ST. GEORGE – The season started for most of the Region 9 teams Thursday. Pine View got a jump on the other teams with a night game on Wednesday against Union. The remaining teams played at least one game Thursday. Below are the results:
Snow Canyon 13, Sky View 7
The defending Region 9 champs racked up some big totals in the season-opener.
The Lady Warriors grabbed the early lead, scoring four runs in the first two innings and then taking a 9-3 lead with a five-run fourth inning. Sky View answered with four big runs in the top of the fifth, then held the Snow Canyon scoreless in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Bobcats challenged in the top of the sixth by getting the tying run at the plate, but Heather Prestwich got Snow Canyon out of the inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Warrior shortstop Sonya Hardy began a one-out rally that tacked four insurance runs on the scoreboard.
Prestwich shut down the Bobcat in the seventh with three consecutive strikeouts to close out the game. Prestwich had 11 strikeouts for the game.
“We have great experience and leadership,” said Warrior head coach Tracee Heaton. “Heather had a great game pitching today. We had a couple of errors in the fifth inning that gave Sky View some life, but we regrouped and our experience helped getting the team refocused and playing well defensively.”
Snow Canyon will host an invitational this weekend. On Friday, the Warriors will play Northridge at 12:15 p.m. That will be followed by a game against Syracuse at 2:30 p.m. Both games will be at the high school.
Saturday, SCHS will play two more games. The first at 9 a.m. will come against Payson. The second game at 1:30 p.m. will come against Hunter.
Hurricane 13, Union 3 (5 innings)
American Fork 11, Hurricane 8
The Lady Tigers got a split in their two games Thursday. They blitzed Union early in the first game, putting up 12 runs in the first three innings. Hayley Teta pitched three innings for the win. Morgan Huntsman cleaned up by pitching the final two innings.
In the later game, Hurricane again took the early lead 3-0 after two innings. The Lady Cavemen had a big inning in the third and took a 6-3 lead. Going into the bottom of the seventh, Hurricane needed four runs to send it to extra innings.
“We had the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate,” said Tiger assistant coach Ryan Smith. “Last year, we would have folded when a team put up five or six runs in an inning. Today, the girls bounced back and played well. We were in the game the entire seven innings.”
Hurricane will host Beaver Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Union 10, Pine View 9 (8 innings Wednesday night)
Carbon 6, Pine View 4
Pine View 4, Juan Diego 1
Head coach Kim Hafen’s team played three games in a 24-hour span to begin the season. The Lady Panthers dropped their first two games in close contests before pulling out a win Thursday night against Juan Diego.
“We tested ourselves early,” said Hafen. “We played three good playoff teams from last year. Our first game went into extra innings and we had a couple of miscues in the second. Our defense and pitching tonight (against Juan Diego) were great.”
Union put up two runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at nine apiece Wednesday night. They would put the winning run across two innings later.
In the early game on Thursday, both teams scored all of their runs in the second through the fourth innings. The difference was a 3-1 third inning, favorable to the visitors. Neither team could get any runs across in the last three innings.
The Lady Panthers finally got into the win column with a great pitching performance from Addi Horspool. Her rise ball continually baffled the Lady Soaring Eagle all night. Horspool pitched a complete game and struck out 12 Juan Diego batters.
The Lady Panthers will not play again until March 18-19 when they will participate in the March Warm-Up.
Murray 7, Dixie 1
The Lady Spartans came south and beat Dixie 7-1.
“We played pretty well against an upper-division team,” said Dixie head coach Dave Demas. “We had a couple of bad innings, but for the most part, our pitching and defense were strong tonight.”
The Lady Flyers will have four chances over the next two days to get into the win column. They are competing in the Sunroc Invitational. Friday and will play Pleasant Grove at noon. They will then play Corner Canyon at 6 p.m. On Saturday, they will host Oak Christian out of California at 12:30 p.m. before closing out the invitational with a 4:30 game against North Sanpete.
Springville 16, Desert Hills 0 (5 innings)
The Lady Thunder ran into an upper division team with two of the top pitchers in the state on its roster.
“Springville finished third in 4A last year,” said Thunder head coach Brady Fonnesbeck. “They shut us down. We could not put hits together.”
Desert Hills will begin the Sunroc Invitational on Friday with the early game at 8 a.m. against North Sanpete. That game will be followed up with a 4 p.m. game against Stansbury. On Saturday, DH will play Olympus at 8:30 a.m. and host Pleasant Grove at 4:30 p.m. to close out the tournament.
Grantsville 10, Cedar 4
Grantsville beat the Lady Reds in their opening game.
Hannah Williams had two doubles in the loss.
Cedar will play Union Friday morning in St. George at 9 a.m. Cedar will then have two afternoon games. The first one is against Roy at 3:45 p.m.. The Lady Reds will then play Timpview at 6 p.m.
Snow Canyon's Sonya Hardy (21), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Taylor Gunn (8), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brittany Reyes (14), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Natalie Gunn (4), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Sammy Johnston (20), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brittany Reyes (14), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Sonya Hardy (21), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Heather Prestwich (33), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Kaitlyn Flowers (10) makes a diving catch, Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Kaitlyn Flowers (10), Snow Canyon vs. Sky View, Softball, St. George, Utah, Mar. 10, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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