Lady Lions earn first win of season; defeat Lynchburg-Clay

LEESBURG — Playing six innings, the Fairfield Lady Lions forced a run-rule win on Tuesday evening, as FHS scored in all but one inning en route to gaining a 13-3 Southern Hills Athletic Conference win over rival Lynchburg-Clay.

The win was also the first for Fairfield head coach Lesley Hattan, as she took over as the head coach for the 2023 season. The win also moves Fairfield to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the SHAC Division I standings.

“It was good to see the girls come out and play hard,” FHS head coach Hattan said. “In some of the scrimmages they started off a little slow, and tonight they were confident and ready to play and got the job done.

“The difference between (Tuesday) compared to the first game was confidence. They just made up their minds and knew they were better than what they had played (Monday) and knew they had to just get it done to work toward their final goal and get to where they want to be at the end of the season. The girls just flipped the switch and turned it on tonight.”

In the run-rule win against LCHS, Fairfield scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, followed by a two-run second inning for a 5-0 lead.

The first inning for FHS saw Sydney Hooper, Jobey Hattan and Sydney Sanders all round the bases for runs. Hits in the inning included a triple by Jobey Hattan for an RBI. Then came a base hit from Sydney Sanders for an RBI, and Emmi Vance had a base hit. Sanders scored on an outfield error with Addison Bales reaching first base.

Fairfield scored two runs in the bottom of the second with Hooper and Hattan scoring runs, as Hooper reached the bases on an infield error and scored off a two-run home run to centerfield by Hattan — on a 2-0 count — for a 3-0 lead.

Lynchburg-Clay came back at the plate in the top of the third with Kami Collins scoring a run off an infield error by the Lady Lions. Collins initially reached the bases on another infield error by Fairfield.

Fairfield answered with a second two-run inning in the bottom of the third with Bales and Carly Sanders crossing home plate. In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Lions scored one run as Hattan scored her third run of the game (she reached the bases via an infield error) and was batted in by a double from Sydney Sanders.

In the top of the fifth inning, Lynchburg-Clay added two runs to their side of the scoreboard with Kami Collins and Caitlyn Collins scoring the runs. Kami Collins reached the bases on an infield error and scored on an outfield error later in the inning. Autumn Griffith gained an RBI with a double to left field, scoring Caitlyn Collins.

The game came to a close in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run inning, taking the score from 8-3 to 13-3 for the run-rule win.

Scoring runs in the inning for Fairfield were Hattan, Sydney Sanders, Vance, Faith Miller and Gwen Cox. RBIs in the inning went to Sydney Sanders, Miller, Cox and Katelyn Chambliss had two RBI off a base hit to end the game.

“We did all the little things right tonight,” Hattan said. “We were getting the bunts down when we needed to, we ran the bases well, made good contact and hit runners in when they were on base.”

For LCHS at the plate, Kami Collins was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Caitlyn Collins was 2-for-2 with one walk and a run and Autumn Griffith was 1-for-3 with one RBI.

“We hit pretty solid and came around and put the bat to the ball,” LCHS head coach Brad Griffith said. “We can build on that. We have some strong hitters in our lineup, we just have to put it all together. We are still working out our mechanics on some, but we have a lot of power in our lineup.

“We do need to clean up on errors, and we could have made it a better ball game. If we can clean that up, we can hang with teams that are good. We have all the potential in the world, we just have to put it all together.”

Fairfield at the plate saw Hooper finish 1-for-4 with two runs, while Hattan finished 3-for-4 with four runs and three RBI. Vance ended the day at 1-for-3 with a walk and a run. Also for FHS, Sydney Sanders was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

Miller was 2-for-4 with a run, Bales was 1-for-2 with a run, Cox was 1-for-2 with a run, Chambliss went 2-for-3 and Carly Sanders was 1-for-3 with a run.

Hattan also spoke about the Fairfield defense.

“Our defense was pretty solid, we backed up our pitcher pretty well,” Hattan said. “Lynchburg-Clay put the ball in play, and our defense made some good plays.”

In the circle, the win went to Fairfield’s Chambliss (1-1) as she pitched six innings, finishing with 94 total pitches. Chambliss in the win faced 27 batters where she allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks. Chambliss finished with five strikeouts.

For LCHS, the loss went to Noel Barnhill in the circle, who faced 18 batters as she allowed seven runs (four earned) on seven hits and no walks. She finished with three strikeouts and threw 61 pitches in 2.2 innings.

Sarah McKinney pitched 2.1 innings of relief for LCHS, where she faced 17 batters allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits and one walk. McKinney totaled three strikeouts on 44 total pitches.

Next for Fairfield is a non-conference road game Wednesday, March 29 against Paint Valley of the Scioto Valley Conference at 5 p.m.

LCHS is scheduled to play again Thursday, March 29 at home against an SHAC opponent, the Fayetteville Rockets, at 5 p.m.