ENOSBURG STAYS UNBEATEN WITH WIN AT FAIRFAX
By Ben Kaufmann
County Courier
FAIRFAX – Softball is, in theory, a pretty simple game. Pitch well, field well, hit the ball and you’ll be just fine. On Thursday in Fairfax, Enosburg was nearly perfect in all three areas and took a 7-4 victory in a highly anticipated matchup with BFA-Fairfax.
Enosburg’s defense made nearly every play it needed to, Dana Elkins struck out eight while yielding just one walk, one hit batter and three earned runs, and Erin Diette’s seventh-inning home run capped a strong day at the plate for the unbeaten Hornets (7-0).
“They’re coming along very well, I’m so proud of them,” Enosburg coach Randy Wells said of his squad. “They work hard at practice every day and it really shows when they get into the game.”
Fairfax (7-2), though far from poor, was less perfect and gave too many chances to a team of Enosburg’s caliber. Four of the seven runs the Bullets ceded on the afternoon were unearned
“We’re two pretty equal teams. Enosburg made less mistakes than us today and they were more consistent at bat than us today,” said Bullet coach Geri Witalec-Krupa.
“It’s a really good lesson for our team that we’ve got to max out at three outs in an inning. Three outs an inning, let’s just leave it at that. But we’re getting there.”
In a battle between two teams near the top of their respective divisions, Enosburg took advantage of having the first chance to get on the scoreboard. Emma Keelty reached on a two-out error in the top of the first and scored on a Makenna Lovelette single to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The Bullets bounced right back in the bottom half of the inning. Taylor Mitchell’s leadoff single was followed by Courtney Burnor reaching on an error in the handling of her sacrifice bunt attempt. Both scored when a Britney Hamel grounder easily plated Mitchell an errant throw to third allowed Burnor to score and give BFA a 2-1 lead after an inning.
Both pitchers settled in nicely after the first. The matchup between Elkins and Mitchell, who has routinely struck out more than 15 batters in her starts this year, was a fascinating one entering the day and neither ace disappointed. Mitchell conceded just three earned runs, one walk and one hit batter, seven hits and had 14 strikeouts.
The Bullets extended their lead in the third. Abbie Langlois led off with a two-strike double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Hamel and scored on a Jaycee Douglas infield single. Down 3-1, Enosburg pounced in the fourth inning. Sophie Burns and Zoe McGee both reached on BFA errors on bunt attempts. Burns, having stolen second, scored on the overthrow from McGee’s bunt. After Megan Severance was hit by a pitch, what should have been an inning-ending strikeout ended up as just the first out of the inning. A dropped third-strike to Elkins was thrown over first base, allowing McGee to score and extending the inning further. Severance scored on a wild pitch to conclude the scoring in the fourth with Enosburg up 4-3.
The Hornets began showing off defensively in the bottom of the fourth and didn’t stop the rest of the day. Burns chased down a certain hit from Briana Start and robbed her on the run in center field for the inning’s first out. After a walk, the only one Elkins issued all day, shortstop Diette snagged a Grace Coloney line drive and doubled up the runner at first to end the frame. In the sixth with two on, two out and Enosburg holding a two-run lead, left fielder Destiny Benware caught a blistering line drive from Coloney and right fielder Lexus Conger closed the game with a tough catch in the seventh inning.
“I really haven’t seen an outfield that is as good as ours,” Wells said. “All three positions are really solid and they go for the ball. They do well out there. And the infield is just really solid. We keep juggling things around but they keep playing good, hard ball.”
The Hornets added to their lead in the sixth after Burns led off with a bunt single. Two batters later, Severance crushed a double down the left field line to score Burns and make it a 5-3 game. After stranding runners at second and third in the bottom of the sixth, Enosburg got some breathing room in the seventh. Diette smacked the first pitch of the inning over the fence in left-center and, in one of the special moments which make high school sports great, Mitchell met her at third base for a high-five on the way home. An infield single from Keelty turned into the final Hornet run of the day and a 7-3 lead when Conger drove her in.
Mitchell, who was 3-4 on the day but didn’t extend her three-game home run streak, singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh and eventually scored on a Hamel double. Without Enosburg’s pair of runs in the top of the seventh, things would have been more tense at the end, but there weren’t enough outs left for Fairfax to get to the seven-run mark on Elkins.
There were plenty of moments Fairfax would like to redo from Thursday, but Witalec-Krupa was pleased with the way her team responded to the afternoon’s challenges. The one blemish on BFA’s record had been a blowout loss in Bristol, but Fairfax handled itself better in this defeat.
“A week ago we faced some of this same adversity against Mt. Abe and we cashed in our chips,” Witalec-Krupa said. “We cashed in our chips and we called it a day and we ended up with a 15-0 loss. Today, the same situations, we persevered through. Kids stayed locked in and focused, didn’t cash in their chips and we still had a great game.”
At the plate for the Bullets, Hamel’s three RBI and double and Mitchell’s 3-4, two-run day led Fairfax. Douglas had a single and RBI and Burnor and Langlois each had a single and a run scored. Sarah Coloney added a hit for the Bullets, who return to action Saturday at Spaulding.
For the Hornets, behind Diette’s homer, Lovelette was 2-4 with an RBI. Keelty and Burns each had a hit, two runs and a stolen base. Severance finished with a double, an RBI and a run scored. McGee had an RBI and a run and Conger had an RBI. Elkins, in addition to picking up the win in the circle, had a single and two stolen bases. The Hornets will try to secure an eighth straight win Saturday at Rice.
