Delexius Cloud slides safely into third vs. Eau Claire Tuesday. (Photo/Ross Burton)
WINNSBORO (March 9, 2016) – The Fairfield Central softball team got off to a solid start Tuesday as the Lady Griffins swept a doubleheader with Eau Claire. Both games were called after just two and a half innings with the Griffins winning 15-0 and 19-1.
The Lady Shamrocks were outmatched from the start, giving up 6 runs in the first inning of game one. The Lady Griffins benefited from poor pitching and would, in the first game, pick up nine walks to go with stolen bases from nearly every baserunner. The second inning saw pitches going over the plate and the lady Griffin bats came alive. Eau Claire, meanwhile, managed to get fewer hits than strikeouts before the game was called.
Game two was more of the same as every Lady Griffin reached base and all but one picked up hits. Fairfield Central put up 16 runs in the first inning before two intentional outs brought the inning to a close. Senior Delexius Cloud had two inside-the-park home runs, and Chyna Woodard added a third. The second inning saw the only defense Eau Claire would manage for the night as two baserunners were thrown out. By that point, though, the damage was done and the Griffins were up 19-0.
The third inning of game two saw the Lady Shamrocks pick up their only run of the twin bill, thanks to an error by Fairfield Central. Their celebration was short lived, though, as junior pitcher Jameka Henderson completed her start with a strikeout. Henderson had four strikeouts for the game.
Coach Gwen Rouse said she was happy to get the wins, but the games didn’t tell her much about her team.
“It’s really hard to say, because the team we played against didn’t have much,” Rouse said. “But with that said, I can say our kids still played. They didn’t play to the caliber of the other team.”
Rouse said that she would like to see some defensive errors corrected moving forward.
“We had an error in the first game. I guess we would have to say it was a hit up the middle, but she touched it, so it was an error when they scored in the second game,” Rouse said. “Hopefully we can get the pitching stronger, just trying to change up some things with pitches so we’re going to do something a little different later on in the season when we play a team like Mid Carolina, Newberry or Pelion, because the competition will be much tougher.”
The Lady Griffins will travel to Columbia High School Thursday night for a 6:15 p.m. first pitch, then head to Lower Richland March 14 for a 5:30 p.m. start.
