Lady Lions swept by Eastern Brown
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lady Lions saw their 23-game Southern Hills League winning streak come to a close on Monday, and with that, they have to wait another day for their shot at a second outright SHL Division II title.
The reason they will have to wait is because they were unable to get on the scoreboard Monday, and in the process fell to the SHL Division I first-place Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, 9-0.
FHS (14-6 overall) can win the outright Division II title on Tuesday if they can defeat the Manchester Lady Greyhounds, as FHS is 11-1 in league play this season, leading the SHL Division II by one game over Fayetteville. EB are the Division I champions as they are 19-3 overall (11-1 in SHL), defeating FHS earlier this season 1-0 at VA Memorial Stadium in non-league play.
A big reason for the FHS loss was Maria Johnson and the Lady Warrior defense, as they held the Fairfield offense in-check, with FHS totaling five hits while forcing the Lady Lions to strand seven runners on the bases.
EB scored four runs in the top of the second inning, starting with Staggs and Forsythe singling to centerfield, along with Doss being ruled safe on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with zero outs.
[[In-content Ad]]FHS pitcher Lauren Larrick struck out the next two batters and was one pitch away from getting out of the bases-loaded jam, but Purdy hit a short fly ball just out of the reach of Lady Lion shortstop Kaitlin Evans to score Staggs and Forsythe. Johnson followed with a single to centerfield to drive in Doss and Purdy.
The Lady Lions put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the second inning, but Johnson retired the next two Lady Lion hitters.
Larrick and the Lady Lion defense kept the Lady Warriors off the base paths in the third though sixth innings, retiring 12 out of the 13 batters, and the Lady Lions' offense continued to put runners on base in the fourth though sixth innings but couldn't get a timely hit to score base runners.
EB scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning, putting the game out of reach.
Whitney Hanenkrat, Larrick, Sirenity Smith, Cynnamon Sova-Davy and Evans each had one hit for FHS.
Larrick (14-5) was charged with the loss for the Lady Lions. She pitched seven innings, allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits and two walks. She finished with eight strikeouts in the loss.
Johnson (17-2) earned the win for the Lady Warriors. She also pitched seven innings, allowing no runs, on five hits and no walks. Johnson totaled nine strikeouts.
BOX SCORE
EB 040 000 5 — 9 11 2
FHS 000 000 0 — 0 5 1
The reason they will have to wait is because they were unable to get on the scoreboard Monday, and in the process fell to the SHL Division I first-place Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, 9-0.
FHS (14-6 overall) can win the outright Division II title on Tuesday if they can defeat the Manchester Lady Greyhounds, as FHS is 11-1 in league play this season, leading the SHL Division II by one game over Fayetteville. EB are the Division I champions as they are 19-3 overall (11-1 in SHL), defeating FHS earlier this season 1-0 at VA Memorial Stadium in non-league play.
A big reason for the FHS loss was Maria Johnson and the Lady Warrior defense, as they held the Fairfield offense in-check, with FHS totaling five hits while forcing the Lady Lions to strand seven runners on the bases.
EB scored four runs in the top of the second inning, starting with Staggs and Forsythe singling to centerfield, along with Doss being ruled safe on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with zero outs.
[[In-content Ad]]FHS pitcher Lauren Larrick struck out the next two batters and was one pitch away from getting out of the bases-loaded jam, but Purdy hit a short fly ball just out of the reach of Lady Lion shortstop Kaitlin Evans to score Staggs and Forsythe. Johnson followed with a single to centerfield to drive in Doss and Purdy.
The Lady Lions put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the second inning, but Johnson retired the next two Lady Lion hitters.
Larrick and the Lady Lion defense kept the Lady Warriors off the base paths in the third though sixth innings, retiring 12 out of the 13 batters, and the Lady Lions' offense continued to put runners on base in the fourth though sixth innings but couldn't get a timely hit to score base runners.
EB scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning, putting the game out of reach.
Whitney Hanenkrat, Larrick, Sirenity Smith, Cynnamon Sova-Davy and Evans each had one hit for FHS.
Larrick (14-5) was charged with the loss for the Lady Lions. She pitched seven innings, allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits and two walks. She finished with eight strikeouts in the loss.
Johnson (17-2) earned the win for the Lady Warriors. She also pitched seven innings, allowing no runs, on five hits and no walks. Johnson totaled nine strikeouts.
BOX SCORE
EB 040 000 5 — 9 11 2
FHS 000 000 0 — 0 5 1