Fairfield Lady Lions drop season opener to the Wilmington Hurricane
It was a cold and windy day as the Fairfield Lady Lions took the field at Wilmington High School to open the 2025 softball season. The non-conference game featured a young Fairfield Lady Lions team from the Southern Hills Athletic Conference and the Wilmington Hurricane from the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference. The Fairfield Lady Lions (0-1, 0-0 SHAC) fell to the Wilmington Hurricane (1-0, 0-0 SBAAC) by a score of 6-2.
The Fairfield Lady Lions took an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of first inning. Lead-off hitter Rilee Quickle fouled off multiple pitches off the hard-throwing Hurricane pitcher Lauren Diehls, then laced a single to left field.
Quickle stole second base, and one out later Jobey Hattan drove a line drive home run over the centerfield fence to give the Lady Lions the early lead. But Diehls shut out the Lady Lion offense over the last six innings, scattering four hits.
The Wilmington Hurricane scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning. Fairfield pitcher Rilee Quickle struck out the first three Wilmington batters, but all three reached first base on dropped third strikes, two batters on wild pitches on strike three and one on a passed ball.
Quickle gave up a base on balls to Diehls, then struck out the next batter for her fourth strikeout in the inning. A ground ball to shortstop Jobey Hattan ended the inning, limiting Wilmington to a single unearned run.
Wilmington took the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a three-run home run off the bat of McKenna Dorsch for a 4-2 lead.
Wilmington completed the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with solo home runs from Dorsch and Allie Martin.
Leading hitters for the Lady Lions: Rilee Quickle (2-for-3, 1 run), Jobey Hattan (1-for-3, 1 run, 2 RBI, home run), Carly Sanders (1-for-2), Alyssa Bales (1-for-3) and Whitlee Morrow (1-for-2, walk).
Quickle (0-1) suffered the loss for Fairfield. Her pitching line: 6 innings, 6 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk and 10 strikeouts.
Diehls (1-0) was the winning pitcher for Wilmington. Diehls’ pitching line: 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk and 13 strikeouts.
The Fairfield Lady Lions defeated the Greeneview Lady Rams, 10-3 on Tuesday, March 26 at the Fairfield Baseball/Softball Complex.
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