RIVERTON — It seems like every time Region 4 rivals Riverton and Herriman get together and face off, the two teams are in for a back-and-forth bloodbath.
And Tuesday afternoon was no exception.
The Mustangs used their balance attack, stout defense and strong bats to rally for six runs in the sixth inning and come away with the impressive 9-3 road win at Riverton High School.
“It was a great win. It was a total team effort. We had a couple hits for everyone and the defense was really solid. We did have errors and got down a bit, but we were just able to move on from there,” Herriman head coach Heidi McKissick said.
The visitors came out and capitalized on some early miscues from the home team to draw first blood and take a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play.
Herriman really stepped it up on defense and, after sophomore second baseman April Visser belted a two-run homer over the left-field fence in the bottom of the third, extended its lead to 3-0 after the first three frames.
Visser had a tremendous day at the plate as she went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs to spark the Mustangs' offense in the win.
“She’s really fun. She’s only a sophomore, but I always know she can put a good swing on it and put the ball in play. On that home run she had two strikes on her. It was just her second at-bat and that’s why I have her in the No. 2 slot — I want to see her up to bat more times than anyone else,” McKissick said of Visser.
However, the Silverwolves were far from ready to throw in the towel and came back firing.
The home team locked down on both sides of the ball in the fourth and fifth innings as they didn't give up a single hit and outscored Herriman 3-0 to tie things up and gain some momentum heading into the sixth.
Or so it seemed.
However, Herriman responded tremendously, batting through 12 players, recording six hits and rocking Riverton for six more runs in the top of the sixth to take complete control with a 9-3 lead.
“I think the biggest difference was we were just being really patient at the plate. We were waiting for our pitches and we finally just put it all together — we had it,” said McKissick of her team’s clutch sixth inning.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs' defense continued to back up starting pitcher Bryce Taylor, who pitched the complete-game victory, as they retired six of Riverton's final seven batters and gave up just one hit in the last two innings to seal the huge win.
“I mean, Kynra (Nelson) made that diving catch out there, we caught one behind our shoulder and just made some key plays. We didn’t have calls go our way, but we just kept going at it. Bryce did a great job for us today. She got a little bit behind, but she was able to use our defense. That defense really was helpful for us today,” McKissick added.
Ryan Love is a full-time student and has been a part-time sportswriter for Deseret News since Oct. 2012.
Follow him on Twitter @RLove7724
EMAIL: rlove@deseretnews.com