Fayette came up a few inches short of victory in the final game of the regular season, a 2-1 loss to North Shelby.

Fayette put the tying and winning runs in scoring position with two outs in the seventh inning. Addison Newell hit a soft fly into shallow center-right field, but it was a few inches short of a hit.

Lady Raider second baseman Caroline Linberger ran back and extended her glove, making a tough play to end the game.

Following a Fayette error in the sixth inning, a soft ground ball rolled a few inches from foul territory, putting two runners on for North Shelby.

Fayette’s 1-0 lead disappeared when Linberger’s two-out single traveled down the third baseline, a few inches from the glove of Megan Lewis.

Linberger went 3-3 at the plate, while the rest of the Lady Raiders were 2-22.

The Falcons put the leadoff runner on base in four innings, but only scored in the fourth inning when Hannah Quint followed up a Breanna Estes single with a triple into right field. Quint had a leadoff single in the second inning and stole second, but three straight strikeouts ended the threat. Lewis had a leadoff double in the sixth inning.

Abby Nation and Newell started the game with back-to-back singles, but Nation was called out on a close play at home plate to keep the game scoreless in the first inning.

Both Lady Raider runs were unearned. Jordyn Ball allowed five hits, one walk and struck out nine.

Fayette finished the regular season 17-5-1, while North Shelby finished 13-3.

It was the final home game for seniors Breanna Estes, Kylea Hoover, and Abby Nation. The trio has a record of 37-11-1 as juniors and seniors. All three were starters on the first district softball championship team in Fayette history.

"They’re all great kids and good players and all of them, at some point during their careers, has done something pretty incredible," James said.

"Breanna is an all-state player, one of our first all state players we’ve ever had. Obviously tremendous power, a tremendous batter. Statiscally, we’re going to miss her in the middle of the lineup, and her leadership was really good this year.

"Kylea has been an all-region player. One of our better fielders, a quick girl. Once again, a good piece of our offense, plus a good leader.

"Abby kind of came out of nowhere and had a breakout year this year. She sparked us and became our catalyst." 

This season, Estes led the Falcons with a batting average of .486 and 30 RBI. Hoover scored 16 runs and led Fayette with three triples. Nation led the Falcons with 25 runs scored and hit .358 as a senior, up from .241 a year ago.

"Every one of those girls has earned quite a bit of postseason recognition over their careers," James said. "They’re our most winningest senior class, they have 61 wins for their four years. They set a good high mark and a good high standard. Hopefully the serve as a model and hopefully we can build off of that."