In South Sevier’s first two games of the 2A state tournament the past two days, the top-seed Rams won comfortably, taking both games early with the mercy rule.
During Friday afternoon’s semifinal against No. 2 seed Duchesne, South Sevier found itself in a very unusual position down a run heading into its final at-bat. Not only was its 28-game winning streak on the line — but so was the all-important berth in Saturday’s state championship.
South Sevier wasn’t nervous at all.
It capitalized on a fielding error and mental error by Duchesne, scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh for walk off 6-5 win over the Eagles.
“Our team showed some true grit today in the moments that mattered. We found a way to win even though it wasn’t the way we expected it to go,” said South Sevier coach Elle Woolsey.
With the win, South Sevier advances to Saturday’s championship at 12:30 p.m. where it will take on the winner of the Beaver-Duchesne elimination game at 10 a.m.
South Sevier’s lone state championship in school history was won back in 2004, and now the No. 1 team in 2A is on the doorstep of another title.
The Rams advanced into the semifinal earlier on Friday with the easy 12-2 win over Enterprise, but it fell behind to Duchesne a few hours later in the 2A semifinal and trailed 5-3 after four innings.
South Sevier tied the game 5-5 in the fifth, but Duchesne took the lead in the sixth and needed just three outs in the seventh to secure its place in Saturday’s final.
That is always a very tall task against the meat of South Sevier’s lineup.
Leadoff hitter Navey Lindsey led off the inning with a single, and two batters later she came around to score the tying run on a misplayed ball in the outfield by Duchesne.
Caitlin Nielson moved all the way to third base on the error, and on the ensuing at-bat she scored the winning run on Kinsey Parson’s hard hit ball in the infield.
“In the end we knew that we had the home team advantage, and the top of our lineup pulled through when it mattered most,” said Woolsey.
“Having Caitlin on third with Kinsey up to bat was the moment we knew that we were going to be OK. The support from our community is unmatched, and the love they have for this team is everything we could hope for.”
Lindsay finished the game going 3 for 4 with three runs scored, while Nielson finished with three RBIs.