“We were here fixing our place since 2:30,” the senior said. “We were playing this one on our field. We wanted to beat them on our field. We didn’t want to beat them over there.”
Alumni Field was ready in time for Bowling to go 2-for-4 with four RBIs and the Rams to roll the Indians 13-1 in five innings.
“We just came out here and had fun,” Bowling said. “We played our game, and we did our job. It was fun. Just every day we come out here and try our best and have fun.”
Badin (16-3) upped its winning streak to 14 games, while Fairfield (3-16) has lost 10 in a row and 14 of its last 15.
The last time the two teams played was in 2019. Badin has won the last three meetings.
“Every pitch matters, and the score doesn’t matter,” Rams coach Brion Treadway said. “Our guys are competing every pitch. We don’t compete against scoreboards. We compete against ourselves and being ready for each pitch, and the guys were ready tonight. I thought they did a good job. They put together good at-bats, played clean defense, and our pitchers gave us a chance.”
The Rams put together a five-run second inning and a six-run third inning to quickly put things out of reach.
The Indians threatened with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the third, but they came up empty. The big play that inning came when Fairfield’s Teagan Lucking flew out to Badin left fielder James Brink, who threw out Nathan Lisk at the plate tagging from third.
“It’s been like that for us all year — whether it’s a baserunning error or the guys at the plate just making the moment too big for themselves,” Fairfield coach Lance Durham said. “Just kind of growing up on the field, but at the same time, we’re toward the back end of the year. You’ve got to find a way to mentally play baseball and just block out the noise.”
Fairfield started a freshman, six sophomores and two juniors in its batting order on Thursday.
Blake Morningstar, Carson Candella, Beckett Clemmons, Colton Owens and Lucking had base hits for the Indians. Fairfield scored its lone run in the fourth on Alex Brehm’s groundout that scored Brayden Benge.
Fairfield sophomore McCoy Marksbury got the start, giving up eight earned runs on four hits, hitting two batters and walking five.
“We’re just going to stay disciplined with the work,” Durham said. “I’m tired of hearing that we’re young. At some point, we’ve got to figure it out. But I love seeing these kids every day. We’ve just got to keep grinding it out, and hopefully one day the sun will shine on us, and we can get a dub.
“We can’t point the finger or feel sorry for ourselves because obviously nobody is when they say, ‘Play ball.’ But we’re just going to keep working,” Durham added.
“It’s tough. But we’re putting these guys out there because we do trust them, and we do believe in them. They’re not executing as consistently as we like, but we’re kind of living with what we have right now. We love these kids, and we’re just going to continue to try to get them better.”
Junior Luke Campbell got his first start of the season for Badin and picked up the win.
Cooper Ollis had two hits and two RBIs, while Austin Vangen (1-for-3, run, walk), Taylor (1-for-3), Brink (three runs), Carson Lowe (1-for-2, two RBIs) and Cooper Moore (1-for-1, RBI) also contributed offensively.
“The best part is the guys wanted to play,” Treadway said. “You could feel it, and they wanted it. They were hungry to play, to compete against somebody else.
“We got down here, head our normal pregame routine BP on the field, and we worked on the field. The guys got a little break because of the seven o’clock. We didn’t know if we’d be at Foundation or here. Coach (Mark) Maus gave us the green light to play here, and fortunately, Fairfield was flexible as well.”
Fairfield’s Spence reaches pitching milestone
Fairfield High School senior pitcher Megan Spence logged her 300th strikeout in the Indians’ 13-0 win over Sycamore on Wednesday.
Spence, a Wilmington College commit, moved into sixth all-time in program history with 305 strikeouts. She has a 36-11 career record in the pitcher’s circle with a 1.934 earned run average.
Talawanda softball wins second straight SWOC title
The Talawanda High School softball team captured its second straight Southwest Ohio Conference title.
The Brave (15-6, 6-0 SWOC) have won five in a row and seven of their last eight. Talawanda is 14-1 in conference games the last two seasons.
Lakota East boys volleyball tops in GMC
The Lakota East High School boys volleyball team grabbed at least a share of the Greater Miami Conference title with its win over Hamilton on Wednesday.
The Thunderhawks (18-2, 7-0 GMC) won the conference title last season. Lakota East wraps up the regular season on Tuesday at Sycamore, which can get a piece of the GMC title with a win.
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