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FAIRFIELD SOFTBALL LEADERS
Hitting: Lexis Thomas, 18 for 61 (.295); 11 RBIs, 9 runs, 3 doubles, 2 homers.
Pitching: Kellyn Hoffert, 9-10; 128.2 innings, 75 strikeouts, 2.67 ERA.
FAIRFIELD BASEBALL LEADERS
Hitting: Casey McWhorter, 28 of 66 (.424); 11 RBIs, 10 runs, 3 doubles.
Pitching: Jacob Gunnell, 3-0; 11.2 innings, 20 strikeouts, 1.20 ERA.
Brenda Stieger is beginning to understand how Chris Peterson feels.
Stieger once again loaded up her Fairfield High School softball schedule with tough tests out of the Greater Miami Conference play to make sure her squad was tournament ready.
However, much like Peterson’s Boise State football teams, Stieger didn’t feel the love when the Division I tournament seedings were unveiled.
“We have respect for all of the teams,” Stieger said. “But, it’s a bit of that BCS mentality where some look at the record and not at how much tougher the opponents are. We are 10-10, so it is what it is.”
Lakota East, West, Hamilton and Middletown are all at the Dayton sectional, pulling four GMC schools out of the voting.
“With them going to Dayton, we lose some of those votes,” Stieger said.
Fairfield, the ninth seed, opens tournament play on May 15 by hosting the Ursul/Princeton winner at 5 p.m.
“We will typically take that bye,” Stieger said. “Coming off a long week, it gives us a chance to prepare and scout so we can see what’s ahead of us.”
The Indians are coming off a week in which they lost a pair of 1-0 games, including their contest with Lakota West in which the only run came on a two-out home run in the fifth inning.
“We are right there, we just got to put the offense back on track,” Stieger said. “If we can do that, I think we can come out with some wins.”
If the Indians do make a run in the tournament, it will be because they have followed one mantra.
“We don’t look past anybody,” Stieger said. “We are right there, we just got to put the offense back on track and we will come out with some wins.”
Fairfield baseball coach Adam Reed has a hard time finding the right word to describe his first season at the helm.
The Indians started out 5-0, but have since fallen to 10-12. Along the way, they have lost seven games by three runs or less and have out-hit their last three opponents (Lakota East, Hamilton and Badin) and dropped all three contests.
“We win those games and it is a difference in the season,” Reed said. “We are close. We have one little think that gets us every time.”
The postseason is the perfect time to surprise people.
The Indians enter the D-I sectional as a No. 17 seed and will open at home on Tuesday against lowly Western Brown.
“We are pretty excited,” Reed said. “We are where I thought we would be. We just have to play the team in front of us. I think we are playing well now. We are just one pitch away, one hit away from having a great record.”
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