Prep softball: Cedar, D-Hills romp to easy 1st round wins in state tourney

Cedar's Denim Henkel (55), Cedar vs. Carbon, Softball, Cedar City, UT, May 13, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

There were no surprises in the first round of the Utah 3A Softball State Tournament Saturday. All of the top seeds won their first game, including Cedar and Desert Hills. Snow Canyon and Hurricane both got knocked to the one-loss bracket where they both fell once more to be eliminated from the tournament. Below are game summaries of Saturday’s games:

Cedar City 7, Carbon 1

The Region 9 champions had almost a “carbon” copy win over the Lady Dinos from the last time the two teams played. Cedar traveled in early March to Carbon and came away with an 8-2 win. The result was nearly identical with Carbon traveling to Cedar and coming away on the south end of a 7-1 deficit. But it could have been a lot worse.

Cedar’s Dream Weaver (3), Cedar vs. Carbon, Softball, Cedar City, UT, May 13, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We left 10 runners on base,” said Cedar head coach Chris Weaver. “Plus, I made some coaching errors that cost us more than a few runs.”

The Lady Reds’ powerful offensive machine collected 14 hits. Allie Meisner, Dream Weaver, Japrix Weaver and Amanda Cardon all had multiple hits.

The Lady Dinos were unable to string any hits together most of the game.

“We got great pitching from Bryton Holyoak,” said Weaver.

Cedar advances to face the No. 2 seed from Region 10, Tooele. The Lady Buffaloes were 13-0 winners over Logan. Game time is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, at 1 p.m. at the Spanish Fork Softball Complex.

Desert Hills 9, Canyon View 2

The Lady Thunder found their offense early, putting up four runs in each of the first two innings, then coasted from there to beat former (and future) Region 9 rival Canyon View 9-2.

In the bottom of the first inning, Bri St. Clair drew a walk. Riley Stookey then singled. After the first out, Katelyn Philips then singled to load the bases. Sophie Wilcox then scored all three runners with a line-drive triple to right field. The next batter, Megan Wiscombe, then scored Wilcox with a fielder’s choice.

The Lady Falcons got on the scoreboard in the top of the second with two singles and a double alternating with outs. St. Clair got out of trouble by getting a strikeout for the last out with bases loaded.

Desert Hills’ Sophie Wilcox (8), file photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Desert Hills began the second inning with four consecutive singles from Morgynn Rosemeyer, St. Clair, Stookey and Corinn Grantham to score two runs. After a sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third, Wilcox got her fourth and fifth RBIs of the game with a grounder up the middle.

The score remained 8-1 till the fourth inning, when Wilcox again tripled to score Katelyn Philips. Canyon View put another run up in the fifth inning. That would end the scoring for the game as the Thunder prevailed 9-1.

St. Clair went the distance, picking up the win. She struck out 13, scattered seven hits and gave up two walks. Offensively Wilcox was a one-woman wrecking machine, collecting six RBIs and going 3 for 3 at the plate. Stookey and Rosemeyer also collected multiple hits.

“We were able to score early,” said Desert Hills head coach Kacee McArthur. “We had big hits with runners on base. That took pressure off our pitching and defense and allowed us to play loose. We were happy to move on to next week. It is something we have been working towards as a program.”

Desert Hills will now face the No. 1-seed from Region 10, Grantsville. The Cowgirls defeated Juan Diego Catholic in the first round, 12-2. Game time is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, at 1 p.m. at the Spanish Fork Softball Complex.

North Sanpete 13, Snow Canyon 11

The Lady Warriors fell to the Hawka on a walk-off, two-run home run in the seventh inning. Snow Canyon had battled back twice in the game to take a lead. It was answered each time by North Sanpete. The Lady Hawks put up five runs in the final two innings to win the game.

The Warriors got the early lead when Preslee Gates got an RBI double. Then the Gunn sisters, Taylor and Natalie, both batted in a run with a sacrifice. North Sanpete tied it up in the bottom with one swing of the bat. The swing resulted in a three-run shot over the center field fence.

