PAYSON — On another day, the score line of the Springville and Payson softball game might have looked a lot different.
In Springville's 7-1 win on Friday, the teams ended up battling the elements along with their opponents. Strong gusts of wind blew in from the outfield all afternoon, making every fly ball an adventure.
Trying to adjust to the wind, Payson committed four fielding errors that helped lead to six of the Red Devils' runs. Meanwhile, Springville's nine seniors in the starting lineup seemed better prepared to handle the conditions and made their plays without committing any costly mistakes.
On the mound, Springville pitcher Amanda Cole kept the Lions' offense pinned down, striking out seven and allowing only four hits.
"I thought Mandy did an excellent job pitching," said Springville coach Suzette Hartvigsen. "She kept moving the ball around, changed the speed up and kept them on their toes."
Springville got on the board with two first-inning runs, then closed out the game with five runs in the last two innings.
After Kiley Carter was walked, Natalie Nance hit a fly ball that the outfielder lost in the wind, scoring Carter and bringing Nance all the way to third base. Katelyn Anderson came up next and singled to make the score 2-0.
Payson didn't get a hit in the game until Karlie Mangelson and Amber Tuttle hit consecutive one-out singles in the fourth inning. Cole struck out the next batter and then forced a groundout to end the inning.
The Lions had more problems in the sixth inning when, after a single by Nance, Anderson's ball into left field got caught in the wind and caused another outfield error, scoring a run and putting Anderson on third base. Macall Radford's sacrifice bunt scored the fourth run.
Payson finally got a run in the bottom of the sixth when Keelie Ballard tripled into left field, followed by an RBI single by Tuttle to make the score 4-1.
Springville took advantage of three more errors and a wild pitch in the seventh inning to tack on three more runs.
Ballard pitched for Payson and scattered three hits through five and a half innings.
The Red Devils solidified their second-place position in Region 7, putting them a full game ahead of third-place Payson and one game behind Lehi for first place.
"We would like to be in first spot, but we're happy with this win," said Hartvigsen. "We have Lehi coming back off spring break. Hopefully that will be a win and put us back up in first spot."