Photo by Jake Olson: The Fairmont softball infield meets around Game 1 starting pitchr Brylee Miller in between innings during Thursday's doubleheader against Redwood Valley.

FAIRMONT – One phrase to use when describing Fairmont softball’s effort during Thursday afternoon’s doubleheader matchup against Redwood Valley is battling through adversity.

On top of the Game 1 intermission caused by peculiar weather patterns, the home team was forced to score game-winning runs in each contest’s seventh inning, earning the mighty sweep while bouncing back from Tuesday’s defeat to Jackson County Central. Fairmont, now 7-2, has won seven of its past eight contests.

“When the day started, we didn’t think we would be playing at all with the weather,” Fairmont head coach Cory Hainy said. “[It] was off and on with weather delays, and that’s tough to stay in a groove. …The nice thing about today was that it wasn’t just one person carrying us; everyone contributed.”

Thursday’s wins set up Fairmont nicely for this weekend’s softball tournament hosted at Cardinal Park. Fairmont will take on Annandale in the opening round and later face either Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial or Cannon Falls, depending on the first result.

Game One

A series of bunts from Nora Fitzgerald and Brooklyn Stone set up Gwyneth Schultz for Game One’s walk-off single for Fairmont, winning the contest 4-3 despite multiple comeback efforts from the Redwood Valley offense. Schultz’s slash through the right side of the infield accounted for her second hit of the day, but the first to score a run.

Brylee Miller had a double in the fifth inning after walking in her two previous at-bats. Alexis Sundeen had two hits, one of which was an RBI triple in the third, before Bria Williamson returned the favor with a single of her own to put Fairmont up 2-0.

Redwood Valley used a handful of nifty moves on the basepaths to ultimately tie things up, including Grace Blare’s passed ball score in the fifth inning to knot the score at two apiece.

Fairmont’s response began with the bottom of the batting order. Sydney York fought off a ball that landed perfectly in shallow center field to get on base. The next batter was Ariel Oskerson, who tattooed a hit into left field to bring in the temporary game-leading run.

Redwood Valley had some two-out magic in the top half of the seventh inning that took momentum back into their favor. After striking out the first two batters faced, Miller gave up consecutive hits to Blare and Kaelynn Welsh for a quick score.

Miller finished her seven innings of work with one earned run allowed and nine strikeouts forced. While some parts of the contest were avoiding traction on the base paths, the senior stepped up by going the distance for Hainy and his team.

Game Two

The second half of the afternoon was quite frankly the complete opposite. This time, it was Fairmont who had to scratch and claw themselves back into the game before striking for the 7-4 win at the last moment.

Things didn’t start the greatest for starting pitcher Sundeen, and she would be the first to say that. Redwood Valley’s offense opened the first inning with three quick hits on the sophomore, taking advantage of wild pitches to tally three runs.

But from that moment on, Sundeen settled into things completely. She tossed six more frames of one-run softball, striking out six batters and allowing four hits. Her poise to respond to the challenge is one of the reasons for the comeback.

“She gave up three runs, and then one run the rest of the way,” Hainy said. “She was so much sharper. She told me she had no control tonight, and I responded with, ‘We will work through it.’ And she hung in there and got better as the game went on. We started mixing in the rise-ball a little bit and that gave her some confidence.”

Another big reason for the comeback was the momentum Fairmont’s offense carried in the final two innings. It was again the combination of York and Oskerson. Just like in game one, York’s two-out single paved the way for Oskerson to rip a line-drive triple deep into center field. Oskerson would tie things up at 4-4 herself after scoring on a passed ball. She was the only Fairmont player to finish the game with multiple hits.

Miller and Williamson came up with the two big hits at the top of the seventh, using a pair of singles to budge their team ahead, before courtesy runner Olivia Garbers found home on a passed ball two batters later.