Survive and advance Fairfield will face Mt. Pleasant in a Saturday night showdown

The Fairfield varsity softball team eliminated Keokuk from the Class 4A region 6 playoffs Thursday evening with a 7-1 home victory over the Chiefs who finish the year 3-31.

Breakdown

The visiting rivals from the Southeast Conference were not afraid of the more successful Trojans, especially after upsetting the home team in their last visit to Fairfield, and showed that by scoring the first run of the contest in the top of the first inning. Fortunately for the Trojans, their bats were much more alive than the Chiefs and ace Allison Rebling threw seven innings of two-hit softball and surrendered zero runs after the first inning while striking out 14 and walking just one batter.

The eight hits by the home team were scattered amongst the young lineup with only eighth grader Coty Engle hitting safely multiple times, although freshman Hannah Simpson drew three walks along with her 1-for-1 performance in official at-bats with a single and a run scored on her stat line and eighth grader Peyton McCabe went 0-for-1 but drew two free passes for the Trojans.

Also hitting safely were Danielle Breen, Rebling, Destiny Gridley, Shay Drish and Jenna Norris with Breen and Gridley both getting extra-base hits and the latter earning the junior three RBI.

Scoring

After trailing 1-0 for 1/2 an inning, Fairfield answered with a score of their own in the home-half of the frame before waiting until the fourth to add on three decisive runs and the sixth to add three more for the 7-1 final.

Next

The Trojans will travel to Mt. Pleasant on Saturday for a 7 p.m. showdown with the team that shared the SEC title with FHS after the Panthers and Chiefs each defeated the Trojans once in their final four conference games.