Larrick no-hits Whiteoak in Lady Lion win
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — The day not only belonged to the Fairfield Lady Lions, as they shut out the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats, 4-0, but it belonged to Fairfield senior pitcher Lauren Larrick as she tossed a no-hitter in the Southern Hills League win.
Larrick (5-2) controlled the game as she pitched a complete seven innings, not only allowing no hits to the Lady 'Cats, but of all 21 outs, only one came via an outfielder.
In her performance from the circle, Larrick, with senior Whitney Hanenkrat catching behind the plate, totaled nine strikeouts, walked four batters and hit one batter as this was the second consecutive shutout for the Lady Lions.
"Lauren has pitched really well in the past two games," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "Our team played better defense lately, and the girls are making plays they didn't make a week ago."
The first inning saw the game's first batter strikeout, followed by a ground out, a walk and a pop fly to third base to end the inning.
The second inning went three up, three down as all three outs were ground balls hit back to Larrick or to second baseman Sirenity Smith, who tossed the ball to first baseman Shelby Smithson for the outs.
In the third, Larrick wasn't in the mood to share, as she struck out the first two batters of the inning, walked the third batter and put an end to the WHS half of the inning with her third strikeout of the inning.
After allowing the first batter of the fourth inning on the bases on a error, Larrick followed with a strikeout, a pop up to the shortstop, a walk and a ground out to third base, who tossed the softball to first for the third out of the inning.
The fifth inning was short and sweet … with consecutive strikeouts and a 5-3 ground out. The sixth was just as simple with a strikeout, a fly ball to center fielder Courtney Huff, and a ground out to shortstop Kortney Paris, who threw the ball to Smithson at first to record the final out of the inning.
The seventh and final inning was settled with a ground out to short, a walk and back-to-back strikeouts to end the game. In all, Larrick faced 26 batters.
As for the FHS scoring, they scored their first run in the top of the fourth with Halie Chain drawing a walk, and eventually scoring when Kaitlin Evans was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
In the sixth for the Lady Lions, Evans made the score 2-0 off a triple by Courtney Huff, who finished 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Larrick was also strong at the plate, going 3-for-3 with one RBI.
The final two runs by FHS were scored by Smithson and Hanenkrat in the sixth inning.
"We need to hit better, but I'm pleased with our defense gaining more confidence," Zimmerman said. "I want to compliment (Kiley) Sosby … she was fantastic."
Though the Lady Lions scored four runs, the pitching performance by Whiteoak freshman Kiley Sosby was stellar in terms of strikeouts, as she finished with 15 strikeouts. The freshman pitched seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks in the loss.
Sosby struck out the side, all swinging strike threes, in the second, and all three outs recorded in the sixth were via strikeouts.
BOX SCORE
FHS 000 101 2 — 4 7 1
WHS 000 000 0 — 0 0 1[[In-content Ad]]
Larrick (5-2) controlled the game as she pitched a complete seven innings, not only allowing no hits to the Lady 'Cats, but of all 21 outs, only one came via an outfielder.
In her performance from the circle, Larrick, with senior Whitney Hanenkrat catching behind the plate, totaled nine strikeouts, walked four batters and hit one batter as this was the second consecutive shutout for the Lady Lions.
"Lauren has pitched really well in the past two games," FHS head coach Matthew Zimmerman said. "Our team played better defense lately, and the girls are making plays they didn't make a week ago."
The first inning saw the game's first batter strikeout, followed by a ground out, a walk and a pop fly to third base to end the inning.
The second inning went three up, three down as all three outs were ground balls hit back to Larrick or to second baseman Sirenity Smith, who tossed the ball to first baseman Shelby Smithson for the outs.
In the third, Larrick wasn't in the mood to share, as she struck out the first two batters of the inning, walked the third batter and put an end to the WHS half of the inning with her third strikeout of the inning.
After allowing the first batter of the fourth inning on the bases on a error, Larrick followed with a strikeout, a pop up to the shortstop, a walk and a ground out to third base, who tossed the softball to first for the third out of the inning.
The fifth inning was short and sweet … with consecutive strikeouts and a 5-3 ground out. The sixth was just as simple with a strikeout, a fly ball to center fielder Courtney Huff, and a ground out to shortstop Kortney Paris, who threw the ball to Smithson at first to record the final out of the inning.
The seventh and final inning was settled with a ground out to short, a walk and back-to-back strikeouts to end the game. In all, Larrick faced 26 batters.
As for the FHS scoring, they scored their first run in the top of the fourth with Halie Chain drawing a walk, and eventually scoring when Kaitlin Evans was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
In the sixth for the Lady Lions, Evans made the score 2-0 off a triple by Courtney Huff, who finished 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Larrick was also strong at the plate, going 3-for-3 with one RBI.
The final two runs by FHS were scored by Smithson and Hanenkrat in the sixth inning.
"We need to hit better, but I'm pleased with our defense gaining more confidence," Zimmerman said. "I want to compliment (Kiley) Sosby … she was fantastic."
Though the Lady Lions scored four runs, the pitching performance by Whiteoak freshman Kiley Sosby was stellar in terms of strikeouts, as she finished with 15 strikeouts. The freshman pitched seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks in the loss.
Sosby struck out the side, all swinging strike threes, in the second, and all three outs recorded in the sixth were via strikeouts.
BOX SCORE
FHS 000 101 2 — 4 7 1
WHS 000 000 0 — 0 0 1[[In-content Ad]]