Lady Lions sweep weekend doubleheader

LEESBURG — On Saturday, Fairfield High School was the home of a tri-doubleheader on the softball diamond, and for the two games played by the host Lady Lions, they left the field with two wins, defeating Portsmouth Clay 3-2, followed with another 3-2 win, this time defeating Waverly.

The two non-conference wins leave the Lady Lions with a 3-1 overall record, winning three consecutive games.

In the first game of the day, the Lady Lions defeated Portsmouth Clay by the aforementioned 3-2 score, with Clay High School scoring first in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Lions rallied with a two-run fourth inning, then added their third run of the game in the bottom of the sixth for a 3-1 lead. The Lady Panthers scored their final run in the top of the seventh inning.

Fairfield totaled five hits in the win and committed two errors. Clay ended the game with three hits and no errors.

“It took us a few innings to get started,” Fairfield head coach Ellen Binegar said. “They have a good freshman pitcher that came out throwing pretty hard to start with and caught us off guard, throwing a little high, and got us swinging early, but we stuck with it.

“We didn't let errors get to us. We didn't let them get on a big run, and we chipped away at the end of the ball game. I'm very proud of them. We had a sophomore first baseman Jorgia Smith step up and make some great plays and get a very important ball to the outfield that got us on board.”

Jobey Hatten led Fairfield with a 2-for-3 game at the plate, scoring one run as one of her hits was a double, plus she collected one steal.

Kelsie Crowder was 1-for-2 with a run, one RBI and a walk. Teammate Rilee Quickle finished 1-for-2 with a walk and two steals. Jorgia Smith ended the game at 1-for-3 with two RBI and a double.

Drawing walks for Fairfield were Alyssa Bales and Ally Maynard.

In the circle, the pitching win went to Quickle, who in seven innings allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

“Rilee is doing a great job. She came in after her sister (Caitlyn Quickle) graduated last year, and she's been very solid,” Binegar said. “She throws a lot of strikes, and she's got some movement that we're proud of. She's hitting her spots. You never know what the strike zone is going to look like from the back side, but she does a good job adjusting to it, and she throws a lot and throws the batters off guard, so I'm proud of her.”

Coach Binegar spoke about her team making the adjustments and forgetting about any mistake made in a game.

“We've been talking a lot about the three-second rule, letting the mistake go, or not getting down on ourselves if the other team scores a run, keeping them within arm's reach,” she said. “I think it says a lot about their mentality and acting like they've played this game before.”

BOX SCORE
PCHS        100 000 1 — 2 3 0
FHS        000 201 x — 3 5 2

In game two of the day for Fairfield, the Lady Lions also won by a 3-2 score.

Fairfield scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Waverly took a 2-1 lead with a two-run top of the sixth inning.

The Lady Lions came back with one run in the bottom of the sixth for a 2-2 score, and in the bottom of the seventh Fairfield walked off with the game-winning run as Hatten forced a bases-loaded walk to score Jorja May from third base, who led off the inning with a walk. FHS ended the game with six hits and three errors, while Waverly had three hits and no errors.

Alyssa Bales finished 2-for-2 with one run and one RBI, as she hit a double and home run, plus she walked once. Ally Maynard was 2-for-3 with one run, a walk and two steals. The Lady Lions also had Carly Sanders finish 1-for-3.

Fairfield also had Kelsie Crowder force a walk, while Hattan collected an RBI and a walk. May had one walk, and Avery Morrow also had one walk.

Maynard, the winning pitcher, tossed 1.2 innings where she allowed two earned runs on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Quickle pitched 5.1 innings, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks with four strikeouts in the no-decision.
 
Next for Fairfield is an away SHAC game Tuesday, April 1 against the Peebles Lady Indians at 5 p.m.

BOX SCORE
WHS    000 002 0 — 2 3 0
FHS    000 001 x — 3 6 3

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