After having runners on second and third with nobody out and not scoring in the fourth and having the bases loaded with nobody out and scoring only once in the fifth, Alta finally discovered a way to bring home the go-ahead run against Bingham.
A 15-foot bunt.Thanks to two Bingham throwing errors, Stephanie Crane circled the bases after her seventh-inning bunt, giving the Lady Hawks a 3-2 victory Thursday afternoon in the winners bracket of the Class 4A girls softball tournment at the Cottonwood Complex.
Having entered the tourney as Region 2's second-place team, Alta knocked off Region 4 champion Pleasant Grove 5-4 in the morning and edged Region 3 winner Bingham.
"We had quite a day," understated Coach Vicky Sieverts.
Next up for Alta, naturally, was Region 2 champ Brighton, winners by 19-1 over Hillcrest and 7-4 over Bonneville.
Alta and Brighton were scheduled to meet today in the winners bracket final of the double-elimination tournament. Friday's championship playoff will be at 1 p.m.
Bingham had taken a 2-1 lead over Alta in the fourth when Michelle Barraclough singled and scored on an error and Jodi Killpack came home on Mike Palmer's single.
Alta loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth and still had them loaded with the score tied after Amy Timmel's RBI single, but Bingham freshman pitcher Janet Lewis worked out of trouble.
Alta's Terina Kilpack held down Bingham the rest of the way and the Lady Hawks won when Crane bunted in front of the plate and the throw to first went high and into right field. The Bingham outfielder tried to catch Crane at third, but that throw was also wild and Crane trotted home. All three of Alta's runs off Lewis were unearned.
Class 3A
Box Elder and Murray reached today's winners bracket final, which was a little surprising in both cases. Coming in as Region 6's second-place team, Murray edged Region 5 champ Bear River 2-0 and downed Region 8 winner Springville 7-4.
Box Elder, Region 5's No. 2 entry, took an easy 19-0 win over Uintah before overcoming Tooele 8-7.
The 3A championship will also be decided at 1 p.m. Friday, with a second game to follow if necessary.