North Marion softball ends Fairmont Senior's season on double play to win 10-2

May 3—RACHEL — The season on the line for both teams, North Marion softball hosted Fairmont Senior for a section tournament elimination game Thursday.

Both teams entered with a loss in the tournament, and only a win keeps the season afloat.

The Huskies' strong offensive effort in the fourth and a double play in the fifth sealed the mercy rule victory over Fairmont Senior 10-2.

"They came out swinging from the get go," North Marion Head Coach Lacey Parker said. "Did a good job at the plate today. Rayden [Satterfield] was clutch for us on the mound, did a great job. Everybody in the field played defense well. It was just good to get a win, our last win at home today, especially for our seniors."

The double play that ended it all came with Fairmont Senior's Michaela Egidi at third and Jessica Jenkins at bat with one out. Jenkins grounded to third baseman Brooke Toothman, who threw to Blaike Hepner at first for the first out, who threw to catcher Haley Smith, who tagged Egidi for the final out.

"We've been working on that all season, so it was nice to finally see it happen," Parker said. "They finally got quick enough and paid attention and got the ball where they were supposed to. Good throws all around. It was good to seal the end of the inning like that."

North Marion's Satterfield got the win on the mound. In five innings, she faced 21 batters, allowed two runs and four hits, walked one batter, hit one by pitch and struck out six.

"My fastball was working. My curve was OK," Satterfield said. "And then my other pitches were doing what they needed to do."

Egidi started at pitcher for Fairmont Senior. She pitched four innings, faced 19 batters, allowed 10 runs and 11 hits and struck out seven batters.

Fairmont Senior Head Coach Anna Runyan said that Egidi pitched a good game, but what hurt the team the most were the errors in the field. The Polar Bears committed three errors, while the Huskies only committed one.

"We had a couple too many errors, and that's kind of what it comes down to," Runyan said. "The team's making less errors, making the most plays is the team that wins, right? At the end of the season only one team wins, and it just wasn't us this year."

For Fairmont Senior, it's a bitter end to a season where the Polar Bears fought hard to get to this game. The two seniors leaving, Jenkins and Grace Wells, played a pivotal role on the team this season, according Runyan, and their impact will be felt next season.

"Those two have been awesome for this program," Runyan said. "Their attitude and their commitment to the team and to their teammates has really shown over the past four years, and it's going to continue to be part of Fairmont Senior's culture."

The Huskies' bats started hot in the bottom of the first. Satterfield and Maci Singleton got RBI singles to score Reagan Ash and Satterfield, respectively, to open up the scoring. Toothman hit a sacrifice RBI to center to score Smith and make it 3-0 after one inning.

Fairmont Senior responded in the top of the second to make it a one-run game. Camdyn Staron scored on an error by Toothman for the first run, and Ava Taylor stole home on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.

Satterfield got one run back in the lead for North Marion with a double to centerfield. She batted in Ash just like in the first inning to give North Marion a 4-2 lead.

After a silent third inning, North Marion's bats caught fire again in the bottom of the fourth. Ash started things off with a single to right to score Kayla Moore. Satterfield followed it up with her own single to right to score Ash once again and make it 6-2.

Smith grounded to short and beat the throw to first to allow Satterfield to reach home and score. Right after, Singleton batted in two runs off an error by Fairmont Senior third baseman Abigail Shuck to score Bella Talkington and Smith to give North Marion a 9-2 lead.

With Singleton in scoring position for the mercy rule run, Toothman came up to the plate and batted in Singleton while making it to first on an error. With that run, North Marion entered the top of the fifth up 10-2 and in need of three outs for a mercy rule with no runs allowed.

It looked as if Fairmont Senior might get the run to extend the game when Egidi reached third. Satterfield stood firm on the mound and struck out Shuck to get the first out, and then the 5-3-2 double play ended the game and sealed the 10-2 victory for the Huskies

"I just knew that they could do it, and if they did it right then we were gonna get it," Satterfield said. "And if not, then we would have just went and hit another time, but they did it and did a good job."

With the season over for Fairmont Senior, the focus shifts to next season. While practices don't start until February, Runyan said the season begins the day after the loss.

"I told the girls the next season starts tomorrow," Runyan said. "I told them offseason work is just as important. I know the flex days are a little bit different this year, so we're looking to utilize those, and we told them find some camps, find a travel ball team, find a summer team and just keep practicing."

North Marion advances to play another day against Oak Glen in a section tournament rematch. Oak Glen beat North Marion the last time, the result of hitting woes, according to Satterfield. Satterfield also said the pressure to win is there, but they'll bring their best for the next game.

"I think we just know in the back of our heads that if we do lose we're done," Satterfield said. "I think when we're in there tomorrow hoping and playing our best game that we can."

The game is at Oak Glen on Friday and starts at 5 p.m.

Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548.