Prep softball: Tough day on the diamonds for Region 9

File photo, Dixie vs. Granger, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Five region teams were in action Thursday, all at home. Hurricane and Pine View both played two games, while Cedar, Snow Canyon and Dixie all played one. Region 9 has started slowly as no team has yet recorded a win. Below are game summaries of Thursday’s action:

Granger 8, Dixie 4

The Lady Flyers were hampered by errors. They collected eight hits, but committed six errors. Granger had eight runs on 11 hits and made only one error.

Brittany Grob, Kenzie Worthington and Tanner Western each had multiple hits. Grob and Worthington each had a double.

Dixie vs. Granger, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“Defensively we played well until the top of the fifth inning,” said Dixie head coach Dave Demas. “In the fifth, we made five errors that resulted in Granger scoring four unearned runs. We were not able to recover from that.”

The Flyers fall to 0-1 and will play next on Wednesday night when they will travel to Beaver for a 3:30 p.m. game.

Union 12, Pine View 1

For their first game, the Lady Panthers faced some very tough pitching. Eight of the first nine at-bats resulted in strikeouts. By the time Pine View got on the board, the Lady Cougars had already plated 10 runs.

Kylie Donovan got on base in the fifth and was subsequently batted in to force the game to go one more inning. But Union put two more up in the sixth that the Lady Panthers did not answer to end the game.

Union’s Madyson Bostick (2-0) got her second win of the season from the circle.

Carbon 11, Pine View 9

The Lady Panthers again trailed the whole game, but kept Carbon within striking distance that made for an exciting finish.

Carbon jumped out with three runs in the first two innings. In the bottom of the second, Donovan again scored first for the Panthers when Katelyn Roundy knocked her in with a single to center field. Another single by Britt Nielsen put two aboard. But the next three batters were retired in order.

The Lady Dinos scored again in the third. Pine View answered when Donovan doubled in Abby Nielson. At the end of three, it was 4-2. Carbon scored one run each in the next two innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Panthers got hot. After a ground out to start the inning, Hannah James reached on a throwing error by the pitcher. That error started a mini rally for Pine View. Kyera Grinnell hit a single to center field that scored the runner. Nielson then tripled to right field and a throwing error allowed her to cross home plate. Carbon got the next two batters out, but the Panthers had narrowed the gap to 6-5.

In the seventh, Carbon responded with its best inning of the game as the Dinos put five across for a formidable 11-5 lead. After the initial batter struck out for Pine View, things looked bleak. Nielson got on board by drawing a walk. Pine View then hit five consecutive singles. Donovan and Roundy got on to load the bases. Nielsen, Eden Stone and Markie Jennings then each drove in runs to pull the score to 11-8. After another strikeout James hit a single to plate another run.

Coach Kim Hafen then pinch hit Lachelle Barlow. Barlow, batting left-handed, got two good cracks at the ball that went foul before whiffing on the third strike to end the game.

“She is only a sophomore,” said Hafen. “She has not been in that position before. Our whole team is young and inexperienced. Before tonight, we only had two players with varsity experience. I normally like to rack up wins in the preseason. This year I just want to get some good experience for our players.”

Nielsen pitched the entire game and took the loss from the circle. Pine View begins the year 0-2. The Panthers will not play again until March 21 when they will host Beaver.

Weber 13, Snow Canyon 3 (five innings)

Weber scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and 11 runs in the first three innings. Snow Canyon could not recover.

Snow Canyon did score two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but needed one more to extend the game. The Lady Warriors fall to 0-2 and will host Northridge Friday at 4 p.m.

Hurricane 8, Richfield 8

In game one, the Wildcats took the early lead, putting up three runs in the first inning. Hurricane reversed its fortunes in the third by putting up five runs and taking a 6-4 lead.

Going into the final stanza, the Lady Tigers held an 8-5 advantage. But Richfield pushed three runs across to escape the loss.

Hayley Teta pitched the entire game for Hurricane for the tie.

Hurricane 8, American Fork 8

Amazingly, the Lady Tigers got the same result against a different team in the nightcap. Only in this game it was Hurricane that had to rally late. Going into the bottom of the seventh, American Fork led 8-4.

“Jaiden Smith hit a two-run single,” said Hurricane head coach Ryan Smith. “That got our rally started and we were able to get two more runs across.”

Felicity Lacy had a great night at the plate getting five hits in seven at-bats for both games. Savannah Garner got the start from the circle, but was relieved by Teta, who drew her second consecutive tie.

As a team, Hurricane hit .333 from the plate.

“I was really happy with our batting,” said Coach Smith. “We had some first-game gaffes that we need to clean up. But those errors were the result of aggressive play.”

The Lady Tigers start 0-0-2 and will play two games Friday. They will play Parowan at 10 a.m. At 4 p.m., they will host Beaver.

Grantsville 12, Cedar 8

The Lady Reds took a 7-5 lead into the seventh inning, but could not keep the lead.

“Our pitcher ran out of gas,” said Cedar head coach Chris Weaver. “She had a rough outing. She got run over by our catcher on a pop up and later she was hit in the shin by a line drive. She threw great. Our two relievers are hurt, so she had to finish the game and Grantsville got six consecutive hits. But I was happy with the team’s performance for their first game.”

Cedar is competing in the March Warm-Up Elite Invitational in St. George over the next two days. Locations are at various fields in St. George. Tomorrow the Reds will play Carbon at 9 a.m. At 3:45 p.m., they will play against Skyline, Idaho. At 8:15 p.m., they will play Roy.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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