ST. GEORGE — The Desert Hills and Snow Canyon softball teams went 1-1 in opening round playoff action and will both advance to the one-loss bracket in the 4A state tournament scheduled to open Thursday at Spanish Fork. Canyon View, Region 9’s fourth seed, lost both of its games on Monday and has been eliminated from contention.
Desert Hills 5, Lehi 2
Tooele 10, Desert Hills 4
Playing at the Deseret Peak Complex in Grantsville (with Region 11 champion Tooele as the host team), the Desert Hills Lady Thunder defeated Lehi 5-2 in the first game, but lost later that afternoon to Tooele, 10-4.
Against Lehi, Desert Hills scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and held on for the three-run win in seven innings. Brianna St. Clair went the distance for Desert Hills, allowing five hits while striking out 13 batters and walking only one. Oakley Giacoletto hit a home run for the Lady Thunder.
Against Tooele, the Lady Thunder fell behind 4-1 in the first inning and were never able to catch up as the Lady Buffaloes rolled to a 10-4 win behind freshman pitcher Attlyn Johnston, who struck out 15 batters and allowed just four hits by Desert Hills.
Desert Hills will next face Orem, Region 10’s fourth seed, in the one-loss bracket of the 4A state tournament Thursday at the Spanish Fork Complex’s Field 1, starting at 1:30 p.m.
Uintah 17, Snow Canyon 14
Snow Canyon 15, Ogden 0
Uintah, Region 10’s No. 2 seed, staged an offensive battle with the Snow Canyon Lady Warriors Tuesday before prevailing 17-14 at Bear River High in Garland.
Snow Canyon scored seven runs in the top of the seventh to stake a 14-12 lead, but Uintah scored five in the bottom of the inning, capped off with a walk-off grand slam by Madi Rouska to win the game. The Lady Warriors had 13 hits during the game, including home runs by Emma Bingham and Natalie Gunn.
Snow Canyon then faced Ogden and won 15-0 in three innings. The Lady Warriors had six hits, including a home run by Alex Deming. Marley Moala pitched the whole game for Snow Canyon, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out five.
Snow Canyon next plays Ridgeline, Region 12’s No. 2 seed, in the one-loss bracket of the 4A state tournament Thursday at the Spanish Fork Complex’s Field 3, starting at 1:30 p.m.
Spanish Fork 18, Canyon View 1
Bonneville 5, Canyon View 0
Canyon View scored one run in the top of the first inning against Spanish Fork at Spanish Fork Complex on Monday. The Lady Dons, Region 10’s top seed and the defending state 4A champions, then rolled to an 18-1 win in four innings.
In Canyon View’s second game, the Lady Falcons fell to Bonneville 5-0 and were eliminated from the tournament.
Thursday’s 4A quarterfinals matchups
All four of the No. 1 seeds in the 4A classification ended up going 2-0 in the opening round games each hosted. Those top-seeded teams will next face each other in the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Spanish Fork Complex, with the winning teams advancing to Friday’s semifinal at noon. The two losing teams Thursday will drop down into the one-loss bracket and try to make their way back to the finals in the double-elimination tournament.
Thursday’s quarterfinal games will feature Cedar vs. Spanish Fork at 3:30 p.m. on Field 1 and Bear River vs. Tooele at that same time on Field 2. Click here for the full tournament schedule.
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