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KINGS MILLS — Although Jaisa Fox is just a sophomore, she already is well acquainted with the words "perfect game," as her Fairfield High School teammates are with "district finals."

Fox pitched the second perfect game of her varsity career and the Indians clinched their fourth straight appearance in the Division I district finals when they stopped St. Ursula 5-0 Monday, May 19 in the sectional final at Kings High School.

Fairfield (22-5) will play for the district crown on Friday, May 23 at Lakota East High School. The Indians will face Northmont in a game which will start at 4 p.m.

St. Ursula figured they had a shot against the Indians.

"We played them close the last time we played," Fairfield coach Brenda Stieger said, "and they jumped on us at the draw."

This time it wasn't so close. Fox retired all 21 batters she faced, striking out seven, and also got some big-time help from left-fielder Jennifer Treglia, who made a brilliant catch in the seventh inning.

"My dad (James Fox) helped me a lot," the Fairfield pitcher said. "He took me to go practice pitching last night and he critiqued my pitches, and he helped me get through the game today."

Fox also helped herself. After Fairfield had taken a 2-0 lead in the third inning with the help of three St. Ursula errors, a sacrifice bunt by Gretchen Angel and a run-scoring single by Kelsey Berryman, Fox clouted a two-run triple in the fifth inning. Lindsay Traxler followed with an RBI single to complete the Tribe's scoring.

"I was much more happy with the triple (than with the perfect game)," Fox said with a smile.

She also was pretty happy with Treglia.

In the top of the seventh, St. Usrula's Katie Korterkamp led off with a laser shot to left field. Treglia rushed in and made a half-diving, half-sliding catch to save the no-hitter.

"Jennifer kinda saved me at the end," Fox said.

Treglia said she didn't panic when the ball was hit.

"I knew I had it the whole time," she said, "though I knew I had to go down to get it."

St. Usrula, which finished its season 17-9, had one other hard-hit ball, a line drive which was caught by third baseman Erin Coyle, who had a busy day, finishing with four put-outs and an assist.

"We didn't have the sticks today," said St. Ursula coach Chrissy Martini, "though (Fox) threw a great game."

St. Ursula did get a couple strong plays from Korterkamp, its shortstop, both in the fifth inning. On the first, Korterkamp speared the ball which was hit deep into the whole, spun around and from a sitting position threw a one-bounce strike to first. Samantha Daniels beat the throw for an infield single.

"She's fantastic," Martini said of Korterkamp. "She's a senior, so she'll be missed."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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