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FAIRFIELD — Fairfield High School pitcher Jaisa Fox’s bid for a second consecutive no-hitter against Middletown ended just three batters into the game.
In fact, the Middies recorded hits off Fox in each of the first three innings Monday, April 26, but they didn’t end up doing anything with their baserunners.
The Indians, on the other hand, made the most of their season-high 14 hits, turning them into an 8-0 softball victory at Fairfield Middle School.
“We’ve spent a lot of time trying to get better offensively,” Tribe coach Brenda Stieger said. “We use the term ‘selectively aggressive.’ Other than Lakota West, no one has really held us down.”
Shelby Doan went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and Fox went 3-for-3 to lead the way for Fairfield (12-6, 10-4 Greater Miami Conference).
Jeanie Taggart (2-for-4, double, RBI, run scored) and Jessica Flick (2-for-4, three RBIs, run) also had multi-hit games for the Indians.
“They hit some pitches that were way outside on them,” Middletown coach Van Sams said. “We threw the pitches where we wanted them, and they hit them. We had what we thought was a good game plan, but they just hit the ball well today.”
For the Middies (5-13, 3-11 GMC), Brianna Lipscomb singled in the first, Kaitlyn McIntosh singled in the second and Chelsi McIntosh doubled in the third. But that was it.
Fox retired 14 of the final 15 batters she faced to record the 35th shutout of her prep career. The senior right-hander finished with 12 strikeouts and one walk to up her record to 12-6.
“We did better than when we played them the last time and she no-hit us,” Sams said, referring to a 12-0 Fairfield victory April 7 at MHS.
“The last three or four games we had actually started to hit quite a bit,” Sams continued. “We changed the batting order a little bit and it seems to be jelling a little better, until today. But you have to give credit to Fox. She’s a really good pitcher.”
The Middies will take today off before playing host to Lakota East on Wednesday.
Fairfield will play host to Mount Notre Dame (15-4) today in a key nonleague game that could help both teams when it comes to Division I tournament seeding.
“We felt like the league chase was over Friday when we lost to Mason,” said Stieger, whose Indians sit three games back of the Comets in the loss column with just four league games remaining.
“We felt like we really had a chance until Friday, but too much has to happen now,” she continued. “Now we’re working on improving our record to get as high of a seed as we can going into sectionals.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.
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