Fayette picked up its third win in four games Monday night, defeating Pilot Grove 5-3 in non-conference action to improve to 13-8 overall.

On Thursday, the Falcons closed out Central State 8 play with a convincing 4-2 victory at home over South Callaway. The Falcons wrap up their conference campaign 2-4 on the season, with the postseason district tournament on the horizon.

Monday night’s game was the second start for Kennedy Chew in the circle. The sophomore right-hander struck out two batters, allowing three earned runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. She is now 2-0 in games started.

Freshman ace Brylee Eubanks picked up the save, closing out the final 1.1 innings. She struck out all four batters faced, improving her strikeout total to 141 so far this season.

After two scorless innings, Fayette broke the ice with two runs in the top of the third. Back-to-back errors by Pilot Grove allowed two Falcon base runners. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, senior Brooklyn Wies delivered a fly ball to right field for a two-run single to put her team in front by two.

The Falcon defense protected that lead in the bottom of the third. After a leadoff single, Pilot Grove freshman Khloie Ramey shot a liner to senior Kennady Vroman at first base, who executed an unassisted double play. A groundout followed, allowing Fayette to take its two-run lead into the second half of the game.

Those two early runs would prove crucial, as both teams scored three runs apiece in the final two frames. Fayette struck first in the top of the sixth with two outs. Senior Paige Vroman got things started in her return to the lineup for the first time since sustaining a knee injury during basketball season last year. She didn’t disappoint, singling on a ground ball to open a two-run rally. She would be driven home on a line-drive double to left by senior Sida Gregory to make it a three-run game. And the Falcons weren’t finished. Sophomore Blakley Baylor followed up with a ground ball single to left to score Gregory and open a 4-0 lead.

Pilot Grove answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs on five consecutive singles, slimming Fayette’s lead to just one run, 4-3.

The Falcons added an insurance run in the top of the seventh. With one out, Kennady Vroman doubled on a fly ball to center, then advanced to third on a short pop fly by Wies. Vroman eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Greycen Syferd to go up 5-3.

Eubanks retired the final three batters in order, striking out the side in the bottom of the third to secure the save and ice the win for the Falcons.

Fayette was originally scheduled to host former conference rival and potential district opponent Salisbury on Tuesday night after the Advertiser went to press. But a schedule change sent the Falcons to Class 3 Moberly (11-9) for a 5 p.m. start.

Fayette returns home to face area rival Glasgow on Thursday night in the final game of the regular season for the Falcons. The Yellowjackets are 13-5 overall after defeating Brunswick 7-2 last Tuesday.

Glasgow plays its final regular-season game against Westran (7-13) at home on October 12.

Fayette opens Class 2 District 3 action at Harrisburg next Wednesday. The Falcons are currently sitting fourth in district standings as of this writing on Tuesday morning. Harrisburg leads the six-team district by a wide margin with a 25-3 overall record.