North Sanpete took the lead in the next inning, scoring two of their three runs on passed balls. NSHS took that lead to the fourth. The Warriors put up five runs in the fourth inning.

Snow Canyon started the inning with a double (Abi Farrer), a single (Ashley Deming) and a hit-by-pitch (Gates). The fourth batter, Camryn Johnson, walked to score the first run. With the bases loaded, the Warriors then had two infield fly balls for the first two outs. Before the Hawks could get out of the inning though, Natalie Gunn nailed a hard single to short. That scored Gates and Deming.

After another walk loaded the bases, Abby Maynard hit in Gunn and Johnson for the 8-6 lead. North Sanpete was quick to retaliate. The Hawks tied the score in the bottom of the fourth 8-8.

In the fifth, Snow Canyon got three more. The first came on a double to left field by Gates. Johnson then reached on an error to score Gates. Johnson later scored on an error by North Sanpete.

The Hawks would tie the score in the fifth with three runs and then take the lead the following inning with the long home run.

Juab 10, Hurricane 0 (F/5)

Hurricane’s Jaiden Smith robs Juab of a home run Saturday | Photo courtesy Ryan Smith

Juab’s pitcher, Taylei Williams, pitched a perfect game against Hurricane. She struck out 12 of the 15 batters she faced. “We could not get our bats going,” said Hurricane head coach Ryan Smith.

Conversely, the Lady Wasps had 10 hits, five for extra bases. Juab scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to reach the mercy-rule plateau.

Hurricane did have a great defensive play from Jaiden Smith. She robbed Juab power hitter Kloie Park of a home run at the fence for the third out in the first inning.

ONE-LOSS BRACKET

Union 14, Snow Canyon 9

The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but once again it was late run production by the opposing team that led to Snow Canyon’s early exit. The Lady Cougars scored seven runs in the final two innings to take the lead and the win.

After Union scored one run in the first inning, Snow Canyon matched with a run by Deming on a throwing error during a steal attempt. In the second, the Warriors added four more. Megan Rodgers singled in a run. Later Johnson had a three-run double to put Snow Canyon up 5-1.

Union answered with two runs in the next half inning and then added four more in the top of the fourth to go up 7-5. Snow Canyon’s head coach pulled in Johnson for relief of Payten Jensen in the circle.

In the bottom of the fourth, Johnson reached on an error and collected two RBIs in the process to tie the score 7-7. The Warriors grabbed the lead again in the next inning on a Farrer single to second base.

After that however, with the exception of a solo home run by Johnson, it was all Union. The Cougars put up seven runs to end the game and Snow Canyon’s season.

The Lady Warriors finish the season with a 12-15 record.

Stansbury 10, Hurricane 5

Against the Stallions, Hurricane jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Stansbury was able to put up four runs in both the third and fifth innings to grab and cushion the lead to take the win.

The Lady Tigers started the inning with a Hayley Teta single to third. Jaiden Smith then doubled her in for the first run. Smith stole third, then scored on a fielding error. Marquee Jones scored a third run on a passed ball.

Stansbury got one run back in the bottom of the first, then took the lead in the third with four runs. In the top of the fourth, Mellina Madsen had an RBI single to pull Hurricane to within 5-4. The Lady Tigers tied the game in the fifth after Jaiden Smith tripled, then scored on a wild pitch.

The bottom of the fifth was the back-breaker for Hurricane when Stansbury put up four more after the Lady Tigers had clawed back. Stansbury added an insurance run in the sixth inning to get to the final score.

“We played much better the second game against Stansbury,” said Coach Smith. “But they got us in the end. The girls played awesome and together most of the year and I could not be more proud of them. They played scrappy today just as they have all year.

Jaiden Smith, Teta and Ashley Farrar all had multiple hits. Smith also had two steals in the game and finished with 36 for the year.

Hurricane completes its season at 6-11-2.

3A Softball Bracket

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

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