ST. GEORGE – It may have been a little bit more difficult this year, but Snow Canyon is Region 9 champion once again after a road win Friday afternoon in Cedar City. Two games back tied for second place are Cedar and Desert Hills. Pine View sits all alone in fourth at 5-5. Hurricane and Dixie are out of the playoffs with identical region records of 1-9. Below is a recap of Friday night’s games:
Snow Canyon 10, Cedar 8
Snow Canyon benefited from two home runs by Mada Mooring that propelled them to a two-run win and the Region 9 championship. A Cedar victory would have had the two teams tied at the top. With the loss, Cedar drops into a tie with Desert Hills for second place.
Snow Canyon finished with a region record of 9-1, with the only loss coming at the hands of Desert Hills, 1-0 in extra innings.
For Cedar, Abby Anderson hit a two-run home run. Dream Weaver had three hits, including a double. “We had good offensive output,” said Cedar head coach Chris Weaver. “But we committed too many errors defensively.”
Snow Canyon put up eight runs in the middle innings (3-5). Mooring also batted in six runs on three hits. Sonya Hardy led the Warriors with four hits. Camryn Johnson and Natalie Gunn both had two hits.
Snow Canyon outhit the Lady Reds 14-10. Heather Prestwich got the win from the circle, striking out three. Bryton Holyoak took the loss, pitching five innings and striking out six batters.
The Lady Warriors move to 14-2-1 overall and will host Enterprise on Tuesday for their senior game. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. Cedar’s season is complete at 15-9. The Lady Reds finished 7-3 in Region 9 and tied for second with Desert Hills. They will await the results of the other regions’ games to determine their draw.
Pine View 6, Desert Hills 1
The Lady Thunder outhit their hosts 5 to 2, but could not group their hits, leaving eight base runners stranded and falling to Pine View to eliminate them from Region 9 championship contention. Timely defensive plays from Pine View kept the Lady Thunder from plating some early runs.
“Tonight was senior night,” said Pine View head coach Kim Hafen. “We normally start seven of our eight seniors. But tonight we added Morgan Rogers to the lineup and she played the whole game in right field. Her two throws caught their runners trying to stretch their hits. She played great.”
The opening inning looked bleak for Pine View as Desert Hills got their first three batters on base. Three Panther errors loaded the bases. Panther pitcher Addi Horspool then struck out the next batter and, on the same play, Brianna St Clair got caught trying to steal home for the second out. Horspool struck out the last batter to get out of the inning.
The Thunder’s Morgynn Rosemyer began the top of the second with a single to left field. Sammi Clark entered the game as a pinch runner. On the next pitch, Pine View’s catcher, Kayla Leavitt, caught Clark stealing for the first out. Horspool struck out the next batter, but the next two Desert Hills batters, Kaylee Milne and Megan Wiscombe, got on with a walk and a single. Horspool would strike out the next batter for the third out.
Horspool and St. Clair then waged a good battle from the circle, keeping batters from both teams off the bases. Entering the bottom of the fifth, the score remained 0-0. St. Clair had struck out seven of the 13 batters she had faced. Only one batter got on base and that was after being hit by pitch. The Lady Panthers started to adjust to St Clair in the fifth inning.
Britain Nielson began the inning after reaching on a fielding error. Jordan Gosik then bunt sacrificed Nielson to second. Rogers then reached on another fielding error to put runners at first and second. Jazmyn Knowles bunt sacrificed, but then reached on Desert Hills’ third error of the inning to load the bases. Kamree Becker then got Pine View’s first hit of the game. It was a base-clearing double that lined just over the shortstop’s reach.
“I was really nervous,” said Becker, when asked about the play. “I just wanted to put the ball in play.”
On the next pitch, Leavitt was hit by pitch to put runners at first and second. Horspool then reached on a throwing error to load the bases. Newby and Jennings entered the game as pinch runners. Nielson then singled to left field to score Becker and Newby. Gubler then reached on another error, to score Jennings. On the same play, Nielson got caught at third and then the Thunder threw to first to catch Gubler trying to get back to first for the final out. But the damage was done. Pine View led 6-0.
The Thunder would finally get on the board in the final inning, but the Panther lead was too great to overcome.
Pine View moves to 12-12 overall and 5-5 in region play. The Panthers finish fourth in Region 9. They will host Canyon View in non-region action on Tuesday. Desert Hills drops to 21-6 overall and 7-3 in Region 9. The Lady Thunder will await the UHSAA pairings for playoffs.
Hurricane 5, Dixie 2
The Lady Tigers got their first region win in the final game of the year. Hurricane scored their runs in the first three innings, then held on for the victory.
“This has been a frustrating season,” said Hurricane coach Gordon Dotson. “Losing several close games has been tough, so it was nice to send our seniors out with a win to close the season.”
Dixie scored first. Hannah Nyberg sacrificed in Mickell Chidester, who had drawn a walk earlier in the inning. Hurricane matched the run when when Jaquois Allan scored on a passed ball.
In the second inning, Melina Madsen doubled to center field to score Morgan Huntsman. Later in the inning, Madsen scored on a throwing error to put Hurricane up 3-1.
In the next inning, the Lady Tigers got two singles from Savannah Garner and Kolea Paleka. Taylar Johnson then walked to load the bases. Madsen was then hit by pitch resulting in Garner scoring.
Dixie got the second out of the inning on a throw home for the fielder’s choice with the next batter. But with the bases still loaded, Allan was hit by pitch to score Johnson before Dixie finally got out of the inning. At the end of three the score was 5-1.
Dixie would get a second run in the sixth. Kamryn Jones scored on a passed ball.
Kylee Mills pitched six innings and allowed five runs (four earned), with eight hits and two strikeouts. Hayley Teta got the win and pitched the complete game, allowing two runs on six hits, striking out one.
Hurricane moves to 9-14 overall and 1-9 in region action. Dixie falls to 3-21 overall and 1-9 in Region 9. The season for both teams is complete.
Region 9 Final Standings
1. Snow Canyon 9-1
2. Desert Hills 7-3
2. Cedar 7-3
4. Pine View 5-5
5. Hurricane 1-9
5. Dixie 1-9
Desert Hills' Sami Clark (7) is tagged out by Pine View's Kamree Becker (5) at second base, Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Megan Wiscombe (21), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Kaylee Milne (22), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Bri St. Clair (6), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View's Aubry Neilson (25),Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View's Ashlyn Gubler (12), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Shelby Reynolds (10), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Ashlie File (3), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View's Britain Nielson (22), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Shelby Reynolds (10) is tagged out at third base by Pine View's Britain Nielson (22), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Desert Hills' Bri St. Clair (6), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Pine View's Addi Horspool (24), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Softball, May 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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