Ninth-ranked Grayhounds take two from Fairfield

If Tori Ogden?s collision at first base on Fairfield?s first play of the game was any indication, Wednesday night was going to be a struggle.

The Trojans? double header lived up that bill, but it was to be expected with the Class 4A ninth-ranked Burlington team standing in the other dugout ? a team with pitching, hitting, defense and the knowledge of how to win softball games. Fairfield hung tough most of the evening, but couldn?t get over the hump ? especially with opportunities in game two ? and took to losses 4-0, 4-3.

Game two in particular presented chances for Fairfield, particularly in the bottom of the fifth inning down 4-3 when a pedestrian two-out walk by Gretchen Granneman led to a bases loaded situation. That was exactly the point Burlington pitcher Miranda Kramer buckled down and got the Grayhounds out of the inning ? then went on to retire the Fairfield batters in order the final two innings.

?It was anybody?s game at that point; with the bases loaded, a base hit probably puts us ahead, but it didn?t happen,? said Fairfield head coach Bob Bradfield. ?The first game could have been 0-0 heading into the seventh, so we?re just that far from being a good team.?

Kramer was just following the lead set by game one pitcher Ali Martin ? Burlington?s top pitcher who dealt a game one shut out while striking out 10 Fairfield batters. It wasn?t until a fifth-inning single by Rachel Robinson that the Trojans even had a base runner. By then, Burlington had built a 2-0 lead against Fairfield pitcher Mackenzie Laux adding two more runs in the top of the seventh. Laux finished with seven strikeouts while allowing just one earned run.

Brittany Craff entered the first game for Fairfield in the bottom of the seventh inning where she belted a double for the Trojan?s second hit of the game. Craff carried that into game two and finished the evening 4-4 including two RBIs.

?Brittany had a real good evening and hit it right on the nose tonight. That was a real bright spot for us tonight,? Bradfield said. ?We only had a couple hits the first game but came around in the second and had some good innings getting people on base.?

The rest of the lineup followed Craff?s lead in the nightcap and put together a three-run first inning in response to Burlington?s two-run first ? an inning helped by a triple from the game?s first batter Tina Gonzalez. With two quick outs down, Robinson and Granneman both reached on singles. Another Craff double plated the two of them, and the hits kept coming. Allison Delker tallied another hit before Meredith Flattery?s single scored Craff to give Fairfield a 3-2 lead. After the three-run outburst the Trojans stranded two ? one on third base ? and wouldn?t threaten again until the fifth.

Burlington eeked out two more runs ? one each in the third and the fifth ? to take the lead before clamping down the Trojan offense.

?When we had runners on base late in the game with a chance to tie or go ahead, we just couldn?t come up with the big hit,? said Bradfield. ?We?ve been talking to our kids about battling at the plate and they just aren?t battling. They go up and get behind in the count and start swinging at pitches they shouldn?t.

?Chelsey Taylor saw over 10 pitches once and ended up walking ? even if she had struck out that would?ve been a good at bat the way she made the pitcher work. If everybody on our team would do that, we would be hitting much better.?

Robinson allowed only three hits and struck out one for Fairfield, but gave four free passes to the Grayhounds ? one of which led to the go-ahead run. A hit batter in the third inning ended up being the tying run.

?They didn?t have a lot of hits, but we struggled a little bit with control and there were probably a few too many walks. Both of our pitchers struggled a little bit with some pitches, but we were fortunate to hold them how we did,? Bradfield said.

As it stands, the Trojans are 13-8 on the year and now set for another non conference battle at WACO Friday night.