Here’s a recap of Thursday’s 3A state tournament winners bracket games at Spanish Fork Sports Park on Thursday afternoon.
Grantsville 11, North Sanpete 1
Hayden Bytheway struck out nine, while Payten Bytheway homered and drove in five runs as No. 1 Grantsville rolled to the 11-1 six-inning victory over No. 8 North Sanpete in the 3A winners bracket at Spanish Fork Sports Park on Thursday.
Grantsville trailed 1-0 in the middle of the third, but the bats erupted for three runs in the third and fourth, and then finished things off an inning early with five runs in the sixth.
“Our pitching was outstanding. Hayden Bytheway threw really well in this circle, but we just knew eventually our bats would come alive. That’s been the strength of our team, is good pitching and those bats. And we knew eventually those bats would come alive. And once they did, we just started scoring runs, inning after inning,” said Grantsville coach Tony Cloward.
Two-time defending state champ Grantsville advances to Friday’s quarterfinals and will face No. 4 seed Emery at 10 a.m.
Peyton Bytheway went 3 for 4 and a home run for Grantsville, while Eden Russell also homered in the fourth inning, which pushed the lead to 5-1 and started to open things up for the Cowboys.
Hayden Bytheway went 2 for 3 at the plate to help her cause in the circle.
“We’ve just got to keep those bats going. I really feel like if we can put runs up, our defense is solid enough, our pitching is great. If we can put up runs, we’re going to be hard to beat. If we can’t score, then it will struggle,” said Cloward and the key to the next two days for his team.
Emery 8, South Summit 4
When Emery starting pitcher Kallee Lake hit South Summit’s first batter in Thursday’s 3A state tournament game, coach Daniel Luke sensed it was due to nerves, something his whole team was feeling.
“I don’t think Kallee’s hit two people in a game all year, and she hit the first batter, so, yeah, we just had to get through nerves,” said Luke.
No. 5 seed South Summit scored a run in the top of the first to grab a 1-0 lead, but No. 4 Emery responded immediately with three runs in the bottom of the first and it carried that momentum through the rest of the game for the 8-4 win to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals.
Emery advances to face No. 1 Grantsville at 10 a.m. on Friday.
Coach Luke believes if his team executes defensively it can compete with the defending champs.
“We need to limit errors. I don’t think we’ve lost a game we’ve committed less than three errors all year. So if we can cut down on errors, somebody usually steps up in the lineup and bats come alive at some point,” said Luke.
Kate Nielson provided much of that offense against South Summit as she doubled and homered and drove in three runs.
Morgan 6, Providence Hall 5
No. 2 seed Morgan marched through the winners bracket of Thursday’s 3A state tournament with some clutch hitting in the last two innings to beat No. 7 seed Providence Hall 6-5.
Kassidy Wardell hit a clutch two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to give Morgan a one-run lead heading into the seventh. Providence Hall tied it in the seventh, but Lexi Hardman’s hard hit grounder with the bases was too difficult to handle as the winning run trotted home for the Trojans who are enjoying one of their best seasons in school history.
Morgan had bases loaded with no out in the bottom of the seventh, but Providence Hall pitcher Nena Garcia did well to get the first two outs without runners advancing.
Morgan coach Haley Roberts was confident with her lead-off hitter would get the job done.
“I knew Lexi Hardman would get it done. And so I think everyone else knew that too,” said Roberts. “She is hard to get out. She is very hard to get out. She is having a great year.”
Hardman finished the game going 4 for 5 with two runs scored. Wardell finished the game going 2 for 4 with three RBIs.
Roberts was proud of how her team performed in clutch moments.
“It’s what we talked about all week. We just said, no one deserves it more than us. And so we’re either gonna make it the easy path or the hard path. And so all the girls today said, ‘coach, we’re winning one today. We’re playing one game. We’re gonna go chill at the hotel now,’” said Roberts.
With the win, Morgan advances to Friday’s quarterfinals to face No. 3 seed Union at 10 a.m.
Union 9, Richfield 8
Union showed tremendous resilience in the 3A state tournament at Spanish Fork Sports Park on Thursday to rally past Richfield 9-8.
The 11th-seed Wildcats scored four runs in the third inning and tacked on two more in the fifth to grab a 6-1 lead on the heavily favored No. 3 seed Union.
The Cougars didn’t wilt despite the early nerves and then Mollee Rasmussen clinched the win in the bottom of the seventh with a walk-off single to drive home Payzlei Parrish after she doubled earlier in the inning.
“Today showed them that they could come back when they’re down, and they can do it, but they also learned a good lesson today that when you’re nervous and you start to clench up a little bit that you’ve got to use that fear and that nervousness for something good rather than letting down,” said Union coach Evah Taylor.
“They pushed through that emotion that they probably haven’t felt a long time. There hasn’t been a close game like that for us for a while. I’m proud of them.”
Trailing 6-1, Union scored one in the fifth and then scored sixth in the bottom of the sixth to grab an 8-6 lead. It couldn’t close things out though as a bizarre play unfolded as a passed ball allowed two Richfield runners to score to tie the game.
It just set the stage for a little more dramatics in the bottom of the inning for Rasmussen.