Prep softball: DH shuts out Hurricane, keeps pace with Cedar

Written by Darren Cole
April 26, 2017
Desert Hills' Sophie Wilcox (8) is tagged out by Hurricane's Mellina Madsen (16), Desert Hills vs. Hurricane, Softball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 25, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – With three games remaining in region play, it has come down to Cedar and Desert Hills. It appears likely that Hurricane and Snow Canyon will garner the final two playoff positions, though Dixie and Pine View have not been mathematically eliminated. There were no upsets on Tuesday night. Below are game summaries of the action:

Desert Hills 7, Hurricane 0

The Lady Thunder broke open a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning against visiting Hurricane. They then solidified the lead with a hit-fest in the sixth inning to add four more runs.

“We struggled at the plate early,” said Desert Hills head coach Kacee McArthur. (Hurricane starter Haylee Teta) was able to hit her spots and throw different pitches at us. We struggled to adjust. Our pitching and defense played well and held them scoreless and later in the game we made the adjustments to the pitching and strung some hits together to back up our defense.”

Desert Hills’ Katelyn Philips (25), Desert Hills vs. Hurricane, Softball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 25, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

With two outs gone in the fourth, Corinn Grantham reached on a fielding error. That was followed by a single from Meg Wiscombe to right. Ashley File then hit a double to score Grantham and Wiscombe. File later scored when a fielding error led to Savannah Wright reaching first to make it a 3-0 game.

In the sixth inning, the Thunder had five hits, including two doubles from Grantham and Wright. Katelyn Philips and Brianna St. Clair also hit safely. Wright’s double scored two of the four runs.

“Overall we played pretty well,” said Hurricane head coach Ryan Smith. “We had a couple of errors in the fourth inning. We had problems getting base runners on.”

Grantham and Philips both had multiple hit games, while Ashley File got on base with each at bat. For File, her play of late has been a reversal from earlier in the season.

“I think I put a lot of pressure on myself early in the season,” she said. “It affected my batting and it was frustrating. I finally decided to just have fun. We have great hitters up and down our lineup. And lately I have been able to pick up the ball better on the pitch.”

Desert Hills’ Corinn Grantham (20), Desert Hills vs. Hurricane, Softball, St. George, Utah, Apr. 25, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

St. Clair got the win from the circle, pitching the complete game, allowing only two hits and striking out 12. She had a no-hitter going through the first five innings.

Desert Hills moves to 6-1 in Region 9 and 21-2-1 overall. On Friday, the Lady Thunder will host Pine View. The Lady Tigers fall to 3-4 in region and 5-7-2 overall. Hurricane will host league frontrunner Cedar on Friday.

Snow Canyon 12, Pine View 0

Some games, everything goes right. Conversely for the other team, well, it usually means everything goes wrong.

“Snow Canyon scored 12 runs against us, but only two of them were earned,” said Pine View assistant coach Russ Neilson. “We just had too many mistakes today.”

The Lady Warriors got things rolling in the second inning. The first four batters reached on three errors and  hit-by-pitch to score the first two runs. After a pop out, Alex Deming and Preslee Gates followed with a double and single to add three more runs before the Lady Panthers could get out of the inning.

Snow Canyon’s Alex Deming (13), file photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

In the fourth, Snow Canyon added six more. Deming hit safely to right field to start the rally. Gates then drew a walk. That was followed up by consecutive singles from Camryn Johnson and Courtney Averett to make it 8-0. Two more errors and a passed ball allowed the other three runs to cross the plate.

Snow Canyon added another run in the seventh when Deming scored on a fielder’s choice grounder hit by Johnson.

“Deming was big at the plate, she went 3 for 4, had two RBIs and scored three times,” said Snow Canyon head coach Tracee Heaton. “Johnson and Averett both had multiple hits. This is Averett’s first start after an injury that put her out for four weeks.”

Payten Jensen allowed only two baserunners all game. The first was a walk in the first inning and the only hit, a double from Abby Nielson, came in the fourth inning.

“Jensen obviously pitched really well,” said Heaton. “She has just been grinding at practice and in games. She is learning a lot and getting better every time she steps in the circle. Our defense played really great for her today, which was key.”

Snow Canyon moves to 3-4 in region play and 10-11 overall. The Lady Warriors will host Dixie on Friday. Pine View falls to 1-6 in region play and 7-13 overall. The Lady Panthers will travel to Desert Hills on Friday.

Cedar 16, Dixie 1

Cedar put this one away quickly with five separate players hitting home runs. Dream Weaver had two and Sage Oldroyd, Pua Johnson, Allie Meisner and Britnie Simcox all went deep.

Cedar stays atop the region standings at 7-0 and is 13-7-1 overall. The Lady Reds will travel to Hurricane on Friday. Dixie falls to 1-6 in region and 5-20 overall. The Lady Flyers will travel to Snow Canyon on Friday.

SATURDAY’S GAME
Dixie 13, Bishop Gorman 12

The Lady Flyers had a rare late-season, non-region game on Saturday against Bishop Gorman out of Las Vegas.

Dixie scored a run in the first, but Gorman answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Gorman went up 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth. The Lady Flyers then exploded in the sixth for 11 runs of their own. Gorman added four runs over the final two innings, but could not plate the equalizer. Chayden Chong pitched six strong innings and Joslyn Bundy came in for the save. Brittany Grob went 5 for 5 at the plate, including a double and a triple. Tanner Western went 3 for 4 with a double.

“It was a hard-fought game with neither team giving in,” said Dixie head coach Dave Demas. “Bishop Gorman is a quality team with quality coaching. I was very proud of the girls as they continue to improve and come together as a team. It was a good win for us.”

REGION 9 SOFTBALL STANDINGS
Cedar 7-0 (13-7-1)
Desert Hills 6-1 (21-2-1)
Hurricane 3-4 (5-6-2)
Snow Canyon 3-4 (10-11)
Pine View 1-6 (7-13)
Dixie 1-6 (5-20)

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Cole recently returned to sportswriting after a 20-plus year hiatus. While pursuing other studies, he developed an early passion for sports writing as a senior writer and sports editor for the Ricks College Scroll in 1988-89. Darren has spent the last 20 years writing legal memorandi and appellate briefs. In addition to his legal career, he has also taught legal and criminal justice courses at the university level for nine years as an adjunct professor. Darren is married to wife Lisa, has two sons and is a confessed sports junkie.

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