Prep softball: Bats come to life for Rockets

EDDYVILLE — It had never happened before.

Not in Little League, not in middle school and not once in her first three games of her freshman season.

Lanie Batterson had never experienced hitting a ball so far that it traveled over the outfield fence. Batterson entered the second game of Thursday night's varsity doubleheader with Fairfield having never hit a home run.

"I've always wanted to hit a home run," Batterson said.

Finally, on Thursday, Batterson did just that driving a pitch over the fence in right for a lead-off homer that ignited a rally for the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont softball team. The Rockets erased a four-run deficit in the second game of a varsity doubleheader with Fairfield, ultimately pulling out an 8-7 win in game two after putting away the opening game, 15-5, in six innings.

"Once I saw the ball just go over, the biggest smile popped on my face," Batterson said. "I finally did it. It feels awesome to finally hit one."

The home run sent the rest of the Rocket softball players exploding out of the dugout. Batterson did leave her teammates much time to greet her at home plate dashing around the bases making quick work of her first home run trot.

"I was on Cloud Nine at that point," Batterson said. "One of my biggest dreams just happened. I was just way too happy."

It proved to be a big night all around for Batterson, who went the distance in the pitching circle in the opening game allowing four earned runs on seven hits over six innings. With the second game hanging in the balance, Batterson was called on to pitch in relief in the fourth inning as Fairfield was mounting a bid to snap a 5-5 tie.

"I trusted the girls that were previously pitching, but I expected to go back in," Batterson said. "I feel like I had more power when I went in to pitch in the second game."

Fairfield was able to finish what they had started after drawing a walk off Adison Glosser to open the fourth. Savannah Hollander and Leah Helmick greeted Batterson by connecting on consecutive hits, bringing in Lilly Bergren with the go-ahead run before an RBI groundout by Laney Norris put Fairfield up 7-5.

"We made some good plays throughout the night, especially in the second game," Fairfield head softball coach Bob Bradfield said. "We've hardly had our whole team together. We've got four spring sports at Fairfield, so most of our players have been splitting their time. We've been trying to piece things together.

"In the end, we just dropped way too many balls."

Fairfield committed nine errors in the opening game at EBF, helping the Rockets quickly erase a pair of early one-run Trojan leads. Three errors alone in the second inning of the opener helped EBF really take off, putting five runs on the board to open a 6-2 lead with an RBI hit by Kate Shafer tying the game following a two-out error that extended the inning before Kaylee Helm delivered a two-out, two-run double as part of a four-hit effort for the Rocket junior catcher.

"Every time that Fairfield scored, it felt like we filled that gap and responded," Helm said. "We trust each other throughout the line-up and have a lot of confidence in each other to be able to do something. We've got some power hitters in the middle of the line-up. We've got some speed at the top of the line-up. We've got strong hitters throughout the line-up that we can trust will get something started."

Fairfield again jumped out to early leads in the second game thanks to an RBI single in the first by Norris and an RBI hit by Bergren in the second. Batterson's homer, however, quickly turned the tide as Aliya Wagamon and Ella Ray each followed with base hits, ultimately setting up Molly Shafer for a game-tying two-run double as EBF quickly caught Fairfield at 5-5 after two innings.

"That home run seemed to pump everyone up," Batterson said. "We just seemed to hit that rally."

EBF's last rally was again aided by a fielding error from the Trojans as Molly Shafer reached on what should have been an RBI groundout, instead allowing the Rocket junior to reach base with the potential go-ahead run. After Kate Shafer drove in Kendra Krause with an RBI groundout to tie the game, Megan Lobberecht delivered a clutch two-out RBI single to plate Molly Shafer giving EBF a lead that Batterson refused to relinquish striking out five of Fairfield's final 13 batters stranding potential tying runs on base in both the fifth and sixth innings of the nightcap.

"We got down a little bit, but we battled back," EBF head softball coach Tony Fenton said. "We had a couple young pitchers out there in that second game. We wanted them to give us a few innings and keep us in the game before bringing Lanie back in, which is exactly what happened.

"The girls don't get down on themselves. They believe in themselves."

Fairfield (1-2) opens Southeast Conference play on Tuesday with a varsity doubleheader at Fort Madison, the first of three straight games between the Trojans and Bloodhounds next week, starting at 1 p.m. After wrapping up the week hosting No. 14 (3A) Albia in South Central Conference action on Friday, EBF (3-1) will return to the diamond at Moravia for a non-conference contest on Wednesday.