High school softball: Defense launches Salem Hills past Springville

Its defense has often gotten the job done for Salem Hills and Tuesday’s Region 7 game with Springville was no different. The SkyHawks came up just shy of shutting out the Red Devils as they defended home with a 5-1 victory and improved it’s Region 7 record to 4-0.

Salem Hills took a lead in the first inning and never trailed after Samaya Haveron hit home Camryn Guest on a double. The Sky Hawks continued to roll in the second inning as it got home three runners. Keyana Murray stepped up in the second inning with a double which got two runners home, then Emmery Wilson had a single to get another runner home and Salem Hills took a 4-0 lead.

“Base hits is what wins games,” said Salem Hills’ pitcher Jocile Norman. “We don’t need to be hacking for the fences or anything. We just need to put the ball in play and that’s how we win, even if we only score in one or two innings a game.”

The SkyHawks’ defense made the 4-0 lead feel much wider than it was and it never gave Springville a solid chance at scoring a run. Norman especially made things difficult for the Red Devil batters on the pitching mound as she threw nine strikeouts in Tuesday’s win.

Whenever Springville managed to get a bat on one of Norman’s pitches, Salem Hills was quick to field it.

“We executed our gameplan,” said Salem Hills head coach Kaleb Stokes. “We praciced yesterday, specifically a couple of things that would take away a few things offensively.

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“Jo (Norman) threw really well, our pitcher, and our ball was moving in and out and up. When Jo’s ball’s moving like that, she’s really, really difficult to hit. So, it starts with Joe and then everybody else just backed her up on it.”

Salem Hills struggled to get runs in after the second inning. The Red Devils’ pitcher Brooklynn Richardson threw a strong game with seven strikeouts of her own. The SkyHawks further pushed its lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning as a single from Audree Stokes got a runner home.

Springville didn’t get a run on the board until the sixth inning as Tyler Haveron got home on a sacrifice hit. Salem Hills quickly ended the game in the seventh inning, finishing on yet another strikeout from Norman.

“We just say to push every inning and not getting mentally flat,” Stokes said. “We talk about being in every pitch on every single defensive play. It’s when we get flat and lose our focus that the ball finds us and we don’t make plays. We’re doing a really good job so far this year of staying focused every pitch.”

The win pushes Salem Hills overall record to 10-1 and its Region 7 record to 4-0. The SkyHawks have also won seven consecutive games but faces defending 5A champion Spanish Fork on Wednesday.

“It’s a great start for us,” said Stokes. “We still have a lot to prove. Got a tough game against Spanish tomorrow, and then Tempview on Thursday. We have a long ways to go, and this is a great start, but we just talked about after this game that we got to take one game at a time and just focus on the next opponent.”