“There’s been a big vibe change,” Lakota East sophomore Kaleigh Crawford said. “We hit a rough patch there for a little bit, so these last couple of games have really been what we needed for building team morale.”
Crawford went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and propelled the Thunderhawks in the pitcher’s circle to a 6-1 victory over the Fairfield Indians on Monday at Creekside Middle School.
Lakota East snapped an eight-game losing streak to its Greater Miami Conference rival and has won four of its last five. The Indians, who reached the Division I state semifinals in 2024, beat the Thunderhawks 1-0 earlier this season.
The last time Lakota East beat Fairfield was 7-5 back on May 8, 2021.
“Going into today, I think we were just very confident again in our abilities,” Crawford said. “I just wanted to go out there, and I wanted to do good for my teammates. It’s been a long time since we beat Fairfield. That was my goal — to go out there, do my job and let them make plays.
“Fairfield beat us in their tournament run, and after going 0-3 against them last year, this one was definitely one that we wanted.”
Lakota East coach Kelley Haiber and assistant coach Mike Cappel recently stepped away from their positions, athletic director Jill Meiring said. Steve Crawford, who has been the junior high coach the last four years, is now in charge with assistant Mark Pinto.
“I volunteered to get them to the end of their season,” said Steve Crawford, Kaleigh’s father. “They deserve to finish their season. So, that was the biggest thing to me. Whatever I could do to help them.
“These are such good girls, and they have a ton of talent. We just need them to believe. And I think they’re starting to believe. They’re all here for a reason — on the varsity team — and I think it’s starting to show. I think the confidence is starting to show a little bit.”
Kaleigh Crawford smacked a two-RBI double in the top of the first to jumpstart the Thunderhawks (11-8, 10-4 GMC).
Lakota East loaded the bases in the top of the third, and Karli Damen hit a grounder to Fairfield shortstop Adelyn Huey — who threw home for a force out. But the ball popped out of Aurora Wallace’s mitt at the plate, and Haley Thompson scored to put the Thunderhawks up 3-0.
Madi Miller singled in Huey to put the Indians (13-4, 11-4 GMC) on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Lakota East scored two more runs in the top of the fifth, and Thunderhawks sophomore Abrie Schulte hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh. Schulte went 3-for-4 with two runs.
“I think the girls are going to the plate with a lot of confidence,” Steve Crawford said. “They’re up there swinging and hunting their pitches. It’s starting to show. It’s taken the last week, probably. We’re going up there swinging the bats. I thought they took a good approach.”
Kailyn Armor went 2-for-3 for the Indians, who celebrated Senior Night on Monday. Fairfield senior pitcher Megan Spence had four strikeouts but gave up five earned runs on nine hits.
“We had some uncharacteristic errors,” Indians coach Brenda Stieger said. “We had two games in a row where we had quite a bit going on, which is great to have recognition as we recognized the ‘91 and ‘24 (state semifinal) teams and then Senior Night. Some of those things can throw you off your rhythm a little bit, and no excuses.
“But you try and look at what we can do to try and get better and what we have to do different,” Stieger added. “We’ll just go back to the drawing board and get the girls to believe in themselves again. They get a little down, and then they start pressing, and they start to worry that they’re going to make a mistake. When you do that, you play like that, and you do make mistakes.
“Some things it’s just not thinking ahead. We had opportunities to start shutting them down. We’ve just got to refocus and get back to what we do. We should be able to do that.”
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