Prep softball: Top-ranked Winterset edges No. 13 Fairfield for state berth
Jul. 13—WINTERSET — For the 10th straight season, the Fairfield Trojans found themselves battling for a trip to the state softball tournament.
Facing the team many considered the favorite to win the Class 4A state championship, Fairfield nearly prevented top-ranked Winterset from even making it to Fort Dodge. Jenna Norris hit a hard ground ball with two outs in the seventh hoping to put the ball past the infield of the Huskies with a chance to bring Hannah Simpson home with the potential tying run.
Instead, Thea Banning fielded the bouncer in the pitching circle and lofted the ball over to first base, clinching a 4-3 win for Winterset over the 13th-ranked Trojans in a battle of state-caliber teams that went right down to the wire as Fairfield failed to win their fifth regional title in the past 10 seasons.
"For Winterset to not win the state championship, they would have to have an off day," Fairfield head softball coach Bob Bradfield said. "It was a tough road for us to try and navigate to get to state, but the girls went down swinging."
Winterset (34-4) even had to rally after Fairfield (29-12) used three hits in the top of the third to take a 2-1 lead, going ahead on a clutch two-out, two-run single by Danielle Breen. That slim lead would last for just a few minutes as Jena Young slammed a lead-off home run over the fence in left on the fifth pitch thrown by Coty Engle in the bottom of the third.
Engle and Banning would battle through four even innings in the 4A, Region 5 final with both pitchers ultimately only allowing two earned runs apiece. Banning allowed eight hits and three walks while striking out six batters while Engle countered allowing six hits and four walks while recording four strikeouts, including all three batters in the bottom of the fourth to keep the game even at 2-2.
"We're really up for the challenge," Engle said. "We've told ourselves that we're capable of doing this if we work together as a team. I was a little stressed going into some of these duels, but I know I've got my teammates behind me. I know we can hit the ball and hang in there with anyone."
That proved to be true late in the regional final as the Trojans quickly bounced back after a two-out, two-run single to center by Bailey Acton in the bottom of the fifth put Winterset up 4-2. Fairfield forced the normally sure-handed Huskies into three errors in the sixth that ultimately allowed Breen to reach and score Fairfield's third run, putting the tying run at third with two outs before Banning recovered to strike out Engle, preserving a slim Winterset lead.
Engle worked around an intentional walk to Young in the bottom of the sixth, recording her fourth strikeout to keep Fairfield within a run heading into the seventh. After pitching carefully to Simpson, who could have tied the game with her 11th home run of the second, Banning narrowly avoided allowing a go-ahead two-run homer to Peyton McCabe who came up just a few feet short on a deep fly out to left for the second out of the inning.
Breen kept the state tournament hopes alive for the Trojans by recording her second hit of the game off Banning, moving Simpson into scoring position with two outs. After delivering two hits in three previous trips to the plate, Norris could not connect on her third hit leaving Fairfield one run short of the postseason upset.
Winterset is not done dealing with the Southeast Conference, however. The top-ranked and top-seeded Huskies will open the Class 4A state softball tournament on Monday afternoon facing Fairfield's conference rival, Burlington, on Kruger Seeds Field inside the Harlan Rogers Sports Complex at approximately 3 p.m.
