Early-inning woes doom Demon softball

Josh Dillon

GTNS News Team

FAIRFIELD ? The first inning was unkind to the Washington Demons in a doubleheader Thursday afternoon with Class 4A No. 8 Fairfield.

In game one, the Trojans showed off their patience, drawing four consecutive walks to start the ballgame with a nine-run bottom of the first. In the second game, Fairfield teed off on anything in the strike zone, scoring eight runs in the opening frame.

Offensively, Washington couldn?t get much going off of Trojan starter Alli Deao in game one. The Fairfield senior allowed only two hits and was locked in the zone, walking none and striking out four Washington batters en route to a 10-0 victory for Fairfield.

The Demons? offense fared much better against game two starter Haley Beard, as Washington scratched across a run in both the second and third innings and rallied for three runs in the fifth and two runs in the sixth. But the Trojans? offense piled it on, winning 15-7.

?We had one bad inning and had trouble shutting off,? Washington softball head coach Ben Obermann said. ?In the first game we went down 9-0, and then in the second game 8-0. We kept battling and finally we saw some continuous hitting and we were controlling the at-bats. It was nice to see us battle especially after getting down early. They haven?t quit yet this season.?

Washington?s Haylee Wilson jump-started the Demons? offense in the second inning. The freshman battled with Beard, falling 0-2 in the count before a couple of foul balls kept her alive at the plate. After taking a couple of close pitches, Wilson pulverized a Beard fastball over the left-field fence for a solo homer to get the team on the scoreboard.

?I tried to just stay alive and really didn?t want to strike out,? said Wilson. ?I kept thinking ?ball four, base hit? and it just happened. I scooted up in the box to prepare for a changeup. I smiled right when I hit it and it just felt really good. It?s the third one I?ve hit in my entire life.

?Our coach talked to us and brought the team up and more of us got on the fence and cheered for everyone, and that made the difference in the second game.?

?She got down in the count and kept battling and winning each pitch, one pitch at a time,? Obermann said. ?That would be a blueprint of what our philosophy is. She battled and fought off some tough pitches, and once she hit one, we knew it was gone. That got the offense rolling a little bit.?

Mackenzie Knutson suffered the loss in game one for the Demons and Molly Sparks was in the circle for game two. Eighth-grader Alexa Mitchell pitched in relief in game one, dancing out of danger with a strikeout of Beard to end the first inning.

?Offensively we are slowly getting better,? Obermann said. ?We still have to figure out how to shut off that big inning, or avoid it, or we?ll struggle. It starts with first-pitch strikes and some fundamental things. If we can continue to progress, we?ll limit our mistakes and hopefully we?ll start clicking.?

The losses drop the Demons to 2-4 on the season and Washington will face off with a pair of nonconference foes Saturday in Oskaloosa. In game one, the Demons will face off with Newton and Pella Christian. The next home contest will be against Keokuk on Monday.