Region 9 softball: Cedar, Desert Hills stay unbeaten; Pine View defeats Dixie

Written by or for St. George News
April 3, 2019
Japrix Weaver of Cedar slides safely into third after teammate Kelsi Oldroyd's single in the first inning against Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, April 2, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — In Tuesday’s rivalry game at Canyon View, the Cedar Lady Reds softball team smashed the Falcons with a 20-4 victory, with all players making big contributions to the win.

Teammates await the arrival of Cedar’s Denim Henkel at home plate, after Henkel hit a three-run homer in the first innings against Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, April 2, 2019 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The game started off hot for the Lady Reds with both junior Japrix Weaver and sophomore Kelsi Oldroyd jumping on base with singles. Junior Denim Henkel then stepped up to the plate and slammed one out of the park to put Cedar ahead 3-0. The top of the first ended with two successive strikeouts from senior Canyon View pitcher Jordan Nielson, who finished the game with five strikeouts.

Canyon View wasn’t able to score in the first, and both teams held each other scoreless in the second, but the third inning proved different. Henkel lead off the third with a double to the right center field gap. Junior Kylie Oldroyd got on base after an error, followed by an RBI single from junior Britnie Simcox to put the Lady Reds up 4-0.

The Falcons answered in the bottom of the third as senior Ashlyn Wheelwright hit a laser up the middle for a double. Wheelwright made it to third base while Cedar grabbed two outs. Freshman Kenlee Clove whacked a ball to the left center field gap to score Wheelwright and put the Falcons on the board.

It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Lady Reds were able to break away and score four more runs. Simcox and senior Kenzie Waters started the rally by getting on base and were brought in by junior Rebecca Boyer, who hit a line drive to right field. Boyer had an outstanding performance on Tuesday, ending the game with two singles, a home run and five RBI’s.

In the top of the sixth inning, Cedar put up four more runs, with Simcox hitting a home run and juniors Kenadee Stubbs and Weaver sending balls to the right center field gap, for a total of four RBIs.

Canyon View answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Seniors Taylee Braegger and Nielson each hit singles and moved around the bases to get into scoring position. Senior Malia Vasi hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field to score Braegger, followed by senior Camry Higgins and Wheelwright hitting RBI singles, leaving the score at the end of the sixth 12-4 for Cedar.

But Cedar sealed the deal in the seventh, pulling away by scoring eight runs in the top, followed by a three-up three-down defensive sequence in the bottom to end the game.

The Lady Reds offense was on full display as they pounded a total of 25 hits, with several players getting multiple hits. Weaver finished the game with three singles and a triple, while sisters Kelsi and Kylie Oldroyd each hit a single and a double. Henkel had a home run, a single and a double, and Simcox hit a pair of singles to go with her home run. Also, Stubbs hit three singles, and Waters hit four singles and brought in three RBIs.

Tuesday’s game was Waters eleventh win from the circle this season.  She scattered eight hits while striking out three and walking one.

— written by Megan Cafarelli

Other Region 9 action on Tuesday

Desert Hills 7, Snow Canyon 6

Snow Canyon at Desert Hills, St. George Utah, April 2, 2019 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News

At Desert Hills, Lexi Green hit a dramatic game-ending home run with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Lady Thunder a 7-6 win over Snow Canyon.

The teams had been deadlocked 5-5 at the end of the seventh, forcing an extra inning. Under the tiebreaker rule, each team started batting in the eighth with a runner already at second. Snow Canyon brought in its runner on an outfield error to take a 6-5 lead.

Green’s walkoff homer, which hit the scoreboard beyond center field, was the fourth hit in as many at-bats for the freshman shortstop during the game.

“We knew it was going to be a battle going into today,” Desert Hills head coach KaCee McArthur said afterward. “Snow Canyon has a strong team, and we expected a fight until the end. It was really a back-and-forth close game.”

McArthur added that Snow Canyon was able to get a run at the top of the eighth, “but we never lost confidence in each other or our goal, which was to stay focused and play the entire game. Lexi had hit well all game and just put a great swing on a good pitch and it went over. It’s always fun and exciting to win a close game, especially like that.”

Kylee Christensen was the winning pitcher for the Lady Thunder, while Payten Jensen took the loss for Snow Canyon. Both pitchers lasted the entire game.

— written by Jeff Richards

Pine View 12, Dixie 1

At Pine View, the Panthers rolled to a 12-1 victory over the Dixie Flyers in five innings.

Pine View scored in all five innings, led by a four-run fifth inning that ended the game early due to the mercy rule. Despite the disparity in runs scored, however, each team had a similar number of hits, with Pine View getting seven hits and Dixie getting six.

Starting pitcher Audrey Lester went the distance for Pine View and earned the win, while starter Joslyn Bundy took the loss for Dixie.

Pine View has a bye from region play later this week. Desert Hills will play at Cedar in a battle of the region’s two undefeated teams at 4 p.m. Thursday, while Hurricane plays at Snow Canyon, also on Thursday at 4 p.m. Friday’s game is Dixie at Canyon View, starting at 3:30 p.m.

Region 9 softball standings (as of April 3)

Cedar 4-0 (12-2)
Desert Hills 4-0 (12-3)
Canyon View 2-2 (10-3)
Snow Canyon 2-3 (9-5)
Pine View 2-3 (6-6)
Hurricane 1-3 (8-4)
Dixie 0-5 (7-8)

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