High school softball: Bear River wins 12th championship in school history with series win over Desert Hills

It was a long day two of the 4A championship series between Bear River and Desert Hills, and through it all no team led by more than two runs.

Bear River won game one Thursday afternoon and needed just one win Friday to secure its 12th softball championship. The Thunder clutched out game two 3-1 and gave themselves a chance to steal the 4A championship.

However, Bear River did what it has done so often the past 25 years. It stayed calm and bounced back to win game three 3-2 and reclaim the 4A throne.

“I’m so proud of these kids,” said Bear River head coach Jordan Theurer. “All year long they have fought, they have worked, they never give up. And at the end of the day that’s what it came down to. Our season quote the entire year was ‘Love the pressure.’ And it was so fun to watch those kids actually lean into the pressure and want it.”

The base hits were sparse for the Bears through both Friday games as they had only two in game two and four in game three. Meanwhile, Desert Hills was more consistent at the plate and had eight in both games.

The difference was Bear River’s ability to get itself out of scary situations. In innings three and four of game three the Bears allowed the Thunder to load the bases. In one case, Desert Hills did so without any outs.

Both times Bear River managed to get out of the inning without surrendering any runs. It was a far from perfect series for the Bears, but they executed when it mattered.

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Desert Hills still played Bear River incredibly close. In game two a go-ahead, in-the-park home run from pitcher Lulu West made the difference and the Thunder kept their lead to force a game three.

However, it was a stalemate between the Bears and the Thunder in game three after Desert Hills tied it 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning.

West had an RBI single to tie it, but an earlier error allowed Desert Hills to score. Neither team could break the tie before the end of seven innings.

The UHSAA implements the ‘international tie-breaker’ rule after seven innings, meaning starting in the eighth inning each team starts its at-bat with a runner at second base until a winner is decided.

Bear River was first to defend in the top of the eighth and pitcher Katelyn Wilson delivered with a strikeout and outfielder Bostyn Lish had a diving catch for the third out.

In the bottom of the eighth, Bears’ Aubree Fry was sent to second base as the runner for the tie-breaker rule and got to third after two Bear River walks.

“(Aubree) is our girl,” Theurer said. “She’ll forever be our center fielder and I wouldn’t want anybody else on second base in that moment.”

Marley Tisdol stepped up to the plate with a chance to finish off the Thunder. Tisdol hit a sacrifice fly to center field which got Fry home and secured the 4A state championship.

“I was so excited,” Fry said. “I was excited for Marley, our sophomore, who had the hit. I was just excited for our team and it felt amazing.”

Now with the 2025 4A title, Bear River has the most softball championships in the state with 12. The Bears previously won all of its 11 past championships under long-time head coach Calvin Bingham but now Theurer has helped continue the legacy of Bear River softball.

However, Theurer wanted none of the credit and made sure her senior-led team was recognized.

“The community of Bear River is unmatched,” Theurer said. “The love that the community has for softball is insane, and you can see it today with all of our fans and just it sparks that excitement from younger kids.

“When I got this job, I was scared to death because how do you follow in the footsteps of the legend Calvin Bingham? He coached me and he’s an amazing man and an amazing coach and so I felt like I had really big shoes to fill, but this year was led by these seniors and they deserve all that credit.”