Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont starting pitcher winds up her delivery during Saturday's Section 2AA quarterfinal match up against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial at Caswell Park.

NORTH MANKATO – Saturday’s action of the Section 2AA Softball Tournament concluded the season of the Fairmont Cardinals. After falling to No. 1 Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial in the opening quarterfinals, Fairmont ran out of steam in the elimination bracket, losing to No. 3 Belle Plaine to put a stamp on the spring campaign.

Regardless of the outcome, Fairmont head coach Cory Hainy still sees this year as a success.

The injuries to Makenzie Lowry and Makayla Lowry and the additional departures of last year’s senior class forced Hainy to rely on many new faces in the varsity lineup. An already youthful team turned a whole lot younger. However, their performance this season is nothing short of impressive. Fairmont’s 16 wins are the most it has had in the past two seasons.

“Between those two [Makenzie Lowry and Makayla Lowry] and the people that graduated, we had a lot of holes to fill,” Hainy said. “I told the girls after the game that I was super proud of them. Because they all picked it up, this could’ve been a challenging year with all the new people we had, but they figured it out.”

Game 1

There isn’t much anyone can do when facing the section’s No. 1 overall seed, especially one as talented as the Knights. LCWM was everything it was advertised as when walking into the quarterfinal matchup against Fairmont, boasting an impressive 21-0 record and a QRF (Quality Ranking Formula) above 150.

The Knights’ offense attacked Fairmont starting pitcher Brylee Miller with their talented batting order, plating seven runs in the first three frames to power the eventual 9-1 victory. Miller gave up nine hits in that span, with all allowed runs going to her name.

Lexi Sundeen came in for a relief effort in the bottom of the fourth. The sophomore tossed the final three frames, finishing with two earned runs and striking out one.

Fairmont’s lone score came with the help of Miller at the plate in the seventh inning. The senior’s lead-off double broke up Nettie Parsons complete game no-hit performance. Bria Williamson recorded the RBI after her groundout to the left side of the infield, which brought enough time for Miller to scamper home. Parsons finished her outing with 14 strikeouts and zero walks.

“Lake Crystal is as advertised,” Hainy said. “It’s unbelievable how good they are. They hit the ball, play aggressively, and put pressure on you. Plus, their pitcher is very good.”

Game 2

It seemed like Fairmont’s offensive struggles would cease after the first inning of their contest against Belle Plaine. Miller and Sundeen started things off strong with their consecutive singles putting runners on the basepaths with one away.

But that was most of what the Cardinals got out of their batting order. After Belle Plaine pitcher Hailey Furrer struck out Williamson and Avery Kurt to get out of the mini-jam, Fairmont collected just one hit the rest of the six innings.

The Tigers used Furrer’s sharp performance in the circle and a clutch RBI hit from Adriana Riley to power their 2-0 victory. Furrer finished with six strikeouts and three walks allowed. It was just the second time this season the Cardinals have been shut out.

“Because it didn’t go well right from the start, I think it took a lot out of us,” Hainy said in reference to Fairmont’s opening loss against LCWM. “I thought we had maybe pulled ourselves together in between games, but I think we just weren’t on.”Miller got the start once more for Hainy and had some initial trouble in the opening two innings. Belle Plaine notched three hits during their first time through the batting order, but it resulted in zero runs. The third inning was when they struck.

A drop third strike from Taryn Marschall was followed by a walk from Ada Geisler, immediately loading up the bases with nobody out. However, it seemed the Cardinals were going to escape the jam one batter later.

Fairmont right fielder Nora Fitzgerald took Alaina Johnston’s foul ball flyout to an immediate throw home to catcher Gwyneth Schultz, who applied the tag on an advancing Cece Schultz for a bang-bang double play.

But the first pitch Riley saw from Miller proved to be the difference maker in the contest. Her second hit of the game plated Marschall and Geisler from the base paths. The advantage Belle Plaine took was all they needed.

Miller gave Fairmont a chance to claw back with her response on the mound in the final three innings. She allowed just one more hit the rest of the way while striking out two batters.