Fairfield 24 April 2014

State-ranked Lady Lions defeat West Union; Melson tosses 2nd no-hitter of season

By
The Highland County Press-

One game following their first Southern Hills Athletic Conference loss of the season, the Fairfield Lady Lions responded in a big way.

Also before the game, the Lady Lions were ranked No. 3 in Division IV in the state coaches' team rankings, but FHS had other things in mind when they took to the softball diamond.

First, they won their SHAC game over the host West Union Lady Dragons, 15-0; and secondly, junior pitcher Arica Melson tossed her second no-hitter of the season, the third of her high school varsity career.

Melson (10-1) was nearly perfect Wednesday, allowing only one batter over the minimum while striking out 11 Lady Dragon batters.

The Lady Lion offense was just as dominating, pounding out 18 hits on the afternoon, as the offense was led by Grace Larrick, Shelby Smithson and Shaylee Carson each with three hits.

 

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FHS scored first with a run in the second inning, as Halie Chain reached second base on an error on a deep fly ball to the outfield. Two outs later, Kourtnie Smith singled to centerfield to score Chain.

The Lady Lions scored five runs in the top of the third inning.

Grace Larrick and Kaitlin Evans had consecutive infield hits, and Smithson followed with an RBI-single to centerfield. Cynnamon Sova-Davy was safe on an error, which scored Evans.

Chain reached first on a fielder’s choice to score Smithson. Carson, Smith and Larrick all followed with singles.

FHS put three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Sova-Davy tripled, while Carson and Heather Sanderson had singles to knock in runs.

Six more runs crossed home plate in the top of the fifth inning.

Larrick, Casey Carter and Smithson had consecutive singles. Chain followed with a double. Carson singled, and Taylor Avedisian also hit a single. Melson, batting for herself, tripled to the gap in left-centerfield to complete the scoring.

The Lady Lions increase their lead over second-place Fayetteville, as Whiteoak defeated Fayetteville Wednesday night by a score of 4-1.

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