High school softball: South Sevier finishes dominant season with 2A championship win over Beaver

South Sevier is a young team with only two seniors and one junior on its roster. For many teams that amount of youth would indicate a down year as it prepares its young athletes for the future.

The Rams certainly did not take that approach this season.

Even with its youth South Sevier dominated the season with a 30-1 record, losing only its season opener 9-8 to Salem Hills. The Rams completed their nearly perfect season on Saturday as they claimed their first softball state championship since 2004 with a 6-3 win over Beaver.

“Last time we took state I was a junior in high school, so we’re just bringing it back,” said South Sevier head coach Elle Woolsey. “Our goal was to change the community of softball in our area and we’re doing our best.”

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Though the team was very young, the story of the day Saturday was the two seniors on South Sevier’s roster, Caitlin Nielson and Kinley Phelps.

Nielson helped the Rams jump to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with a home run with two runners on base, and the offense continued to snowball as Tessa Woolsey and Kaitlyn Lynch each hit RBIs to give South Sevier a commanding 5-0 lead in the first inning.

“I just really just wanted do it for my team,” Nielson said. “It’s a family, it’s my family and I just want to be the best for them and show them what I can do.”

The Rams stagnated a bit offensively after the first inning, but they also didn’t give up any runs to Beaver for four innings.

The Beavers finally got on the board in the fifth inning as a wild pitch allowed them to steal home and Ainsley Brown hit an RBI to close the lead to 5-2.

It continued to get scary for South Sevier in the top of the sixth inning as Beaver got a quick run in on an RBI single from Danzee Bradshaw. The Beavers then managed to get runners on first and third with two outs, but South Sevier held on and didn’t surrender any more runs.

With the score 5-3, it was Phelps’ turn to step up for the Rams. Phelps hit a home run of her own to strengthen the lead to 6-3 and give South Sevier much needed breathing room.

“They’re just everything that you could ever ask for in seniors, and they’re just such good leaders,” Woolsey said. “They jump on board with all of our crazy ideas and make sure that the girls get on board with it. Obviously they lead on the field as much as they do.”

In the top of the seventh, all South Sevier needed to do to end its 21-year championship drought was to get three outs without surrendering three runs. The Rams were quick to execute as they threw the first runner out at home and Navey Lindsay threw back-to-back strikeouts to secure the 2A state championship.

“We came out the gate hitting really good and then it just took us a minute to get the bats going again,” Woolsey said, “but two home runs and six runs, you can’t be too upset with that.”