High school softball: Dominant pitching leads Bingham to win over Mountain Ridge

Things started hot for the Lady Miners, as they tacked on three runs in the first inning. Rian Howland hit an RBI double after a leadoff single. Shyann Banasky then crushed a ball to right field for a two run homer, her first of the season.

The fast start for Bingham was typical of this season, as the Miners have scored at least one run in the first inning in 10 of their 14 games. The momentum was seemingly in their favor for the remainder of the game.

“It was huge,” Bingham head coach Mikki Jackson said. “I think especially with this crew. It just puts you in a little better comfort zone.”

Things slowed down for both teams following the second inning until Tatyana Toala hit a homer to dead center field to cut the Mountain Ridge deficit to three runs.

The hit for Toala broke up a no-hitter for Larson through 4 1/3 innings. She would go on to allow just two hits in the game.

The Bingham offense caught fire again in the seventh inning to secure the victory. It strung together four consecutive RBI singles with two runs scored on a passed ball and error to balloon its lead to nine, and move to 5-1 in Region 2 play.

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Larson was sensational on the mound, striking out 14 batters to bring her 6A leading total to 117. She also leads all 6A pitchers with 11 wins.

“She’s throwing well, and these are not slack hitters,” Jackson said. “Our Region has good hitters. It’s nice to see her finding a grove.”

Larson has struck out 10 or more batters in seven of her 13 appearances this year, while also being forth on the team in RBIs.

Bingham looks ahead to a tough matchup with first place Riverton on Thursday. Jackson asks her team to keep in mind that there are no off days in Region 2. The top three teams in RPI all come from the region.

“I think we have a really competitive group,” Jackson said. “We don’t have a lot of slack games. I was expecting this one to be a good one, and we got some good experience from it. I think we just keep looking and growing.”

Mountain Ridge will face off against Westlake Wednesday night hoping to get back on track.