WINNSBORO – Fairfield Central softball hosted the Keenan Raiders for a double-header on Monday. The Lady Griffs prevailed, 15-0 and 18-5.
The weather was sunny but cold and very windy at game time. The Griffin’s head coach, Jessica Seibert was unfazed. “We actually like it like this. We certainly prefer it over really hot weather,” she said.
Keenan Head Coach Reginald La Roche did not articulate any high hopes, saying, “We expect maximum effort in these games. We have had a lot of lineup changes, and haven’t found the perfect fit for all the girls.”
LaQuaja Chappell (18) cuts off the baserunner’s path and gets the early tag out. | Joe Seibles
Fairfield’s Coco Rice was the starting pitcher for the Griffins, and did a good job. On the other hand, Patterson of the Raiders struggled all night.
Rice began the first inning well, striking out the leadoff batter. The next batter hit one into the left-center gap for a single. Rice struck out the next two batters, retiring the side.
Fairfield then began possibly longest half inning in recent history. They went through the batting order three times before the third out, scoring 13 runs. The Raiders walked 10.
Rice rounded the bases on a wild pitch, and scored the first run on another wild pitch. Wild pitches allowed several Griffins to score, and LaQuaja Chappell walked with the bases loaded, scoring Asia Williams.
One of two plays of the day was Rice’s in-park home run with bases loaded, scoring four runs. Raider errors precluded the grand slam, but Rice was ecstatic. The remainder of the inning went by in much the same way, walks and wild pitches. When the dust settled, the Griffins led 13-0.
In the top of the second, Rice allowed a single, but struck out the next batter. She walked the next batter, Tbut the Griffins picked both off, ending the side.
The Griffins managed two more in the bottom of the second. A Griffin was thrown out at first for the initial out. Tamiesha Woodard popped one up for the easy out, but Belle Jones tagged up and scored.
The Raiders went three-up, three-down in the top of the third. Rice struck out two, and a grounder to the first baseman ended the first game via mercy rule.
In game two, Seibert put in some younger players for the experience.
“We are looking beyond tonight’s non-conference double header, and concentrating on our conference game later in the week. We really want to make the playoffs,” Seibert said before game two.
Seibert put in Tamia Smith and replaced Rice as pitcher. While Smith did a creditable job for a player of her experience, she allowed the Raiders a few opportunities. A few walks and errors scored four Raiders.
Fairfield was able to narrow the Keenan lead by three runs, all on wild pitches and fielding errors. Keenan extended their lead to 5-3.
The Griffins got serious in the bottom of the second. Jones singled, batting in Rice. Fairfield took a 6-5 lead.
Woodard took a lead from first and got caught in a pickle, allowing Jones to score from third. The inning ended, 8-5 Fairfield.
The Raiders went 1-2-3 in the top of the third.
The second of the key plays happened in the bottom of the third, when Woodard blasted a three-run homer, scoring Jones and China Woodard. Raiders walked in another run and Woodard hit an RBI single.
The game ended with a score of 18-5.