Lady Lions fall to Peebles in final inning
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
PEEBLES - The Fairfield Lady Lions traveled to Peebles High School Thursday with first place in the Southern Hills League Division II on the line. The Peebles Lady Indians broke a 1-1 tie, with an unearned run, in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 2-1 win.
The victory pulls the Lady Indians (11-2, 7-2) into a tie with the Lady Lions for first place.
"It was an outstanding softball game by both teams. It was played close, with a good old fashion pitchers duel," FHS assistant coach Tom Purtell said.
The battle from the circle included Fairfield’s Lauren Larrick and Peebles’ Haley Swayne.
"It was a disappointing loss, but we are still without two starting players on the field," Purtell said. "This was also our fourth loss by one run on the road, in the final inning of play this year."
Both pitchers shut down their opponents through the first four innings.
Larrick scattered two hits and strikeout six batters through the first four innings, while Swayne did not allow a hit and struckout six Lady Lion batters.
Peebles finally broke the scoreless tie with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With one out, McDaniels had an infield single, stole second base, and scored on a double to right-centerfield by Swayne.
Fairfield (8-5, 7-2) tied the score 1-1 with a run in the top of the sixth inning.
Kylie Bates led off the inning and was safe on error. Heather Huff followed with a single to left field, advancing Bates to second base. Danielle Butler followed with a bunt, but the Peebles defense threw to third in an attempt to get the force out of the lead runner. Bates got a great jump on the batted ball and slid into third base just ahead of the throw loading the bases with no outs.
Abby Thackston followed with an infield single to drive in Bates. That would be the only run the Lady Lions would push across, as Swayne retired the next three Lady Lion hitters.
The Lady Lions placed another runner in scoring position in the top of the seventh inning, but again Swayne shut the door.
Peebles got their biggest offensive threat, McDaniel, on base in the bottom of the seventh inning on an infield error. McDaniel eventually would advance to third base with one out.
The Peebles Lady Indians executed a squeeze play to perfection as McDaniel slide into home ahead of the throw home.
Larrick (8-5) suffered the loss, while Swayne earned the win for Peebles. Larrick went 6 1-3 innings, allowing six hits, two runs, (one earned) and one walk. Larrick finished with six strikeouts.
Swayne pitched seven innings, allowing two hits, one run (none earned) and three walks. She finished with nine strikeouts.
Fairfield will host the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, currently the first place team in the Southern Hills League Division I, Friday at 5 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
The victory pulls the Lady Indians (11-2, 7-2) into a tie with the Lady Lions for first place.
"It was an outstanding softball game by both teams. It was played close, with a good old fashion pitchers duel," FHS assistant coach Tom Purtell said.
The battle from the circle included Fairfield’s Lauren Larrick and Peebles’ Haley Swayne.
"It was a disappointing loss, but we are still without two starting players on the field," Purtell said. "This was also our fourth loss by one run on the road, in the final inning of play this year."
Both pitchers shut down their opponents through the first four innings.
Larrick scattered two hits and strikeout six batters through the first four innings, while Swayne did not allow a hit and struckout six Lady Lion batters.
Peebles finally broke the scoreless tie with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With one out, McDaniels had an infield single, stole second base, and scored on a double to right-centerfield by Swayne.
Fairfield (8-5, 7-2) tied the score 1-1 with a run in the top of the sixth inning.
Kylie Bates led off the inning and was safe on error. Heather Huff followed with a single to left field, advancing Bates to second base. Danielle Butler followed with a bunt, but the Peebles defense threw to third in an attempt to get the force out of the lead runner. Bates got a great jump on the batted ball and slid into third base just ahead of the throw loading the bases with no outs.
Abby Thackston followed with an infield single to drive in Bates. That would be the only run the Lady Lions would push across, as Swayne retired the next three Lady Lion hitters.
The Lady Lions placed another runner in scoring position in the top of the seventh inning, but again Swayne shut the door.
Peebles got their biggest offensive threat, McDaniel, on base in the bottom of the seventh inning on an infield error. McDaniel eventually would advance to third base with one out.
The Peebles Lady Indians executed a squeeze play to perfection as McDaniel slide into home ahead of the throw home.
Larrick (8-5) suffered the loss, while Swayne earned the win for Peebles. Larrick went 6 1-3 innings, allowing six hits, two runs, (one earned) and one walk. Larrick finished with six strikeouts.
Swayne pitched seven innings, allowing two hits, one run (none earned) and three walks. She finished with nine strikeouts.
Fairfield will host the Eastern Brown Lady Warriors, currently the first place team in the Southern Hills League Division I, Friday at 5 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]