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Washington Evening Journal
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Demons stay perfect in SEC
Washington sweeps Fairfield, moves to 5-0 in conference softball standings
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD — For the Washington Demon softball team, the true Demons of the past have been the ones they’ve faced at the fields in Fairfield.
A once haunting place for Washington turned into a celebration. The Demons took Game 1, 15-6, and Game 2, 10-1, to stay unbeaten in Southeast Conference play.
The Demons have now won six of the last seven games in the Highway 1 rivalry. Before that streak, the Trojans had taken 15 of 16.
“Our seniors remember,” said Washington head coach Ben Obermann. “We’ve had a lot of chances here and let them get away, so this place has never been fun to come to.”
And although the Demons got off to their typical hot start, the game did get dicey for first-place Washington. Fairfield cut a 6-1 lead down to 6-5 and had runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the third, before a double play ended the threat, and it was all Washington from that point forward.
“It’s not an easy team to play against, and they’re much improved from last year,” Obermann said. “Just a credit to our kids coming off a tough weekend in Iowa City. You can tell playing those games prepared us for tonight.”
The Demon offense was working on all cylinders in Game 1, but Colby Greiner had the best performance, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.
“I love playing with this team,” Greiner said. “And we always play better when we get out ahead and get going early.”
Leighton Salazar finished the game with three hits. Halle Cuddeback had two hits and two RBIs. Reagan Miller collected two hits, and Greiner, Alyvia Anderson and Bella Salazar all had two RBIs.
Bella Salazar settled down midway through Game 1 to pick up a complete-game win in the circle, striking out seven players along the way.
Fairfield’s Lilly Bergren finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Olivia Hollander had two hits and an RBI, and Emmelia Miller had the team’s only extra base hit, collecting a double and an RBI.
With Greiner in the circle in Game 2, the team exploded for five runs early on, and never looked back, eventually ending the contest after eight frames.
Ella Greiner went 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the win. Leighton Salazar was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Bella Salazar finished with two hits and an RBI.
Colbie Greiner held Fairfield to just two hits in Game 2. Norris and Faith Jones each had one single.
“The top part of (Washington’s) order is all good hitters,” said Fairfield head coach Bob Bradfield. “It’s hard to keep them under control. You have to have dominant pitching to keep them under wraps.”
The win brought Washington to 10-4 overall and 5-0 in the conference. Fairfield is now 6-5 after taking a loss to Centerville one night later, and the Trojans sit at 3-2 in conference play.
