SYRACUSE – For five innings, the annual Fairfield-Wawasee softball game lived up to the expectations created by several close games in recent seasons. But over the last two innings, Wawasee made plenty of mistakes, and the visiting Lady Falcons made their hosts pay with eight runs in a 9-2 win over the Lady Warriors Monday evening. Fairfield scored first when Alexis Zook doubles, stole third and scored on a groundout in the top of the third inning. Wawasee’s Amber Lemberg mowed down the next seven Fairfield hitters in order through the fifth inning. Meanwhile the Lady Falcons’ Lairen Miller was highly effective. After allowing a pair of singles in the opening inning, Miller retired 13 straight Wawasee hitters, keeping the Lady Warriors off-balance by changing the speed of her pitches. “We found something that worked,” Fairfield coach John Skibbe said of Miller. “It was one of those things that we struggled the whole game until the sixth inning when we finally found something that worked. “So tonight we came out right away and found a pitch that worked, and we stuck with it. They struggled hitting that pitch and so we stuck to our guns with it. The cold and wind kinda helped out, too.” The sixth inning was pivotal, with Miller leading off the inning by reaching on an error. D.J. Martz hit in to a fielder’s choice, and advance to second and third on a single passed ball. After Jalisa Schwartz walked, Martz scored on a bunt single by Jenean Schwartz. The pivotal play in the game came when the Schwartz sisters, after advancing to second and third, scored on an error to push the score to 4-0. The error loomed large in the bottom of the inning when Kylee Rostochak stroked a two-run double. Any thought of a Wawasee comeback was squashed in the seventh when Jalissa Schwartz’s two-run homer highlighted a five-run inning for Fairfield. Wawasee committed two more errors in the frame, and Fairfield runners advanced two bases on each of the miscues. “Our kids take a lot of pride in their baserunning,” Skibbe said. “Our kids aren’t necessarily the quickest kids sometimes, but they’re aggressive and know when to take the extra base. I thought that when they had an error, we did a good job of taking advantage of it. We came through with some good hits, too. While one coach felt like his team was well-prepared the day spring break ended at both schools, the other felt just the opposite way. “I thought we played really well coming off of spring break,” Skibbe said. “I thought we came out and really wanted to be here, we really wanted to play, and the kids look forward to playing Wawasee. They’re a good team and we know that, and we enjoy that competition. Wawasee coach Jared Knipper said his team’s late-inning performance reflected the lack of time on the diamond in recent days. We hadn’t practiced in 10 days, and it obviously showed with errant throws and not hitting the ball,” he said. “You really can’t use this as a measuring stick of where you are so unprepared for today’s game. They’re in the same boat, but they hit the ball a little better than we did. We made the mistakes and they didn’t.” Now 3-1, Wawasee will host Columbia City this afternoon, with first pitch at 5 p.m. FAIRFIELD 9, WAWASEE 2 F 001 003 5 – 9 12 0 W 000 002 0 – 2 5 6 Fairfield – L. Miller (W, 7IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 12K) Wawasee – Lemberg (L, 7IP, 12H, 9R, 3ER, 3BB, 6K) 2B – Zook (F), Miller (F), Rostochak (W) HR – Jalisa Schwartz (F) Records – Fairfield 2-0, Wawasee 3-1 JV – Fairfield 7, Wawasee 3
