Welcome to our new web site!

To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.

During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.

Fayette beats the buzzer in tie with Marshall

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 10/11/20

Softball is a game that is usually measured in outs and innings rather than hours and minutes. There’s no clock ticking off the final seconds, there are no buzzer-beating …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Fayette beats the buzzer in tie with Marshall

Posted

Softball is a game that is usually measured in outs and innings rather than hours and minutes. There’s no clock ticking off the final seconds, there are no buzzer-beating points.

Usually.

With Saturday’s contest approaching the 90-minute “drop dead” time limit, Addison Newell and Megan Lewis hit back-to-back doubles to score the game-tying run.

Then time ran out.

Fayette tied Marshall 5-5, and finished the New Franklin softball tournament with one win, one loss, and one tie.

“I was proud of the way we battled back against Marshall,” coach Mike James said.

“You don’t play drop-dead time limit games ever in the regular season. For us to get two doubles in a row with about three minutes left on the clock, it’s like a half-court shot in basketball.”

Fayette took advantage of four walks, a hit batter, and an error to score three runs without a hit in the second inning.

Fayette loaded the bases with no outs, trailing 4-3 in the third, but scored just one run on a passed ball. Marshall took the lead back in the fourth and held it until Lewis came through in the sixth.

Newell finished 2-4 at the plate. Hannah Quint was 1-2 with a walk land scored two runs. Breanna Estes was 1-1 with two walks.

The game ended with Lewis in scoring position with no outs, and Estes up next. The Owls had 18 outs to score five runs, but Fayette would get just 15.

“It just didn’t feel right the way it ended, and Marshall felt the same way,” James said.

“And I thought that kind of made us sluggish for the next game.”

The Falcons had six hits and allowed five, but four errors were costly in a 6-1 loss to Community in the final game of the day.

“Give Community credit, they made plays when we didn’t,” James said.

“They hit the ball with people on base and we didn’t. But we showed some fight there at the end.”

Fayette had just one hit through the first four innings, but got on the scoreboard with singles from Quint, Madi Lawson, and Kylea Hoover in the fifth. Lewis and Estes had back-to-back one-out singles in the sixth, but the Falcons could not get a clutch hit.

Preslee Sunderland returned from an ankle injury and threw five and 2/3 innings in two games on Saturday. She allowed one earned run on seven hits and two walks.

“I thought she did a really good job for her first time back,” James said. “They just hit the ball.”

Fayette began the day with a 1-0 win over the eventual  pool champion Atlanta (12-3).

Jordyn Ball was dominant, allowing just two hits and no walks in the shutout. Two runners reached base on errors.

Atlanta had a runner on second base only two times in the game. Both times it was with two outs and both times the inning ended with a groundout.

Newell hit a one-out double in the first inning, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI groundout from Estes.

Newell led off the sixth inning with a single and had both of Fayette’s hits in the game. Lewis was hit by pitch twice.

“We were real crisp, we were real sharp,” James said. “We played a really good team. Two really good pitchers and so I was pleased with that.”

Atlanta bounced back to beat Marshall 6-2 and defeated Community 10-7 to win the pool.

Community also finished the day 2-1 with a 12-9 win over Marshall.

Fayette has a record of 17-4-1 and will host North Shelby (12-3) in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday with a district quarterfinal matchup against Eugene (13-5) on Wednesday.  

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here