NAPOLEON — One month ago Fairview dropped a Green Meadows Conference game to Wayne Trace, losing by five runs after it finished with as many errors as it had hits.
The second-seeded Apaches did not waste their chance to avenge that loss Thursday, as it rattled off 18 hits against top-seeded Wayne Trace en route to a 10-1 win in a Division VI district semifinal at Napoleon’s Booster Field.
“This is what we wanted — to be in this situation — because we felt that that first game that we played over four weeks ago against them, that that was not our best ball,” Fairview coach Andrew Singer said. “And tip the hat back then is that. Ryne (Jerome) does a great job over there with those boys and they executed things that needed to be done and showed us some weaknesses and that’s what we focused on.
“… And we improved on it for the rest of the season. And it’s not just on defense. It was also the approaches at the plate.”
The Apaches, who improved to 24-3 overall to break the program record for most wins in a single season, return to action today at 2 p.m. against Lincolnview in a D-VI district championship back at Booster Field.
Fairview had two hits but five strikeouts through two innings, but from there the Apaches made the necessary adjustments.
Shady Fritch led off the third inning with an opposite-field infield single before Cole Mack singled on a high chopper — both tallying hits on two-strike counts — with a run scoring for a 1-0 lead.
Zane Timbrook and Anthony Singer kept the inning rolling with RBI doubles to the outfield gaps for a 3-0 lead.
The Apaches pushed their lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning as Elijah Arend ripped a one-out double down the left-field line, Fritch reached on an error and Mack drove in both runs with a single through the right side.
“After those two innings, we started focusing on hitting the ball where it’s pitched, not where we want it to be. And once we did that, we started to hit the ball into gaps and started hitting the ball all over the place and put a lot of pressure on them defensively and were able to get a bunch of hits there,” Andy Singer said.
Fairview also wore down Wayne Trace starting pitcher Brody Rosswurm, making him throw nearly 50 pitches through two innings and 71 pitches before a pitching change was made with one out in the third.
“That first inning, we made him throw 36 pitches. You know, if we can make a great pitcher go that far and that deep in the first inning, it puts a lot more pressure on them to try to get quicker innings and also gives us those motivations to, you know, keep battling,” Andy Singer said.
Timbrook worked an 11-pitch at-bat in the first inning, fouling off five pitches before earning a walk on a full count.
“That’s just awesome to be able to fight that off and then get a walk, still be positive with it,” Andy Singer said. “You know, those are just huge momentum changers and great things to build off of.”
Arend drew the start on the mound, allowing three hits and two walks with one strikeout across four innings. His one run allowed — unearned — came as a result of escaping a tough fourth-inning jam.
Rosswurm, the Raiders’ leadoff batter, reached on an error to start the fourth before a single and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out.
But Arend induced an infield flyout before back-to-back grounders to short ended the inning with just one run scoring.
Anthony Singer added two scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Jonah Shininger allowed one hit with two strikeouts in the final frame.
Fairview’s offense added insurance runs in the last two innings, sparked by Timbrook, who had an RBI single in the sixth and a two-RBI single in the seventh.
Arend doubled in a run in the seventh and Drayden Grinnell-Dennis capped the scoring with an RBI double for a 10-1 lead.