Seventh-inning rally sends Lady Lions past Lady ’Cats
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — The game took parts of two days, seven innings and came down to the final pitch, but the Fairfield Lady Lions clawed their way past their Highland County rival Whiteoak to stay undefeated in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference by a 4-3 score.
The Lady Lions (14-4) trailed by one run headed into the bottom of the seventh inning on Wednesday at their home field in Leesburg. That deficit didn’t last long with FHS beginning the inning with Lyndee Spargur reaching first base to begin the inning off a base hit, followed by Sherry Heckathorn bunting her way onto first base with a single to give the Lady Lions two runners with no outs.
“There is no quit in these girls, and they played fantastic defense,” FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. “It was unreal, and they are really coming together.”
Whiteoak (2-11) didn’t give in, recording an out on a sacrifice bunt by Grace Larrick that moved the runners to second and third, followed by a strikeout to put Fairfield down to their final out with the aforementioned two runners at second and third.
That’s when the Division II SHAC showdown really got interesting, with WHS making the right move in attempting to walk Fairfield slugger Kaiti White to load the bases to have a chance at the force out while ahead by one run.
As WHS tried to intentionally walk White, on what was ball four, the softball sailed over the head of the Whiteoak catcher, allowing Spargur to race home from third base to tie the score at 3-3. Next, a base hit on a hard line drive to diving Whiteoak shortstop Jaycie Parr stayed in the infield as Parr was able to keep the ball in the infield on the dive, but she had no time to make the throw as Heckathorn was able to race to home plate from third to give the Lady Lions the win.
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“Credit their shortstop (Jaycie) Parr, she made an outstanding play at the end, we were just able to take advantage of them not having a throw,” Dettwiller said. “Sherry had an outstanding bunt to get on base, giving us the base runners we needed.”
In all, the Lady Lions totaled 10 hits, as their other two runs came in the bottom of the first inning as Carli Reiber scored on a two-out double hit by Kourtnie Smith. In the fifth inning, Reiber scored again, as each time she reached the bases with a single. Also scoring a run in the inning was pinch runner Megan Gragg off a base hit by Emily Williams that also scored Reiber.
Reiber, Williams and Heckathorn each finished with two hits for the Lady Lions, while Williams led with two RBIs.
Whiteoak scored their first run on Tuesday before the rain let loose, as Parr scored the Lady ’Cats’ run off a single by Hayley Nace.
The Lady ’Cats took the lead in the top of the sixth inning with Parr and Nace rounding the bases off a hard hit double by Chelsea Chrisman with two outs but were unable to hold on to the lead.
WHS ended the game with six hits, as Parr (including a triple) and Nace each had two hits, while Ashleigh Harless and Chrisman (a double) each had one.
White was the winning pitcher, as she went all seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and no walks. The freshman hurler, who is now 14-2 on the season, struck out 12 of the 27 batters she faced.
The loss went to Courtney Gross, who pitched a solid game as well. Gross allowed four runs on 10 hits and two walks in the 6.2 innings she pitched. She finished with one strikeout, facing 31 batters.
Neither team committed an error.
FHS will play on the road Thursday at Manchester.
The Lady Lions (14-4) trailed by one run headed into the bottom of the seventh inning on Wednesday at their home field in Leesburg. That deficit didn’t last long with FHS beginning the inning with Lyndee Spargur reaching first base to begin the inning off a base hit, followed by Sherry Heckathorn bunting her way onto first base with a single to give the Lady Lions two runners with no outs.
“There is no quit in these girls, and they played fantastic defense,” FHS head coach Mark Dettwiller said. “It was unreal, and they are really coming together.”
Whiteoak (2-11) didn’t give in, recording an out on a sacrifice bunt by Grace Larrick that moved the runners to second and third, followed by a strikeout to put Fairfield down to their final out with the aforementioned two runners at second and third.
That’s when the Division II SHAC showdown really got interesting, with WHS making the right move in attempting to walk Fairfield slugger Kaiti White to load the bases to have a chance at the force out while ahead by one run.
As WHS tried to intentionally walk White, on what was ball four, the softball sailed over the head of the Whiteoak catcher, allowing Spargur to race home from third base to tie the score at 3-3. Next, a base hit on a hard line drive to diving Whiteoak shortstop Jaycie Parr stayed in the infield as Parr was able to keep the ball in the infield on the dive, but she had no time to make the throw as Heckathorn was able to race to home plate from third to give the Lady Lions the win.
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“Credit their shortstop (Jaycie) Parr, she made an outstanding play at the end, we were just able to take advantage of them not having a throw,” Dettwiller said. “Sherry had an outstanding bunt to get on base, giving us the base runners we needed.”
In all, the Lady Lions totaled 10 hits, as their other two runs came in the bottom of the first inning as Carli Reiber scored on a two-out double hit by Kourtnie Smith. In the fifth inning, Reiber scored again, as each time she reached the bases with a single. Also scoring a run in the inning was pinch runner Megan Gragg off a base hit by Emily Williams that also scored Reiber.
Reiber, Williams and Heckathorn each finished with two hits for the Lady Lions, while Williams led with two RBIs.
Whiteoak scored their first run on Tuesday before the rain let loose, as Parr scored the Lady ’Cats’ run off a single by Hayley Nace.
The Lady ’Cats took the lead in the top of the sixth inning with Parr and Nace rounding the bases off a hard hit double by Chelsea Chrisman with two outs but were unable to hold on to the lead.
WHS ended the game with six hits, as Parr (including a triple) and Nace each had two hits, while Ashleigh Harless and Chrisman (a double) each had one.
White was the winning pitcher, as she went all seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and no walks. The freshman hurler, who is now 14-2 on the season, struck out 12 of the 27 batters she faced.
The loss went to Courtney Gross, who pitched a solid game as well. Gross allowed four runs on 10 hits and two walks in the 6.2 innings she pitched. She finished with one strikeout, facing 31 batters.
Neither team committed an error.
FHS will play on the road Thursday at Manchester.