COLUMBIA – Tuesday evening, the winless Fairfield Central Lady Griffins traveled to Columbia High for their first conference matchup. Hungry for their first win of the season, the Griffs made it more like a mismatch, crushing the Caps 25-4 in 5 innings.
“I hope we can re-focus tonight. We had a really bad game against Richland Northeast, and we had some injured girls,” Griffins’ Head Coach Jessica Seibert. “Hopefully tonight we will have some healthier girls and we have them in the right positions to make plays. We plan on winning this one.”
The Griffins led off with TaVionna Kinkade taking first base on a walk, followed by a single by China Woodard. Belle Jones hit a sharp grounder into the outfield along the 3rd baseline, scoring Kinkaide and Woodard. Tameshia Woodard popped one up for the second out, but not before China Wooodard tagged up and scored the third run of the game.
The top of the second was marred by terrible Capital pitching. The Griffins only got one hit, an RBI single by China Woodard, but gained five more runs as a result of three wild pitches, two Hit-by pitch, and a walk with bases loaded. By the time the dust had settled, Fairfield was ahead 8-0.
The bottom of the second ended quickly, thanks to superb fielding. Morgan Jackson succeeded in stealing second, but when she tried to get to third, a bullet from CoCo rice to third baseman Jones was in time to tag Jackson out. A bunt by Makayla Williams was caught in time to get her at first, ending the inning.
In the top of the third, the momentum was still with the Griffins. Zariah Rice scored on a wild pitch. Boyd hit a clean double, and moved to third on a wild pitch.
Coco Rice smacked one through the outfield gap for an in-the-park home run, which also scored Boyd. Jones popped up a sacrifice fly, which allowed China Woodard to tag up and score.
The momentum shifted to the Capitals in the bottom of the third. The Griffins walked Smith, the first batter for Columbia. Zaniyah Andersond found the gap between center and right field for a double, scoring Smith and ending the Griffin’s shutout chances.
Donniesha Richardson was hit by a pitch with bases loaded. Consequently, in walked the Cap’s second run. A walk with bases loaded completed the scoring by the Capitals. The score after the third inning was 12-3, Griffins.
The momentum shift continued in the fourth, as the Griffins went three up, three down. Natalie Geddes hit a pop fly, fielded by Mikeisha Smith, but not before Lyriq Smith tagged up and scored what was to be the final Capital run.
The top of the fifth was nothing but a Griffin score-fest. The Griffins went through the batting order almost three times before the third out and scored 13 runs.
By the time the score reached 18-4, the Capital coaching staff had enough and made a pitching change from Williams to Destiny Bright.
The change didn’t make much difference. Zariah Rice hit another in the park homer to center field, followed by another by Coco Rice. Rice blasted a hot grounder along the third base line, rolling all the way to the fence. T. Woodard cranked one to deep center field, scoring two. When finally a throw out at first ended the inning, the Griffins found themselves ahead 25-4.
After the game, Seibert was understandably elated. “Winning this game is a huge confidence builder. Once you have that first win, it relieves all the tension and stress. Now we have it, we are ready to roll,” Seibert said.
