Fairfield Outlasts Valley In Sectional SlugfestLAGRANGE – Tippecanoe Valley High School softball coach Daryl Shoemaker’s description of Tuesday’s sectional semifinal against Fairfield was spot on.
“You’ve got two teams that like to hit the ball, and they both slugged it out. They just had more in the end than we did.”
In a back-and forth battle at Lakeland High School, the Falcons outlasted the Lady Vikings 17-10 and advanced to Thursday’s 6 p.m. championship game against Class 3A No. 4 Wawasee.
Wawasee beat West Noble 9-0 in Tuesday’s first semifinal game.
Tuesday’s high-scoring contest featured 31 hits, seven errors and plenty of pitching changes.
The Lady Vikings, who had 13 hits and five errors in the game, trailed 7-1 after two innings of play but scored four times in the third and three more in the fourth to forge ahead 8-7.
The Falcons responded with a rally of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning, pounding out six hits and plating seven runs in the frame to take the lead for good.
Fairfield tacked on two more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth.
Valley scored its final two runs in the seventh inning.
“That’s what they do, they hit,” Shoemaker said about his team rallying from the 7-1 deficit. “They love to hit. We came from behind in at least three conference games this year, and a couple other games. They know if we can get the first couple runners, and that hitting gets contagious, this group of girls can hit. And that’s what we say when we go somewhere ... let’s do what we do best.”
Abby Betten, Kayla Scott, and Katie Prater led Valley with two hits each.
Betten hit a double, Valley’s only extra-base hit.
For Fairfield, Bobbie Freese led the way with four hits, including a triple and two doubles. Morgan Sanchez and Julia Brown had three hits each in the win, while Chloe Dell and Taylor Garber finished with two hits each.
Kinsey Miller was credited with the win in the circle, giving up four hits and three runs after replacing Graber in the fourth inning. Miller didn’t have a strikeout or issue a walk.
Ally Betten was charged with the pitching loss after giving up four hits, a walk and five runs.
Betten replaced Sydney Howard in the second inning and worked 2-1/3 innings in the circle.
Betten was replaced by Kayla Scott, who pitched the final three innings.
The Lady Vikings, who finished the season with a 10-15 record, lose three seniors – Abby Betten, Mia Gunnels and Prater.
