The Fairfield Trojans needed a pair of wins over the Demons last night to lock down first place in the conference for Softball, and they did the job.

In game one, the Demons threatened in a 6-4 game, bottom of the seventh inning with two down. The Demons had the bases loaded and Morgan Brinning ripped a ball to short but a interference call on one of the Demon base runners was called, and the chance and game was over.

In game two, the bats came alive for both teams. In the first inning, Marissa Repp started things off with a three run shot to make it 3-0, but Ashley Rausch responded with a solo shot to make the score 3-1.

The Trojans answered right back in the second when Karlie Williams stepped up and hit her own three run homer after Fairfield had scored two more to make the score 8-1. Washington came right back in the bottom of the second with two runs coming in off walks and then a two RBI double by Grace Redlinger plus another run in the inning put the Demons within two, 8-6.

Fairfield rallied in the next three innings to put things out of reach for Washington, as they scored one in the third, one in the fourth, and a two RBI double by Mackenzie McClure and a couple of passed balls scored four more to make the score 14-6. Washington did get a couple more in the fifth inning to make it 14-8, but the hit parade continued for Fairfield in the sixth to make it 19-8, and Washington could get no more.

Demon head coach Angie Shrader says her team is right at the edge of winning those close games, but they need some kind of extra push.

“I don’t even know what to tell them anymore, because we are so close in games. In that first game we put too many people on because of walks, and we put ourselves in positions that we didn’t need to be in by getting walks, and then we end the game with bases loaded, right where we want to be, and then we have a base running error. It’s just the frustrating part that I don’t know what to say to them, and they have to find a way to do it, because they have the skill and they have the abilities, and it is up to them at this point,” Shrader said.

Fairfield now has just one loss in the conference and sits at 9-1. Washington falls to 4-6 pushing them out of the conference championship race and making it a two horse race between Keokuk and Fairfield.