Fairbanks shortstop Ciera Madison leaps for the ball thrown on this Greeneview stolen base Friday evening. The Lady Panthers rallied for a 4-3 victory.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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The rally caps worked for the Fairbanks High School softball squad Friday afternoon during a 4-3 victory over Greeneview.
Fairbanks (5-8 overall and 4-5 in the Ohio Heritage Conference) came back once from a deficit and then broke a stalemate with the winning run in the fifth.
Greeneview held a 2-0 lead before FHS plated three runs in the home portion of the fourth inning.
The Rams scored their first run in the top of the second against Panther starting pitcher Bella Rowland.
Cait Sweat started the inning for the visitors with a base hit. She was, though, caught stealing second on a throw from Panther catcher Jayda Rausch.
Rowland put a strikeout in the book before yielding a single to Kassidy Adkins.
Madison Upchurch blasted a double that brought in the run.
Upchurch, though, was tagged out in a rundown between second and third to end the inning.
Greeneview pitcher Alexa Simpson didn’t have much trouble with Fairbanks’ bats during the first three frames.
Cheyanne Montgomery then gave Simpson a little more breathing room when she drilled a lead-off solo homer to centerfield in the top of the fourth.
The dinger chased Rowland from the circle as Emily Wilson was summoned from the outfield to pitch.
Wilson retired the next three batters to end the inning.
The Lady Panthers (who will play at River Valley today) took the lead during their fourth time at bat.
Taylor Bates led off with a single and moved up a base on Wilson’s hit.
Wilson was lifted for courtesy runner Erin Ward, who went to second when Rausch was safe on a one-out error that loaded the bases.
Riley Blevins was safe on a fielder’s choice when Bates was cut down at the plate.
Mack Green legged out an infield single that brought in a run and still left the sacks juiced.
Abby Hubbs’ single brought in two runs as the Lady Panthers took a 3-2 lead.
Greeneview got a run back in the top of the fifth when Wilson experienced some control issues.
She struck out the lead-off batter, but yielded back-to-back free passes.
A wild pitch then left runners at the corners.
Bryce Ratliff singled in the run that tied the game at 3-all.
Allison Simpson was safe on a fielder’s choice.
Another errant offering from the circle left two runners in scoring position with one down.
Wilson wiggled out of the jam with a little help from third baseman Bates.
Bates fielded a ground ball and faked a throw to first.
That fooled Greeneview’s runner at third, who was tagged for the second out.
Wilson then coaxed a grounder to end the inning.
Fairbanks used the short game to score the eventual winning run in the fifth.
Cierra Madison legged out a bunt single. She moved to second on Bates’ sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch.
Wilson ripped a single for the game-winning RBI.
The Panther pitcher then retired the side in both the sixth and seventh to earn the victory.
“That was a nice comeback win,” said FHS coach Amy Sines. “Emily did a great job coming in for Bella.”
Wilson allowed only one of Greeneview’s six hits during her four innings of work. She fanned six and walked two.
“Our bats came around,” said Sines of the team’s 10 hits. “We didn’t string them out really well, but we got them when we needed them.”