Prep softball: Cedar stays alive, D-Hills eliminated at state tourney

Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

SPANISH FORK – Both of the Region 9 teams fell in the quarterfinals of the winners’ bracket on Thursday at the 3A state softball tournament.

Desert Hills fell to No. 1-seed Grantsville 5-0. Meanwhile, on the adjacent field Cedar’s Lady Reds were having difficulty finding their offense as they went down to Tooele 9-1. In the one-loss bracket, Cedar survived by sending Canyon View home. Desert Hills fell in a close game against Carbon. Below are game summaries of Thursday’s action:

Tooele 9, Cedar 1

Cedar opened the scoring with a solo home run by Sage Oldroyd. Unfortunately, that would be the extent of the scoring for the higher seed. Tooele would take the lead in the top of the fourth with two outs gone. Two consecutive doubles, a single and a two-run home run gave the Lady Buffaloes a 4-1 advantage.

Though that advantage would be enough, Tooele added three runs in the sixth with the most damage being done on a two-out, bases-loaded double. Two more runs in the seventh on another home run added two insurance runs.

“For me, the only problem with playing in Region 9 is that you don’t get to face dominant pitching like other regions do,” said Cedar head coach Chris Weaver. “We faced (Desert Hills’) (Bri) St . Clair twice, but other than her and Bryton Holyoak, our region does not prepare teams to bat against dominant pitching. Tooele’s pitcher hit her spots today. We did not make the necessary adjustments at the plate.”

Cedar, averaging more than 13 hits per game, could only manage five against Tooele, and none of those were consecutive.

Grantsville 5, Desert Hills 0

The Lady Cowboys put up three runs in the first inning and then added two more in the bottom of the fifth. Desert Hills had trouble getting any base runners. The Thunder only managed to get three hits, two from Riley Stookey. Bri St. Clair pitched the entire game, giving up five hits and striking out four.

One-loss Bracket
Cedar 6, Canyon View 1

These cross-town rivals met for the third time this season and the third time was not the charm for the Lady Falcons, who were eliminated from the tournament. The Falcons took a 1-0 lead early. In the fourth inning, Japrix Weaver singled in Denim Henkel for the equalizer.

Cedar’s Japrix Weaver (20), file photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

In the sixth, the Lady Reds finally broke out of their offensive slumber. They put up five runs in short order. The inning began with a walk and an error to get two runners aboard. Amanda Cardon, Japrix Weaver and Brittani Simcox all singled to drive in the five runs.

Sage Oldroyd took the win from the circle, pitching 5 2/3 innings, scattering four hits and striking out six.

With the split today, Cedar moves to 18-8-1 on the season. Cedar advances to play Juab, who was upset earlier in the day on a game-ending, controversial call. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh to Ridgeline with runners on first and second, the lead runner was called out on appeal for leaving the bag too early on a pop fly to center field. However, video replay showed that the runner did indeed tag the base after the catch had been made.

Video replay is not available to the officials on the field and after a 10-minute discussion with Juab coaches and a conference between the two officials, the call stood.

Carbon 3, Desert Hills 2

The Thunder saw its season end in the second game of Thursday’s slate with a loss to the Lady Dinos. Carbon got two solo home runs early, one in each the first and third innings, to take a 2-0 lead.

Desert Hills cut into that when Ashlee File reached on an error in the bottom of the fourth to score Sophie Wilcox. Carbon extended the lead again in the next half inning on a squeeze play.

Desert Hills’ Megan Wiscombe (21), file photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Katelyn Philips started the bottom of the sixth with an infield single. After a strikeout, she advanced to second on a Meg Wiscombe single that got through to left field. Both runners advanced on a fielder’s choice by File. Philips then scored on a passed ball that also saw Wiscombe get to third. But the next batter struck out with the tying run stranded.

In the seventh inning, the Thunder got a runner aboard, but could not get her past first base before three outs were recorded by the Lady Dinos to end the game. Desert Hills ends the year 24-5-1.

“Carbon played good defense and made plays,” said Coach McArthur. “We struggled to string hits together and score runs. That makes it tough. We had chances, but were not able to capitalize. I’m proud of the season that these girls had and all the hard work they put in, even though you always wish it could end differently, it doesn’t always work out that way. But overall, we had a great season.”

OTHER 3A TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Winners Bracket Quarterfinals
Ridgeline 3, Juab 1
Bear River 10, North Sanpete 0

One Loss Bracket
Stansbury 7, North Sanpete 1
Juab 9, Union 0

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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

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