Thursday’s 4A softball state semifinals pitted No. 1 Tooele against No. 4 Canyon View, and No. 2 Bear River against No. 3 Snow Canyon. The results were unsurprising as Tooele took down Canyon View 11-3 and Bear River defeated Snow Canyon 12-7.
Snow Canyon carried momentum from its first game of the day, a 12-2 beat down of Crimson Cliffs, into its game with Bear River. The Warriors 10 total runs in the fifth and the sixth innings sunk the Mustangs and activated the mercy rule, setting the matchup with the Bears.
Snow Canyon tested Bear River, putting the sleepy Bears in a 1-7 deficit going into the bottom of the fifth. The Warrior’s bats hummed along during the first three innings, the No. 3 seed scoring three runs in both the first and the third to sandwich its one run in the second.
The fifth and sixth innings marked the end of the Bears’ hibernation as Bear River roared back, putting three runs on the board in the fifth and eight more in the sixth. The Bears cycled through the batting order in the sixth, with 12 batters coming to the plate.
“I think we got knocked on our heels the first couple innings,” Bear River head coach Calvin Bingham said. “The sixth inning we had the bottom three up. I said, ‘You guys have got to get on.’ I felt like if we could get on that we would probably come back and win. The bottom three, Kate Dahle, Cami Gibbs and Haylee Farnsworth all got on and then the gates just busted open. The real credit goes to those bottom kids because they really came through when it was tough.”
“She’s our number three hitter and she’s a senior so she feels the pressure of having to come through. We took her aside today and really focused on ‘be consistent up there. Trust your plan. Good things are going to happen if you do that,’ and that’s exactly what she did.” — Tooele head coach Marissa Lowry on Kate Hogan
Following Bear River’s big sixth, it retired three of four batters to advance to the state championship. Coincidentally, the final out of the afternoon was Warrior senior captain Emma Bingham, coach Bingham’s granddaughter.
Across the complex, Tooele faced little opposition in its rout of Canyon View. With the exception of the third, the top seed scored in every inning it came to the plate. The Buffaloes were led by seniors Kate Hogan and Attlyn Johnston. Hogan hit two home runs and Johnston added another, giving Tooele six of its eleven runs.
Buffalo head coach Marissa Lowry was impressed with Hogan’s homers. “It’s funny because she was so down on herself yesterday. She’s our number three hitter and she’s a senior so she feels the pressure of having to come through. We took her aside today and really focused on ‘be consistent up there. Trust your plan. Good things are going to happen if you do that,’ and that’s exactly what she did.”
Hogan’s consistency helped lead the Buffaloes into the state final. Tooele will face a tough Bear River team that already defeated the Buffaloes once this season.
The state championship will consist of a three-game series beginning Friday at noon. Game 2 will take place Saturday with a third game played that same day if necessary.