Demon girls stumble to Fairfield

Things got clicking early for the Fairfield bats in a softball doubleheader on Thursday.

The Trojans jumped out early in Game 1 of a conference twinbill against Washington, as they swept the Demons by scores of 9-2 and 5-3, to open their conference season at 2-0.

?Everybody would like to start 2-0,? Fairfield head coach Bob Bradfield said.  ?They were good wins for us. The second game wasn?t very pretty, but we got two wins, and that?s what we came for.?

Fairfield continued its undefeated season, moving to 6-0 on the year overall, while a young Washington team fell to 1-5 on the season and 0-4 in conference action.

?We are having an eighth-grader and four or five freshmen out there starting in a situation where even some of the ones with varsity experience are in different positions,? Washington head coach Angie Shrader said. ?Once we figure out good lineups and good rotations, we?ll be right where we need to be.?

Fairfield got the scoring started in the third inning of Game 1, when Kennedy Waugh and Brenna Bowman came around to score on a hit by pitch and single.

The Trojans continued to tack on runs in the next couple of innings, with Kelsey Roberts and Maddie Roberts coming around to score in the fourth, Mackenzie McClure and Kaylee Watson scoring in the fifth and Waugh, Bowman and Jolea Burkhart scoring in the sixth to give them a 9-0 lead.

?We have a pretty good hitting team and things were clicking,? Bradfield said. ?There wasn?t any secret, and we hit the ball hard enough that it forced a couple of mistakes that might not normally have happened.?

Washington got its bats going in the bottom of the sixth as Kayla Andrew and Brooke Stout came around to score, but it was too little, too late for the Demons.

In Game 2, the Trojans looked to run away with it, using a two-run homerun from Sara Trent in the top of the first to kick things off.

After that, Washington eighth-grader Haylee Wilson prevented the damage from getting much worse, as she allowed seven hits the rest of the way, and only three runs.

?Once she got through that first inning, she settled down, found her pitches and relied on her defense,? Shrader said. ?She got them to pop up, and we had some great plays. Anna (Wheeler) had a great catch (in centerfield) and Jessie (Buchholz) had some great plays at third. Fairfield is a good hitting ball club, and they didn?t have many hits against us, which is great.?

Buchholz led off the bottom of the first with a single, and later came around to score on a Kolbi Breard double after the ball was thrown into the dugout.

The Trojans tacked on runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings, but Washington fought back in the bottom of the sixth, when a string of singles scored Brinning and Breard to make it 5-3.

The Demons had one baserunner in the seventh, but couldn?t complete the comeback.

?We just didn?t string two or three hits together,? Shrader said. ?We had one in the first and picked up a run, then had another in the third, but you can?t do that against a good ball club like Fairfield. We weren?t very patient. We swung at a lot of first pitches, and gave them three- and four-pitch innings. I?m proud of our girls, but we have a ways to go.?

The Trojans will take part in a tournament at Iowa City West over the weekend, while Washington will play a pair of games at a tournament in Oskaloosa on Saturday.