ST. GEORGE – For the second time this year, Desert Hills was able to eke out a victory over Hurricane by the slimmest of margins. Snow Canyon routed Dixie and Cedar tried to maintain pace with the front-runners by beating Pine View. Below are game summaries of Tuesday’s action:

Desert Hills 5, Hurricane 4

The Lady Tigers remained winless in region play with another heartbreaking squeaker to first place Desert Hills 5-4.

“It gets frustrating,” said Hurricane head coach Gordon Dotson. “This is the fourth or fifth game that we have lost by one or two runs. I think they need that one victory to break out of this slump.”

Desert Hills Coach Brady Fonnesbeck agreed.

“The ball bounces their way one or two times more in those games, they are easily where we are at in the standings,” said Fonnesbeck. “I told our girls when we were preparing that (Hurricane) was a very good team despite its region record. We did not take this game lightly.”

The Lady Tigers would get on the scoreboard first. After two scoreless innings, Taylar Johnson got the Lady Thunder started in the third with a single to right field. Melina Madsen then moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout for the second out, Jaquois Allen and Hayley Teta drew walks. Johnson then scored on a wild pitch before Thunder pitcher Brianna St. Clair struck out the next batter.

The lead did not last long as the Lady Thunder answered in the bottom of the inning. Kailee Milne started out the inning by singling through the left side. She then stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Shelby Reynolds then drew a walk. Reynolds then stole third. Tiger catcher Johnson rose up to make the throw, but instead threw to third and caught Milne with a perfect throw for the first out.

After that, Desert Hills Sammi Clark then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Reynolds to third. Sophie Wilcox then reached and advanced to second on a throwing error, scoring Reynolds to tie the game. Kodi Salisbury then doubled to right field as the Hurricane fielder lost the ball in the sun. The hit scored Wilcox and gave the Thunder a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the next inning, Lady Tiger Savannah Garner began the inning with a single to center field. Heather Stout entered the game as a pinch runner for Garner. She stole second and then third. Morgan Huntsman’s single to right field scored Stout to tie the game 2-2.

In the bottom of the fourth, Shyann Reynolds got thing started for Desert Hills by reaching on a throwing error. The next batter, Megan Wiscombe, then took Garner to a 3-2 count before rocking the pitch over the left center fence.

“I knew she did not want to walk me and put two runners on,” said Wiscombe. “The home run pitch was right down the middle.”

Desert Hills added another run in the next inning, this time on a solo shot from Salisbury. “It was the first pitch,” said Salisbury. “It was inside. I like inside pitches. I knew immediately that it was going over.”

The Lady Tigers got two runners on in the sixth, but could not capitalize. In the seventh inning, pinch hitter Felicity Lacy began the inning by drawing a walk. Savannah Jessop hit into a fielder’s choice to second. Allen then singled to left field. Teta then singled, but Jessop was thrown out at home on a base-running miscommunication for the second out.

With runners at second and third, Jaiden Smith then singled to the shortstop, scoring Allen. Garner then singled up the middle to score Teta, pulling the score to within 5-4 and putting the tying run (Smith) at third base. However, the rally ended there as Thunder pitcher St. Clair struck out the next batter looking.

“Savannah (Garner) was great in the circle and at the plate,” said Dotson. “She had two bad pitches the whole game. Unfortunately, they took advantage. She struck out seven and only walked one.” Garner allowed seven hits for the game.

St. Clair took the win, striking out 10, walking four and giving up eight hits, half of which came in the tense, final inning.

The Lady Thunder improve to 20-3 overall and 6-1 in region action. They will travel to Enterprise for a non-region game on Thursday before resuming in region with a game at Dixie next Tuesday. Hurricane drops to 8-11 overall, 0-7 in Region 9. The Tigers will travel to Cedar next Tuesday.

Snow Canyon 13, Dixie 2

After Dixie put up two runs in the first for the early lead, the Lady Warriors put the game out of reach with a nine-run third inning. Snow Canyon’s offense found traction as it collected 13 hits.

Heather Prestwich got the win from the circle, allowing five hits and striking out eight. Kylee Mills suffered the loss for Dixie. Offensively, Snow Canyon shortstop Brittany Reyes led four Lady Warriors with multiple hits, going 3 out of 4 from the plate. Katelyn Flowers had a home run for Snow Canyon. Kamryn Jones led the Lady Flyers with two hits.

Snow Canyon keeps pace with Desert Hills with a 6-1 record in Region 9 and an overall record of 11-1-1. They will host Pine View on Tuesday. The Lady Flyers fall to 3-16 overall and 1-6 in Region 9. Dixie will host Desert Hills on Tuesday.

Cedar 5, Pine View 1

The Lady Reds picked up three runs in the sixth inning to widen their lead and hold off Pine View in the seventh for the win. Bryton Holyoak collected eight strikeouts and the Cedar defense was error-free to shut down the Pine View offense.

Cedar had nine hits as a team. Hannah Williams led the Lady Reds with three hits. For the Lady Panthers, Jordan Gosik led Pine View with two hits.

Cedar snaps a three-game losing streak to improve to 12-8 overall and 5-2 in the region. CHS will travel to Richfield for a non-region game on Friday before hosting Hurricane on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers fall to 10-11 overall and 3-4 in Region 9. They will play at Snow Canyon next Tuesday.

Region 9 Standings
Desert Hills 6-1, 20-3
Snow Canyon 6-1, 11-1-1
Cedar 5-2, 12-8
Pine View 3-4, 10-11
Dixie 1-6, 3-16
Hurricane 0-7, 8-11

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