Fairbury blasts eight home runs, earns two big wins in first day of state softball tournament

HASTINGS - Fairbury (26-4) came into the state softball tournament as the No. 1 seed, naturally making them the odds-on favorite to win it all in Class C.

So far, the Jeffs have lived up to the billing.

Fairbury hit four home runs against Malcolm and four more against Cozad to earn a pair of wins in the first day of state softball action at the Smith Softball Complex on Wednesday.

The Jeffs topped Malcolm 11-4, and then run ruled Cozad, 10-0 to reach Thursday's semifinal game.

In the first game of the day, Fairbury built a 5-0 lead after the third inning and never trailed. Leading 7-4 in the sixth inning, sophomore Jami Mans blew the game open with a three-run homer to left center to give the Jeffs a 10-4 lead.

Senior Jaelle Johnson followed suit two at-bats later with a single shot dinger of her own. Johnson led Fairbury against Malcolm, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored, a double, a home run and an RBI.

Jami Mans started in the circle against both Malcolm and Cozad, and finished with two complete games.

She struck out three against the Clippers and five against the Haymakers. Mans has yet to walk or hit a batter at state, and has only allowed nine hits and four earned runs through both of Wednesday's games combined.

The Jeffs' win over Cozad took only 65 minutes. Fairbury mercy ruled the Haymakers, 10-0 in the fourth inning after senior Raven DeFrain hit her second home run of the game to cap off the dominant victory.

DeFrain led the Jeffs against Cozad, going 3-for-3 with a pair of homers, two runs scored and four RBIs.

Through one day at the state tournament, DeFrain has hit three home runs and has tallied seven RBIs.

DeFrain now has 61 RBIs on the season - four shy of tying the Class C state record set by Cassie Vasa of Raymond Central in 2016.

As a team, the Jeffs have hit eight home runs in the state tournament thus far, giving them 37 on the season. That's a new team record for most home runs in a season in Class C, surpassing Auburn who hit 34 in 2017.

Mans, Johnson, DeFrain, Claire Shumard and Ellie Ohlde have all gone yard so far at the state tournament.

With Wednesday night's win over Cozad, Fairbury will now play No. 2 seed Guardian Angels Central Catholic (27-3) in the semifinal on Thursday afternoon at 4:30.

Guardian Angels, who comes out of West Point, beat Auburn, 15-7 and Arlington, 10-0 Wednesday to reach the semifinal round.

Thursday's battle between Fairbury and Guardian Angels will be carried live on KUTT 99.5 FM out of Fairbury.

You can follow Tommy on Twitter @Tommy_NCN.