Baseball wrapped up the regular season with a stellar pitching performance from Hunter Kauffman, who tossed his first varsity no-hitter in an 11-0 win Monday against Bethany Christian.
Kauffman struck out nine and walked just two in an otherwise perfect performance.
The top of the batting order did most of the damage, with Cohen Yoder, Michael Slabaugh and Keegan Miller accounting for nine RBIs, seven hits and five runs scored. One of those hits was Slabuagh’s fourth homer of the season.
Fairfield took Lakeland’s best shot, but the Falcons held on for a 7-4 win Wednesday in the opening round of the Fairfield Baseball Sectional. Keegan Miller had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Slabaugh added a triple and two runs scored. Luke Mast added two hits, two runs, an RBI and stolen base out of the nine hole. Landon Miller went six innings, scattering four hits and 11 strikeouts while Yoder picked up the save, working a perfect seventh to eliminate the Lakers.
Fairfield (20-9) ran out of bullets Saturday in the semi-finals against NorthWood, stranding the winning run in scoring position in a stunning 2-1 loss.
Eli Miller and Landon Miller both reached base to start the seventh down a run, and were moved up a base on a Sawyer Ernsberger sacrifice. That’s as far as the Falcons would get, as Panther pitcher Nate Dutkowski induced an infield fly and a strikeout to end the threat, ending Fairfield’s season.
Owen Garrison scattered just four hits over six innings on the hill, and Keegan Miller struck out all three of his batters faced in the seventh.
NorthWood would go on to beat West Noble in Monday’s championship game, 13-0.
Jayslynn Hall became the first Fairfield softball player to reach double digits in homers, cranking her 10th of the season during the 11-1 rout of West Noble in the opening round of the Fairfield Softball Sectional. Hall also is the all-time home run leader with 18.
After struggling against Riley Krider and the Chargers last week, Fairfield had three extra-base hits, including a Rylee Kirkdorffer three-run triple. Faith Berkey scattered five hits and struck out six in the pitching win.
The momentum of the West Noble win didn’t last long, as NorthWood scored seven unanswered runs to knock Fairfield from the state tournament in a 7-2 result Wednesday night. Breah Gill had two hits, two stolen bases and a run scored in her final game, and Lilly Yoder had an RBI for the Lady Falcons, which finish its season 15-13 overall.
East Noble would beat NorthWood, 2-0, in the championship game.
Girls tennis officially closed down for the season, seeing a phenomenal career from senior Addie Mast end in a three-set loss to Warsaw’s Addie Lind at the NorthWood Individual Sectional on Thursday. Mast, who was undefeated in NECC play this season as a senior, lost to Lind 3-6, 6-3, 2-6. Her senior season concluded with a 22-3 court record, two of those losses at the hand of Lind.
Girls track saw its tournament run end last Tuesday in Kokomo, with all five girls outside state qualification at the Kokomo Girls Track Regional.
The closest to make the cut was pole vaulter Jalyn Stofleth, who redeemed herself from a sectional callback to finish fifth in the regional, clearing 10-0 on her final try of the height. Stofleth was competing for third, but couldn’t hit 10-6 while competitors from Warsaw and Penn both hit on their third tries, knocking Stofleth out of the tournament.
Shelby Miller was also working in pole vault, but couldn’t make any of her tries at 8-6 to bow out.
Natalie Lambright was ninth in the 3,200 run at 12:18.26, Emma Walter was 11th in the 100 dash trials at 13:44, and Madelyn Culp was 11th in the 100 hurdle trials with a time of 17.70.
Boys track suffered a similar fate, scoring just one point among its five events contested at Thursday’s Goshen Boys Track Regional. All five events had Fairfield close its season, led by an eighth place finish from Evan Correll in the two-mile, running 9:51.29. Jaydon Riegsecker couldn’t clear the bar after making 12-6 in pole vault to end in 10th, and the duo of Nick Hofer and Ethan Hochstetler were 11th and 12th in shot put respectively (47-8.5 and 47-4). Hofer scratched out of the discus with no distance recorded in his three tries.
Fairfield outgunned Goshen, 153-163, last Tuesday afternoon in boys golf at Meadow Valley. Brayden Miller led the way with a 33, Miles Nine had a 36 and both Jasper Carl and Jake Elliott shot 42 for the Falcons.
The JV had a 44 from Kendal Scott and 46 from Jacob Murphy, but fell to Goshen, 189-192, in its final competition of the season.
Fairfield has a double dual this afternoon at Meadow Valley against Northridge and Lakeland in a sectional preview. The state tournament begins Friday when all three return to Meadow Valley for the Northridge Sectional.