Deao shines as Fairfield keeps rolling

WASHINGTON, Iowa ? Eighth-grader Alli Deao threw the best game of her young varsity career, and Fairfield upset No. 7 Washington 2-0 in the second game of a Southeast Conference doubleheader on Monday night.

Deao threw a four-hit shutout against a Demon squad that entered the contest averaging 13 hits and 10 runs per game.

?For Alli to shut them out is something for an eighth-grader,? Fairfield head coach Bob Bradfield said. ?Washington?s probably about as good of a hitting team as we?ve seen all year, so obviously Alli threw an excellent game.?

A dropped fly ball with two outs in the top of the first inning allowed Fairfield to score two runs and take an early lead.

?That one play, on the scoreboard, looks like it cost us the game, but it didn?t come down to that,? Washington head coach Angie Shrader said. ?We did not hit like we normally have been hitting. Offensively we didn?t help ourselves one bit.?

From the first inning on, Deao was in control. She struck out three batters and did not issue a walk.

She retired the final 10 batters she faced, but said she was tense in the later innings.

?I got nervous, but I tried to stay in there,? she said. ?I was just trying my hardest to throw my pitches right.?

Bradfield said he was nervous, too, because he knew what Washington?s offense was capable of.

?With Washington?s hitting I was never ever comfortable, even with two outs in the seventh inning and nobody on,? he said. ?I still wasn?t betting any part of my paycheck on the result of this game just because of Washington?s hitting ability. Everybody in their lineup can hit.?

Except for in the second game of Monday?s doubleheader, when Deao held the Demons to a season-low four hits and shut them out for the first time all year.

?I don?t know what got to us, but we just weren?t hitting like we usually do,? Washington junior Joni Erwin said. ?I think some of it was kind of the pressure that we had to win this game, and we had to score, and we had to do this. We were just kind of forcing things, and we needed to let it happen and do what we do. We just kind of weren?t ourselves that game.?

The win leaves Fairfield (13-10, 8-2 SEC) one game ahead of Washington (19-3, 7-3 SEC) in the league standings.

?Obviously we would have liked to have won two, but with us being a game in front of them for the conference lead, getting the split leaves us in first place,? Bradfield said.

The Trojans nearly stole the first game from the Demons, too. Fairfield trailed 5-2 heading into the seventh inning, but loaded the bases with nobody out thanks to a pair of walks and a fielder?s choice where everyone was safe. Freshman Madison Roberts drew a walk to bring home a run, and eighth-grader Mackenzie Flattery singled in a run to make it 5-4 and the bases were still loaded with nobody out.

But Washington pitcher Ashley Rausch struck out eighth-grader Mackenzie Harwood, and then she coaxed a 5-2-3 double play that ended the game.

?I knew we had to go home because we needed to save that run,? said Erwin, who started the double play at third base. ?Then Kaitlin [Buchholz] just came through and went to first. It was just a good team play, and we just did what we had to do to get out of the inning.?

Bradfield said his team missed a big opportunity in the seventh.

?Now when you look back on it, it?s too bad in that seventh inning that someone didn?t get a base hit in there with the bases loaded,? he said. ?We could have scored two or three more runs and won the first game.?

Rausch was not her sharpest in the game, allowing four runs on eight hits. She also issued six walks, two of which came with the bases loaded. But she came up with four strikeouts, several in key spots, and her defense made big plays behind her.

?They made the plays when they had to,? Bradfield said. ?Rausch struggled occasionally in that first game, but she was always able to come back and make the right pitches when it counted. You?ve got to give her credit. A lot of times when a pitcher starts to struggle, the other team gets people on base, and the next thing you know you give up a couple of doubles and a single and all of a sudden they?ve scored four or five runs. But she didn?t do that. She came back and made good pitches when it counted. I can?t fault our girls. She was just better than us in those moments.?

Washington senior Lauren Vittetoe hit an RBI single in the third inning and Buchholz scored when Erwin stole second base to put the Demons up 2-0. Sophomore Grace Redlinger hit a solo home run over the left field fence despite a wind blowing in to put Washington up 3-0 after four innings. Fairfield scored two runs in the top of the fifth ? on an RBI single by sophomore Marissa Repp and a bases-loaded walk by freshman Mackenzie McClure ? but the Demons answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame on RBI hits from Erwin and Rausch. Then Washington held on in the seventh.

The Trojans are back in Fairfield for a home doubleheader vs. Centerville today.