Fairfield softball pounds Chiefs

FAIRFIELD - The No. 11 Fairfield softball team picked up two wins over Keokuk in a home doubleheader on Thursday. In Game 1, the Trojans rolled, 12-0 in four innings, earning starting pitcher Allison Rebling no-hitter. In Game 2, Fairfield pulled out a 10-3 win.

The Trojans were all over the Keokuk starter in Game 1. Fairfield busted out for six runs in the first inning and never looked back, scoring one in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth.

Rebling struck out nine of the 12 pitchers she faced in Game 1. The Fairfield senior walked three batters in the victory.

Coty Engle went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs to lead the offense. Destiny Gridley went a perfect 2-for-2 with an RBI. Hannah Simpson and Jenna Norris each had two RBIs, and both Peyton McCabe and Delaney Breen knocked one in.

The Trojans took a little more time to get things going in the second game. Fairfield scored one each in the first and second innings and five in the third. Keokuk cut the lead to 7-3 with a three-run fifth, but Fairfield tacked on two in the fifth and one more in the sixth.

Engle threw all seven innings in Game 2. She gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks, while striking out five Keokuk batters.

Shaylin Drish and Jennia Norris combined for eight of Fairfield's nine RBIs. Drish was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and four RBIs, and Norris went 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs of her own. Danielle Breen was 1-1 with an RBI in the win.

'We did what we needed to,” head coach Bob Bradfield said after the wins. 'The first game came pretty easy, but the second game we were a little slow getting going.”

Fairfield is now 4-1 on the season. They'll host Burlington, one of the most dangerous teams in the Southeast Conference, in a doubleheader tonight (Monday). SEC league play begins tonight, as teams go through their second scheduled round robin in conference play.