FAIRFIELD — Brandon Murray didn’t expect the encounter, and his son Kai was excited about it.
The Huber Heights residents happened to be in the Fairfield area Friday afternoon when they were treated with an act of kindness from a local high school softball team on a mission.
Brandon had his son with him while on a work assignment when the two went for lunch at Chick-Fil-A located off Gilmore Road. They immediately noticed a sea of players sporting all white uniforms with red trim numbers and letters as they walked into the fast-food restaurant.
“We were wondering what in the world was going on,” Murray said. “Especially at this time of the day and when school was basically out for the summer.
“By process of elimination,” Murray added, “I was like, ‘Oh, they are probably going to be playing a game later today.’”
They were the Fairfield Indians, and they were certainly playing a game later that day.
They were getting ready to achieve something the program hadn’t done in 33 years.
Murray and his son were vicariously part of Fairfield’s pregame meal before the team made its bus ride to Indian Hill for a Division I regional final against Centerville.
“My son knew it was Fairfield right away because he goes to school in the Wayne district, and we’ve played them in football the last two years,” Murray elaborated. “He was intrigued because the players were built just like his sisters.”
Murray said while sitting next to the team, “you wouldn’t have known they were moments away from literally playing in one of their biggest games of their lives.”
He overheard the players learning that one of their teammates didn’t know how to ride a bicycle. None of the other conversations were about softball.
“They were fantastic, they were courteous, and they were fun — all at the same time,” Murray said. “They were super polite to my son. He was in awe. You would have never known there were 20 teenage girl softball players in the restaurant all sitting together. It was something else.
“They never once talked about softball. Not once,” Murray added. “In fact, they didn’t say anything about softball at all. Zero. And here they were, just being kids.
“It was very wholesome to see, and obviously they’re doing things the right way on and off the field down there. That was just awesome. I’ve been a coach, and I’ve been in all kinds of situations with teams out in public. They’re literally doing everything the right way.”
Fairfield coach Brenda Stieger didn’t recall who was present inside the restaurant during the team lunch, but she assured she knows her players have a certain reputation to uphold off the field.
“I’m just proud of them. What can you say?” said Stieger, who is in her 28th season at the helm. “It’s just a standard that we have with the girls. Especially in uniform, they should know how to represent the school by now.
“We’ve had that conversation, but I’ve never had to say anything when we’ve been out. We clean up our messes when we leave, and we try to leave everything nice just to be good to your host.
“It makes me feel good that somebody stopped to recognize us and take time to do that. People take more effort and time to complain than they do to try and build you up.”
The Indians went on to beat the Elks 1-0, sending them to their first trip to state since 1991. Fairfield will face fourth-ranked Austintown-Fitch in a state semifinal on Friday at 3 p.m. at Akron’s Firestone Stadium.
“They’ve got a fan in us,” Murray said. “We will be rooting for them from Huber Heights. I know my son will.”
