ST. GEORGE – It’ll be a fantastic finish Friday for region 9 softball after Snow Canyon avenged its earlier loss to Desert Hills to grab first place all alone. Cedar kept pace with a win and has a chance to throw the standings at the top into a three-way tie if the Lady Reds can figure out Heather Prestwich and pull out a win in their final game of the season on Friday. Below are the recaps of Tuesday’s games:

Snow Canyon 4, Desert Hills 0

The last time the two teams met, it was a defensive pitching duel. The Lady Thunder pulled out a 1-0 victory in extra innings to move into a first-place tie with Snow Canyon. Tuesday, the Lady Warriors knocked DH back out of the first-place tie with another pitching battle between Snow Canyon’s Prestwich and Desert Hills’ Brianna St. Clair.

St. Clair had a shaky start in the first inning. Snow Canyon loaded the bases with two walks and a batter hit by pitch. The fourth batter, Camryn Johnson, got an RBI with a sacrifice, scoring Sonya Hardy. St. Clair was able to get out of the inning with no further damage.

“She settled down after the bad start,” said Snow Canyon head coach Tracee Heaton. “And really pitched well the entire game.”

“Things looked bad in the first inning,” said Desert Hills coach Brady Fonnesbeck. “But we got out of the inning with just the one run. It was St. Clair’s only earned run of the game.”

Desert Hills made some noise in the second inning. The Lady Thunder loaded the bases with only one out. But a shallow drive to left field kept the runners on base and Prestwich got the next batter to hit a fielder’s choice to third base to end the inning.

“The score may as well have been 30-0,” said Fonnesbeck. “When you can’t get hits or move runners you won’t win the ball game.”

In the top of the fourth inning, a throwing error led to the second Lady Warrior run. Katelyn Flowers scored from first base when the throw to second base was too high.

In the top of the fifth inning, Snow Canyon’s Nikenna Durante reached on a fielding error with two outs gone. The next batter, Mada Mooring, hit a two-run home run that doubled the Warrior lead to 4-0.

“She walked me earlier, so I did not get anything good to look at,” said Mooring. “I swung away on that first pitch and right when I connected, I knew it was gone.”

Prestwich only allowed two hits for the game and struck out nine batters. St. Clair gave up four hits and struck out six.

With the win, Snow Canyon takes sole possession of first place in region at 8-1. The Warriors will travel to Cedar for the last game of the season Friday. Overall, the Lady Warriors are 13-2-1. Desert Hills falls to 21-5 overall and 7-2 in Region 9. Desert Hills will travel to Pine View on Friday.

Cedar 8, Dixie 4

The Lady Reds kept pace with the other two front-runners and now have a chance to force a three-way tie for the Region 9 season championship with a win over Snow Canyon on Friday.

Both teams collected 11 hits. Sage Oldroyd led Cedar, going 4 for 4 and collecting five RBIs. Hannah Williams went 3 for 4. Bryton Holyoak pitched a complete game and collected the win from the circle.

For Dixie, Mickell Chidester was 3 for 3 with a run scored. Kamryn Jones and Jada Phipps each had two hits.

“We could not string hits together,” said Dixie head coach Dave Demas. “We left 9 runners stranded. Cedar was able to score their base runners.”

Cedar moves to 15-8 overall and to 7-2 in region play and will host Snow Canyon on Friday in an attempt to secure a tie for first place. Dixie falls to 3-20 overall and 1-8 in Region 9. The Flyers will play their final game at Hurricane on Friday.

Pine View 8, Hurricane 4

Pine View outhit the home team Tigers 11 to 7 and overcame a two-run deficit by outscoring Hurricane 7-1 over the last three innings.

Hurricane took an early lead when Morgan Huntsman knocked in pinch runner Heather Stout with a single. Huntsman then scored on a double by Taylar Johnson to take a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth, Pine View finally got on the board when Abby Nielsen doubled in Aubry Nielson. The Tigers scored again in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Kolea Paleka to go up 3-1.

In the fifth, Kamree Becker plated another run for the Panthers on a wild pitch to pull Pine View to within one run, 3-2. Pine View exploded in the sixth inning, beginning with a solo shot by Addi Horspool over the center field fence. Aubry Nielson then singled to center field and advanced to second on a fielding error. Nielsen grounded out to the pitcher, advancing Aubry Nielson to third. Ashlyn Gubler then reached on an error to score Nielson. After a line drive led to the second out, Jazmyn Knowles singled to right field. Becker then reached on a fielding error. A subsequent throwing error scored Gubler and Knowles to give the Lady Panthers a 6-3 lead.

Savannah Garner doubled in Stout in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Tigers closer 6-4. Pine View added two insurance runs in the seventh. Britain Nielson drew a walk. Horspool then singled to put runners at first and second. Marquelle Jennings came in as a pinch runner for Horspool. Aubry Nielson singled to third, but Britain Nielson got caught at home for the first out. After a popup for the second out, Gubler doubled to center field to score Jennings and Aubry Nielson to get to the final margin 8-4.

In the seventh, the Tigers got two runners on with a walk and a double. Horspool then got the last three batters to hit infield flies to end the game.

Horspool pitched the entire game, scattering six hits and striking out five to get the win. Offensively, Aubry Nielson led the Panthers with three hits. Gubler and Horspool both had two.

For Hurricane, Garner pitched the entire game, giving up nine hits and striking out seven. Garner, Johnson and Jaquois Allen each had an extra-base hit.

Pine View moves to 4-5 with the win and 11-12 overall. The Panthers will host Desert Hills on Friday. Hurricane falls to 8-14 and 0-9 in Region 9. The Tigers will host Dixie on Friday.

Region 9 Standings
Region record Overall Record
1. Snow Canyon 8-1, 13-2-1
2. Desert Hills 7-2, 21-5
2. Cedar 7-2, 15-8
4. Pine View 4-5, 11-12
5. Dixie 1-8, 3-20
6. Hurricane 0-9, 8-14

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