 hits and struck out nine batters in the circle.
In Game 2, the Lady Lions — now the home team on the scoreboard — gave up a run in the top of the first inning to Manchester. Karly Young singled and later scored on a single by Josie Campbell. The Lady Lions answered with six runs in the bottom of the first inning, beginning with Spargur hitting a single, and followed with a single by Reiber. Also White singled, and Layla Hattan singled, while Arnold walked, Ashley Sanderson singled, Gragg singled and Fox singled.
Fairfield added five more runs in the bottom of the third inning. In the inning, Taylor Lawson singled, Gragg singled, Fox walked, Spargur singled, Reiber walked, White singled and Hattan singled.
White closed out the game with shutout innings in the fourth and fifth.
Ten different Lady Lions had hits with Spargur, Reiber, White, Hattan and Gragg each having two hits. Lawson, Sanderson, Jaden Smith, Allyce McBee and Fox each had one hit.
White (13-5) was the winning pitcher for Fairfield allowing one earned run in 11 innings pitched and striking out 16 Greyhounds on the afternoon in the two games played.
Fairfield completes the SHAC schedule with a 10-3 record with their third consecutive SHAC Championship lying in the hands of others.
The Lady Lions will now turn their attention to Southeast District Division III tournament. To prepare for tournament play, the Lady Lions will host the Miami Trace Lady Panthers in varsity/JV doubleheader at home on Saturday, May 5 with varsity starting at 11 a.m.