GOSHEN – Tippecanoe Valley got plenty of strong defense and solid pitching Tuesday in the opening game of the IHSAA Class 3A softball sectional at Fairfield High School.
The Lady Vikings’ bats, however, were held in check in a 1-0 loss to the host Lady Falcons.
Valley finished the season at 6-14, while the Falcons improved to 19-7 and advanced to tonight’s semifinals against Wawasee.
Fairfield, designated by the IHSAA as the visiting team though the game was played at Falcon Field, scored the game’s lone run in the top of the seventh inning against Valley junior right-hander Sydney Howard.
Fairfield senior Natalie Garber led off the seventh with a double to left-center and was spelled by freshman flex player Jaidyn Rhodes.
A sacrifice by junior Morgan Sanchez moved to Rhodes to third base and a sacrifice fly to center by sophomore Sarah Shank plated Rhodes with the run.
Fairfield righty Shank tossed a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts and coaxed Valley hitters into eight fly-ball outs. She faced 22 batters in the seven-inning game.
The lone Valley base runner was senior Kayla Scott, who hit a two-out single to right in the fifth inning.
“That was classic softball,” said Lady Vikings coach Daryl Shoemaker. “The only run is scored in the seventh inning. That’s fun softball. You just want to be on the other end of it.”
Howard gave up five hits (three of them singles) and fanned one Fairfield hitter. She kept them off-stride by mixing her pitches.
“That’s how Sydney has to work,” said Shoemaker. “There’s not a lot of break, not a lot of action. She changes speeds when she can and changes location. My catcher (sophomore) Kirstyn Yoder does a good job of talking and moving pitches. It’s make them earn whatever they’re going to get.”
Valley turned in a number of strong defensive plays to support Howard.
The Vikings caught a Lady Falcons runner in a rundown between third base and home plate in the fifth inning, then ended the threat with a double play.
Junior second baseman Madi Francis caught a pop fly and toss to shortstop Scott to double off a Fairfield runner.
Valley senior third baseman Jordan Krotke turned in a couple web gems in a row in the sixth inning when she dove into foul territory to retire senior Julia Brown, then made a big stop and throw across the diamond to get sophomore Chloe Bell.
Lady Vikings sophomore center fielder Amy Baca made three putouts, including a catch of a line drive by junior Krista Wagler in the third and a running grab of a ball struck by freshman Kayla Miller in the sixth.
“(Baca) covers a lot of ground,” said Shoemaker. “We have to play defense because we knew they were going to make a lot of contact.”
Shoemaker saw Shank frequently get ahead in the count with pitches that Valley hitters could not hit squarely.
“She got to a point where she was in charge,” said Shoemaker. “The break was enough where we were not able to drive it.
“We just couldn’t barrel it up. She did a heck of a job mixing pitches tonight.”
Fairfield coach John Skibbe gave credit to Howard for her performance in the circle.
“We didn’t seem to see the ball well and hit it solidly against her,” said Skibbe. “She definitely mixed it up enough to keep us off-stride.”
Valley has not won a sectional game since 2013. The Lady Vikings last won a sectional title in 1992.
Today’s sectional semifinals pit Lakeland against West Noble at 5 p.m., followed by Wawasee and Fairfield.
The championship game is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday.
FAIRFIELD 1, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0
F 000 000 1 – 1
TV 000 000 0 – 0
Fairfield – Sarah Shank (W, 7IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 10K)
