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FAIRFIELD — Emily Schwaeble's ankle may not have been 100 percent, but her pitches sure were.

The Colerain pitcher suffered a sprained left ankle in a loss to Mercy on Tuesday, April 22, but she was back on the mound — and on her game — Wednesday at Fairfield, striking out 12 batters while allowing just three hits in a 2-1 victory.

"She warmed up at school and was limping, and I told her if she was limping she wasn't playing," Colerain coach Janet Huneke said of her junior right-hander. "But I knew the only way I was gonna get her out was to actually drag her off the mound."

The win moved the Cardinals to 11-2 overall and 10-0 in the Greater Miami Conference, while the Indians (13-3, 8-3 GMC) fell three games off the pace in the loss column.

"Obviously she was on," Tribe coach Brenda Stieger said of Schwaeble (11-1), although Stieger could have said the same thing about her own pitcher.

Sophomore Jaisa Fox (10-3) allowed just four hits and one earned run while striking out 15, one shy of her career best.

But the Cardinals turned a strikeout into a run in the first inning, and a would-be strikeout into another run in the second for all the offense they would need.

Fox struck out the side in the first inning, but the third strike on No. 3 hitter Kari Hogeback got past catcher Gretchen Angel, enabling Hogeback to reach first. On the very next pitch, Phyllis Hafer hit one off the fence in right-center for a run-scoring double and a 1-0 lead.

"It was right where I like it, a little outside," Hafer said.

In the top of the second, Megan LaFary led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Fox struck out the next two batters and appeared to put No. 9 hitter Chelsea Jones in an 0-2 hole when Jones couldn't hold back on a checked swing.

The umpires, however, ruled that Jones did halt her swing. That meant the next pitch, a strike, only made the count 1-2 instead of producing an inning-ending strikeout. Jones blooped the next Fox offering into center field for an RBI single.

"Those are runs you can't give away," Stieger said. "Any time in softball, when someone gets on base, something big can happen."

Fairfield got one of the runs back in the fourth when Fox led off with a walk, moved to second on Erin Coyle's sacrifice bunt and scored on Jennifer Treglia's two-out single to center.

But the Indians wouldn't hit another ball out of the infield against Schwaeble.

"(My ankle) was sore, but I was just trying not to let it get to me the whole game," Schwaeble said.

"The kid's a competitor," Huneke added. "I'm really glad she's on our team."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193

o

r jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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