Fairfield’s Kaela Miller slides in safely with a lead-off triple to start up the Falcon’s 8-0 win over Wawasee Monday night in the Lakeland Softball Sectional. (Photos by Mike Deak)

LAGRANGE – A lead-off triple and a fielder’s choice. Mathematically, that’s all it took for Fairfield to advance in the Lakeland Softball Sectional Monday night.

Kaela Miller’s ringing triple leading off the game followed by an RBI groundout by Alexis Zook gave Fairfield all it needed to beat Wawasee. But the Falcons kept humming all game long in an 8-0 victory in the first game of the Class 3-A No. 21 sectional. The ways in which Fairfield put together the victory over a very talented Wawasee team was a message to the rest of the sectional. Fairfield will do whatever it takes to win.

“Our goal was just to win every inning, try to get a run every inning,” said Fairfield head coach John Skibbe. “If it’s small ball, let’s get the runner in scoring position, get a hit, that’s the main thing. Early on, once we get that one run, let’s go to the next inning and try to score one or two, and try to build on it.”

Fairfield pitcher Danica Mast fired a three-hit shutout.

Fairfield used a fielding error in the second, an RBI groundout and a sacrifice bunt to score two more runs in the second inning before finally scoring the old fashioned way, an RBI single from Alex DeWitt in the third inning, giving Fairfield a 4-0 advantage.

The Falcons would load the bases with two outs in the fourth before another throwing error by Wawasee scored two more runs. At 6-0 and with the way Fairfield pitcher Danica Mast was dealing in the circle, the game was all but out of reach.

Mast would allow just three Wawasee hits on the night, and on the other end, struck out seven batters, including three of the first four Wawasee batters of the game. While not overpowering, Mast moved her fastball and changeups around and out of the zone, keeping Wawasee hitters off-balance. The only noise the Warriors made all night was in the sixth, when Alli Ousley singled followed by Kylee Rostochak reaching base on a fielding error. But Mast would strike out Madi Anderson on some high heat to end the threat.

“She hit her spots and the way she mixed up her speed, that was the key, it kept their hitters off-balance,” Skibbe said. “Especially with the top of their order, they have some really talented kids. It was just a great job of mixing it up by her. That was a great start for us tonight.”

Wawasee’s Ashlynn Fisher tracks her single in the second inning.

Mast gave up just three singles, to Ousley, Rostochak and Ashylnn Fisher. The single by Rostochak does keep alive a 22-game hitting streak for the freshman.

Fairfield would pound out 10 hits on Wawasee pitcher Kylie Norris, making her final start as a senior. Norris struck out just three batters, but her head coach wouldn’t let the outing sour a great career.

“Our seniors are a great group of kids,” stated Wawasee head coach Hans Griepentrog, who finishes his first season at the helm with a 10-13 record. “Kylie threw a pretty decent game, we just didn’t make any plays behind her. I thought we got some of the defense bugs worked out but I guess not tonight.

“Losing the caliber of Madi’s bat and Norris’ arm, along with (Taylor) Spangle’s defense and Victoria Warren’s defense and speed, this is definitely going to hurt in the long run.”

Kylie Norris pitched her final game at Wawasee against Fairfield.

Griepentrog continued on his team’s lackluster showing against a Fairfield team that has won seven of the last eight meetings in the series including Monday night, “We just didn’t come out with the aggression necessary. We were falling for (Mast’s) offspeed pitches early. We got down early and didn’t seem to have that spark like we had Friday (in an 8-2 win against NorthWood). It’s really a disappointing loss.”

Fairfield (17-8) will move to the sectional semi-final, where it will face a Tippecanoe Valley team (6-18) that stunned NorthWood, 9-4, in game two Monday night.

The first game will start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, delayed to accommodate travel time for TVHS to get to Lakeland. West Noble and the host Lakers will play in game two, approximately 30 minutes following the end of the first game.