Pitcher Trenatee Roberts (5) watches on as (15)Tameeya Owens makes the leaping catch to get the force out at first base. Photo/ Ross Burton
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Central lady Griffins playoff run came to an end Saturday after a 5-1 home loss to Berea. Fairfield traveled to Mid-Carolina Thursday in their first game only to suffer an 11-1 trouncing.
“We shouldn’t have lost,” Griffins’ head coach Gwen Rouse said. “It’s just all mental. That’s all I can say is mental, because this team is nowhere near some of the teams we played this year. I’m not knocking the team but nowhere near some of the talent we played this year.”
Catie Johnson, the very first batter of the game, tallied Berea’s first hit with a single, and then she put her wheels on display when she swiped second. A groundout and fly ball out afforded Berea only more opportunity to get Johnson in from second, and Isabel Martinez choked up on her bat then delivered the RBI-single that gave her team a 1-0 lead.
Kavonna Rice was the first Griffin to stroll to the plate and she belted a single to left-field, but she would be picked-off as she neared third base, after a Trenatee Roberts bunt. Berea starting pitcher Hannah Johnson got Tameshia Woodard to whiff on a third strike to finish off the first inning.
Fairfield hit another single in the second, this time via the bat of Amari Jones, but like in the first inning the Griffins were unable to cash in, and the inning ended after two consecutive Hannah Johnson strike-outs.
Again, in the bottom of the third the Griffins came close to tying up the game. After a couple of easy outs Kavonna Rice reached on an error, and then added a couple of stolen bases to her stat-line to end up all the way-over on third with two outs, but a ground-ball out ended the threat.
Griffins pitcher Trenatee Roberts settled down after giving up a couple hits and a run in the first inning, and easily retired Berea in the second, third and fourth inning, but the wheels came off a bit in the fifth. An error at first allowed Berea’s first batter of the inning, Mackenzie Arrowood, got all the way to third on an error, and a couple of batters later Hannah Johnson knocked her in with a single.
“We mentally just wasn’t in it or focused,” Rouse said. “That one inning where we gave up four runs. All I can say is they didn’t want it bad enough, the other team wanted it bad enough.”
Lili Renault kept the offense flowing for the Bulldogs when she blasted an RBI-double to the wall, and Mekayla Davis came in to be her courtesy runner. Davis scored on error that placed Isabel Martinez on first, and Martinez would come into score on an error as well.
By the end of five innings Berea held a commanding 5-0 lead, and their Hannah Johnson continued to deal. Johnson finished off her complete game with seven strikeouts, zero walks and only two hits.
The Griffin’s sole run came off an impressive seventh inning China Woodard hit, that perfectly split the right-fielder and center-fielder, which allowed Woodard to speed all the way around the base-path for an inside the park home-run, but it was too little too late for Fairfield.
“I know we lost some key players but I still feel like it was an up and down season,” Rouse said. “We had a couple of new players on the team, some of the kids that didn’t play last year had to play this year. Not the confidence level I felt like they should have had.”
FCHS: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1
BHS: 1-0-0-0-4-0-0-5
Hitting: 1B- Kavonna Rice, Amari Jones (FCHS); Catie Johnson, Hannah Johnson (3), Isabel Martinez (BHS). 2B- Lili Renault (BHS). HR- China Woodard (FCHS).
Pitching: WP- Hannah Johnson, LP- Trenatee Roberts